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GTX260 to GTX460

Craig321

Craig321

Craig321

Soldato
Joined
2 May 2004
Posts
19,950
I'm thinking of getting a GTX460, from benchmarks it looks like it's got almost double the power, for £130 or so I'll be happy with that!

Is it truly that much more power than the GTX260. Is it worth waiting for anything that's coming out in the same price range?

Is it worth going for the 1GB model? I'm running a single 24" screen.

Thanks,
Craig.
 
Hi. I recently went from a BFG 260 GTX to an MSI HAWK 460.

Not sure about the "double the power", that's certainly not my personal experience. Though obviously varies depending on game/resolution/settings etc.

Clocked at the level I currently have my 460 to, I would say it's nearer average 60%+. And that's backed up pretty much by the games I currently play and synthetic benchmarks (EG. Vantage). Though some games (EG. FarCry2) have just about doubled performance wise.

I'm assuming from the price, you are talking 768MB version. AnandTech has a decent tool to compare GPU's
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/170?vs=156

Though there are loads of reviews out there and depending on what games/resolution/settings, the results can vary a fair bit.

As mentioned in numerous posts at the moment, I would wait and see what ATI/AMD's new offerings look like.

If I had my time again, I would personally go for one of the better cooled 470's that are now available. Though this looks like it's a fair bit over your current budget.

PS. I would tend to agree with the previous poster about considering the 1GB version. Though I hesitate to say this considering the HUGE thread that has been raging on for days about this now! Please no flaming on this issue please guys!
 
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Looks good, any reason why the GTX260 beats it in Left 4 Dead? I don't have the game, but am interested to know why.

Also, I have the GTX260 core 192 so I should seen even more of a boost.

mikeo said:
Though this looks like it's a fair bit over your current budget.
Click to expand...

Yeah, unfortunately it is. I'm not spending too much as it's just an upgrade. When I buy a new PC in the next couple of years I'll go all out like I did back when I got my 8800GTX. What an amazing card that was :D, until it broke and gave me weeks of grief because it didn't break properly :rolleyes:
 
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mikeo said:
Hi. I recently went from a BFG 260 GTX to an MSI HAWK 460.

Not sure about the "double the power", that's certainly not my personal experience. Though obviously varies depending on game/resolution/settings etc.

Clocked at the level I currently have my 460 to, I would say it's nearer average 60%+. And that's backed up pretty much by the games I currently play and synthetic benchmarks (EG. Vantage). Though some games (EG. FarCry2) have just about doubled performance wise.!
Click to expand...
The reason you are seeing such a huge boost in Far Cry 2 is because that game love the extra CPU cores, while the same may be cannot be said for the games which you don't see too much performance boost. Check your GPU usage in those games.
 
Craig321 said:
Looks good, any reason why the GTX260 beats it in Left 4 Dead? I don't have the game, but am interested to know why.

Also, I have the GTX260 core 192 so I should seen even more of a boost.



Yeah, unfortunately it is. I'm not spending too much as it's just an upgrade. When I buy a new PC in the next couple of years I'll go all out like I did back when I got my 8800GTX. What an amazing card that was :D, until it broke and gave me weeks of grief because it didn't break properly :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

As to Left 4 Dead. Not sure... Could be a driver thing. Someone else might be able to offer a better suggestion.

Fair enough... re your 260/192.

Fair enough about your upgrading comment.

I would suggest its a decent enough upgrade. Though if wanting the 768MB version, I would suggest the MSI Cyclone. From what other peps say, it OCs well enough. Though I'd still push the boat out a bit and get a 1GB version if it was me.

Though since new AT/AMD cards are supposed to be surfacing this Friday (I think it is) and they are supposed to be in competition with the Nvidia 460. I would still recommend holding off a week and seeing how they pan out. But who am I to suggest patience! My finger has that nasty habit of pushing that "buy it now" button at the most inappropriate times :D
 
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Marine-RX179 said:
The reason you are seeing such a huge boost in Far Cry 2 is because that game love the extra CPU cores, while the same may be cannot be said for the games which you don't see too much performance boost. Check your GPU usage in those games.
Click to expand...

Well bugger me (so to speak). How did you know I had an E8400 when originally playing FarCry2!?!?! I had forgot about that.

Still like the card though. If anything I play starts to struggle, it's just an excuse to buy something else, or maybe try SLI (P55/I5 SLI re-build here I come).

God theres' no end to spending money on this hobby. Though what's new here, could have bought a new house for the money I've spent on PC bits and pieces over the last 30 years or so. I still remember that first text adventure on the old ICL mainframe with affection.
 
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Seeing as you're using as 24" monitor and you want it to last a couple of years I'd definately recommend the 1GB version.

A lot of new games (and even some not so new ones) are using close to or even surpassing the 768MB limit you'd have on the cheaper card.

This results in "texture thrashing" stuttering and sudden drops in framerate as the pc has to resort to using main system memory.

This will only increase over time with the advent of more complex graphics.

Of course if you don't mind turning the level of detail down or lowering the resolution the 768MB model would probably just about do you.......for a while at least ;)

OcUK have dropped the prices a little more today so the difference between the 768MB card and the 1GB model is now down to just thirty quid.
 
Another vote for the 1GB model. Lets just hope this doesn't descend into a war of words about 768vs1024MB graphics cards like a previous thread!
 
I went from a 280 to a 470, and yeah seems a fair chunk quicker, i would expect a similar increase from a 260 to 460, if you have the 192 core version, the 460 has around 330 odd cores, so thats a fair old increase from the 192 on the 260
 
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