Colorful iGame GTX 460 1 GB

[W1zzard]

Colorful's iGame GTX 460 uses a massive triple slot cooler with two fans to keep the card cool. It also offers overclocker-friendly features like a Turbo button or voltage measurement points. Out of the box the card runs at clocks of 820 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory making it one of the faster GTX 460 variants out there.

Show full review

 

[newtekie1]

Looks like a beast of a card, but not the GTX460 I would think of getting.

Excellent review!

And I would definitely like to see overclocking with voltage increases included in the review.

 

[[Ion]]

Agreed, overclocking with voltage adjustment would be a great thing to have

Nice card, but just too big IMO, I'd never get something that's more than 2 slots. And if a GTX480 can stay cool enough in 2 slots, surely they could have gotten similar OCs w/ 2 slots for this

 

[W1zzard]

And I would definitely like to see overclocking with voltage increases included in the review.

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

 

[mlee49]

Wow, literally no fan control for such a unique card like that. Even though at 40% to keep temps well at bay is impressive.

I'd like to see software control for both voltage and fan from the manufacturer.

 

[cbupdd]

Good looking card but useless 1250mhz memory..
It would be great to see moderate overclock with voltage adjustemens. More than numbers, I would like to see the potential of x card, but with safe voltage, default fan, etc.

 

[Benetanegia]

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

At your discretion imo. The highest that you would feel comfortable with for 24/7 including heat, noise, etc.

IMO that would be showing what the cards are capable off even better. All the charts are amzing and don't need to be changed, they must be there for objectivity, but some of them don't really show all the truth about some cards, and I think people, at least me, always try to hunt down some comments in your articles regarding that aspect of te cards. Numbers don't always tell the whole story. i.e noise, knowing the db at stock is nice, but some fans are far more audible and annoying than others even at same db, and some fans increase their noise output far more than others as load increases, that's something you have mentioned many times in your articles, mostly as anecdotes or something like. You also mention a lot of times how some fans could be run slower because you'd gladly exchange a bit of heat for lower noise and viceversa.

I think that you could add some of that into the OC section too, doing some "subjective OC" on top of what you already do wouldn't hurt the objectivity of your reviews, if that is your concern.

 

[newtekie1]

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

I think overvolt and overclock it has high as it will go. But note when it gets too hot(over say 90°C) and needed a manual fan speed increases to stay below that or if it didn't need a manual fan increase. Also note what the noise level was like with the maximum voltage/overclock.

 

[[Ion]]

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

I think that as high as they can go while keeping the temps & noise levels in check. Or just set the fan to 100% and let it roar

 

[bear jesus]

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

Or just set the fan to 100% and let it roar

I Like the idea of maxing out the fan and seeing how far the card can be pushed and stay within safe temperaures as it would give a good idea of what the heatsink can do when really pushed, plus of corse i'm a little crazy when it comes to pushing things and will happly run an industrial ducting fan to a card to see what it can do on air

Great review as always and i'm really glad you got a hold of one of these as out of all the 460's i have seen i like this one the most so is around the top of my list of possible upgrades after i see what the amd 6xxx cards can do.

Good looking card but useless 1250mhz memory..

I'm a little supprised that the memory could not be pushed further, i had always assumed that it was the memory moduals that were limiting the speed not the card or core.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

i like the card. If i didn't have a Matx board it would be on my list

I would like to see some overvoltage included in the reviews also.
I would do something like have 2 different options for the fan Auto and 100% and use a voltage that is "safe" for 24/7 use

 

[streetfighter 2]

Excellent review and awesome card. Seems a bit out of my price range but the design of the card is really superb and I hope other companies will include features like the easy to access voltages, obnoxiously huge cooler and top of the line voltage regulator circuit.

Please leave feedback in the comments of this review whether you would like to see voltage increases become a permanent testing feature for all cards.

Please almighty W1zzard, do include voltage increases in thine reviews.

I think it especially useful considering that Colorful has gone so far out of their way on the overvolting features with this card (less software).

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

I can't remember where but I saw another review where they just locked the fan at 100% and then started overvolting and overclocking until they couldn't get it stable or temperatures became dangerous. I think that's a great way to give the reader a feeling of how effective/useful the overvolt capability of the card is.

 

[thiskar]

i really think voltage clock should be used even if the manufacturer doesnt have a utility for it, as long as the card supports it. btw may be the best gtx 460 but triple slot, double slot gtx 460 have just as nice cooling.

 

[ebolamonkey3]

Okay, how did W1z get his hands on one of these? I thought they're only being sold in China?

