Choice of GTX 460 available

TiNcAn

Hey

Looking to buy a gtx 460 but as you might be well aware of that these cards are hot cookies at the moment and come in all sorts of flavours so I am wondering which is the bets for me.

I am looking to go sli with the possibilty of going watercooling in the future??

So I narrowed it down to 4 candidates listed below in no particular order.

1. Palit/XpertVision GeForce GTX 460 Sonic, 1024MB GDDR5 - The cheapest of the bunch and is just good value I think

2. Palit/XpertVision GeForce GTX 460 Sonic Platinum, 1024MB - A bit more expensive but comes pre overcooked so it is always nice to have that sense of security if things fail.

3. Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC, 1024MB GDDR5 - Is decently overclocked but also comes with better cooler than the most of the OCed version except from the MSI version but that is expenisve.

4. Palit/XpertVision GeForce GTX 460 Sonic, 2048MB GDDR5 - This bad boy comes with 2 gb of ram which makes me think it would be good for sli but is not factory overclocked.

So which do you suggest. I am slight leaning towards number 4 as it does not have an amazing cooler on it but can be overclocked like all 460 but will gte a bit toasty (with the possibility of watercooling in future as I said). It also has 2 gb of ram which sounds sweet to me.

Thanks

cherryghost

I've read and seen Gainwards GTX460 GS in action, its truly epic overclocked. Even on its factory clocks it wipes the floor with every other 460

Chuck Finlay

The 2GB version is unnecessary, it only has superior performance in insane settings, see expreview.
So far I have read user reports that go like this:
The Palit/Xpert/Gainwards (especially their standard OC versions with 800Mhz) go fast like hell, but are quite loud and hot, they are missing a VRM heatsink. Additionally, they dont appear to have a P03 Domain in their BIOS for multimonitoring setups, which means that they don't clock down in Idle-mode with 2 monitors. But I think there is a new BIOS version out for that now.
The Gigabyte is probably the best of the 460 series, it's quiet, has a brilliant cooler and a VRM heatsink. But while multimonitoring it doesn't clock down, same as the Palit.
The MSI Cyclone is practically as quiet and cool as a Gigabyte OC, has no problems with dual monitors, but is missing a VRM heatsink.
Okay, this is getting confusing now
The Sparkle is reference design and one of the best 460s out there, as far as I can tell, no problems with multiple screens, but is missing a VRM sink.
Then there's the Leadtek, reference design, clocks down with 2 screens AND has a VRM sink, which makes it my favorite. Plus, the Leadtek's BIOS can put the fan down to 20% in idle, contrary to all the other cards (40%).
Overall, all of the 460s are easily overclockable like hell, I haven't heard of a single chip that is not going to at least 800MHz, so it is not really necessary to get a pre-overclocked one.
Damn you, wall of text. What did I want to say?
The Gigabyte is perfectly recommendable. If you are using 2 screens and want your card to clock down in idle mode, the Leadtek is the choice.

TiNcAn

Well I was impatient and ordered the 2gb version hastely last night thinking that if mulitmonitor setup with sli configuration was ever going to happen its what I would want to have but now I am not so sure.

kind of regretting that I didnt go for the Gigabyte now but I suppose in the end its much the same. hmmmm

zappb

Thanks for listing the cards,

These GTX 260's are fabulous cards, really the sweet spot on price / performance.


Just so everyone knows however,


Radeon Southern Islands (6000 series cards) will be on sale in november,

It's expected that amd will heavily discount cards like the 5850, I would recommend everyone wait a couple of months :(

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/19442