MSI's GeForce GTX 480 Lightning promises to be an overclocker's dream. It is build around a completely redesigned PCB and thermal solution with overclockers in mind. The card offers unique features like control for up to three voltages, dual BIOS with liquid nitrogen support and easy to reach voltage measurement points.
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.
Today NVIDIA launches their new low-end GeForce GT 430 Series. The cards which are supposed to replace the GT 220 bring full DirectX 11 support to the table. Power consumption is also low which enables its use in media PC systems.
Today NVIDIA released their new GeForce GTS 450. We take two of these cards for a spin and check whether SLI is an option worth pursuing. In addition to testing at the reference design clocks we also test at 875/1000 which represents two factory overclocked cards in SLI.
The ASUS ENGTS450 TOP DirectCU is a factory overclocked version of the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. It comes with a custom cooling solution called DirectCU which uses heatpipes that make direct contact with the GPU core. In our testing we saw excellent overclocking up to 973 MHz.
The MSI N450GTS Cyclone OC uses MSI's popular Cyclone cooler. The card is factory overclocked which provides a nice performance boost over the NVIDIA reference design. During testing we were impressed by how quiet MSI's cooler can work while also keeping temperatures low.
Palit's GeForce GTS 450 Sonic Platinum comes with 1 GB of fast GDDR5 memory and offers the highest clock rates of the GTS 450 cards we tested today. Running at 932 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory it is able to deliver performance higher than the AMD Radeon HD 5770.
AXLE's GeForce GTS 450 OC is a rock-solid implementation of the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. It uses both a custom PCB and cooling solution to deliver the maximum for your hard earned cash. The cooler is running quiet and offers low temperatures which make an excellent foundation for additional overclocking.
ZOTAC has a long history of releasing overclocked cards that provide extra performance at low cost. Coming at clocks of 873 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory, the card manages to offer 10% extra performance over the NVIDIA reference design, without being noisy or running hot.
The cards for Point of View's GTX 460 TGT Beast are pre-selected based on their overclocking potential. This allows them to run the high clock speed of 855 MHz core and 1005 MHz memory. We take a closer look at this card that is just as fast as the much more expensive GeForce GTX 470.
As the names suggests, the ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU comes with an ASUS DirectCu thermal solution. It also features increased clock speeds of 775 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory which result in about 10% real life improvement. What makes this card really attractive is the low price of $229 which is the same as you would pay for the plain NVIDIA reference design.
PowerColor's HD 5750 Low Profile is the first HD 5700 Series low-profile card on the market. This seems to be a godsend for compact media PC systems that can also handle the latest games at decent resolution and settings. We take this card for a spin to see if it can hold its promise.
MSI's GTX 460 HAWK is the flagship GeForce GTX 460 from MSI. It comes with a quiet Twin Frozr II cooler, 1 GB of memory and 781 MHz core clock out of the box. MSI has also expanded on the voltmodding capability of the card which supports software control for three voltages.
AXLE's GeForce GTX 460 ACE is the first GTX 460 to come with a triple slot cooling solution, by Arctic Cooling in this case. The card also comes pre-overclocked out of the box which results in a healthy performance boost over the reference design.
ZOTAC's new GTX 460 Amp! Edition is the highest clocked GTX 460 version available right now. Its clock speeds of 810 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory ensure it delivers substantially improved performance over the GTX 460 reference design. ZOTAC is also using a custom cooling solution and includes a full version of Prince of Persia with their card.
Running at 800 MHz GPU and 1000 MHz memory, Palit's GTX 460 Sonic Platinum is one of the highest clocked GTX 460 cards out there. It also comes with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory which can provide a performance boost over the 768 MB variants too. Being priced at reasonable $249 this card looks like a good alternative to a reference design purchase.
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460 has been released today with big success. The cards improve on power and noise, offering great performance considering the price. This brings up the obvious question: how do these cards handle SLI? At $460 total the 2-way SLI config is cheaper than NVIDIA's flagship GTX 480, but is it worth it?
MSI's GeForce GTX Cyclone OC uses NVIDIA's latest graphics processor, the GF104. But MSI has not stopped there, they use their own "Cyclone" cooling solution and have increased the cards operating clock to 728 MHz. As a result this 768 MB card is faster than the 1 GB version of the reference design.
Today NVIDIA launches their new GTX 460 Series. Axle is following the reference design implementation to the letter which means the card shows all the new improvements like low power, less fan noise and massive overclocking potential. Thanks to the memory choice of 768 MB it is also more cost effective than the 1 GB variant.
Zotac's GeForce GTX 460 is equipped with 1 GB of video memory and also brings in small improvements like an additional DisplayPort connector and better bundle at $229 which is no price increase from the price of other cards.
MSI's 1 GB version of the GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone uses 1024 MB of fast GDDR5 memory and clock speeds of 728 MHz to make it the fastest GTX 460 variant out there today. With a price of $239, it is only $10 more expensive than the reference design.
ARES is ASUS' latest graphics card monster creation. The card is based on two HD 5870 GPUs running in an internal CrossFire configuration. ASUS has also be generous with the video memory, a total of 4 GB is available on the card. Thanks to a custom heatsink design the card manages to handle the heat well, but can you handle the price of $1000 a piece?
In this review we test two ASUS ARES cards in a 4-GPU CrossFire combination. With a total price of $2000 for those cards this is certainly not for everybody. For additional reference we also combined the ARES with a HD 5970 and a HD 5870.
The HIS Radeon HD 5550 is based on the HD 5550 design but comes equipped with fast GDDR5 memory and a passive cooling solution. This allows for high-quality HD movie playback and playing most games at Xbox-360 like 720p resolution.
Axle's Radeon HD 5670 comes with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, which is twice that of the reference design. The thermal solution has also been changed to one that runs cool and quiet, thanks to a fan design by Arctic Cooling.