Oh, and definitely need to flash that bios to something in allows volt and fan control and see how far you can take this thing.

 

[damric]

Please leave feedback in the comments of this review whether you would like to see voltage increases become a permanent testing feature for all cards.

Yes. Go for broke!

 

[bear jesus]

I think that with software voltage control becoming more of a normal thing on most high end cards including some increased voltage overclocking results would make for a nice addition to the reviews, even more so as many people here will be using aftermarket coolers or putting their cards under water giving them the ability to easy run 24/7 with higer voltage and safe temps.

 

[alwayssts]

to which level should the cards be overclocked? keep fan settings at default for that ? maybe have some kind of temperature limit ?

I know this would probably be a massive pain in the ass at first, but hear me out.

I would try to find the sweet spots for clocks/power consumption.

For instance, if you look at this chart on Xbit you see Cypress will clock to 800mhz before starting to sip more power, and then jumps off a cliff at >925mhz. (Hey, what are the 6800 series clock speeds again? ) I've noticed this is a similar trait with the other 40nm products, including nvidia's (GTS450's default clock for instance, and what you see high-end AIB partners clocking them at fit these parameters, as does the gtx460 in this review).

For me personally, I don't care if a core will go 5% faster if it uses a ton more power, but at the same time knowing the reasonable upper limits is useful in comparing the absolute value of different products, or understanding which way an AIB bins their products (for power consumption or speed).

I understand that doing this for a new core, or especially a new process technology would be difficult. Perhaps just do it once when a new core configuration is released, or find a reasonable control voltage for best trade-off and best performance/watt across a certain node, and then compare all lines across that control.

It would also be nice to know which if any voltage controller is built into the card (ie Volterra VTxxxx) as some are allowing new features (as you may have seen MSI incorporate into Afterburner recently) Some don't advertise having them as prominently, but that doesn't mean they still don't work!

I know it may sound asinine to ask for any or all of that...but hey, I had to try. I think many people would find it an invaluable resource.

 

[W1zzard]

It would also be nice to know which if any voltage controller is built into the card

check the "a closer look page". i've been showing the voltage controller for ages

 

[JerryTsao]

I'm a staff of Colorful Headquarter in China, I sent the graphics card to Wizzard days ago.
Thanks for Wizzard professional & excellent review.
I don't if it's proper to post here because I am a official guy,however, it's off duty now. ^ ^

It was the first time to arrange graphics card for test in Techpowerup,and I found that there was some differences in review between Asia and Europe.Asia media always tweak the OC capability of the graphics cards, and saw the thermal performance & Noise Level at the same time. And lots of Asian users would find great fun in overclocking.

There were a lot of Round-up test in China, influenced most of Chinese-Language people here, such as zol,pcpop,pconline,mydrivers and etc. You can find reviews of most of brands of hardwares except those European&American brands, such as EVGA,POV,Club 3D and etc. In Chinese media, iGame460 was OCed to 950MHz with overvolt and with low temperature(around 60+ degrees). Hope Wizzard could make a Round-up test, and compare the performance between different GTX460s. : )

 

[Hugis]

So are these just available in the Asian market?

If so thats a shame, id probably snap one of these bad boys up...

edit : found there suppliers in the EU

 

[JerryTsao]

So are these just available in the Asian market?

It's available in Germany and other country in Europe.

 

[HaZe303]

I love my Gigabyte GTX460OC version, it was factory oc´d, but I ramped it up to 800/1600/2000mhz. No problems. Cool & stable... best fermi card in my opinion so far! I have it in my semi ventilated HTPC, and still it stays at 40c @idle and max 70c load (without fan proflile and dead quiet). It would be even better cooled with a custom fan profile. Best nvidia card Ive owned in my opinion (ok my 8800gtx was even better when new)!

 

[Bo$$]

voltage tweaking is standard now, i think you should adopt it in the new reviews

 

[kalawera]

at first the card was announced as 900MHz
http://www.techpowerup.com/129947/Colorful_Unveils_GeForce_GTX_460_iGame_Graphics_Card.html

 

[W1zzard]

at first the card was announced as 900MHz
http://www.techpowerup.com/129947/Colorful_Unveils_GeForce_GTX_460_iGame_Graphics_Card.html

from the conclusion:
When we first heard about the iGame GTX 460 it was rumored that the clock speed would be 900 MHz, so there was some disappointment at first. According to Colorful the 900 MHz were not an official announcement but came from an overclocking team who leaked the numbers which were quickly picked up by the news sites.