Inno3D GTX 460 1GB OC Review

RHKCommander959 - July 13, 2010
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Testing:

To test the Inno3D GTX 460, it will be run through a volley of games and benchmarks. After completing the trials at stock, the tests will then be repeated at stable overclocked speeds. The results will then be compared to similar products on graphs that show what performs the best and worst for that bracket. Testing is conducted on a test system running Microsoft Windows 7 with several recently released games to give a good coverage of results. Settings do not change during the testing, and PhysX is disabled for testing 3DMark Vantage.

Processor: Intel i7 920 @ 3.60GHz
Motherboard: MSI X58 Platinum
Memory: Mushkin Redline DDR3 1600MHz 6-8-6-24
Video Card: Inno3D GTX 460 1GB OC
Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt modular power supply
Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 7200.12 1TB SATA
Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Case: Hiper Osiris

Comparison Video Cards:

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

Inno3D GTX 460 OCÂ 917/1834

Overclocking the Inno3D GTX 460 was simply trial and error to find where it became unstable with the core/shader speed (they are locked together). The card ran up to 940MHz core unstable - higher would cause freezing. Stability was gained around 917MHz. The core overclock was 22% over the already factory-overclocked core speed, and 36% over the reference clock speed! MSI Afterburner 1.6.1 was able to change the core/memory speeds, but not the fan. I used Ntune to change the fan speed, but it was not linear, as 100% equated to 70% real speed as reported by GPU-Z and MSI Afterburner. Software voltage control is not supported by this video card, and I cannot confirm if it is the hardware or if the software available now just doesn't support it.

Maximum Clock Speeds:

Each card has been tested for its maximum stable clock speeds using MSI's Kombuster utility. So far, my testing has shown that higher clock speeds may be stable in games where GPU usage does not reach 100%,Â but will crash within a few minutes using this utility. The reported clock speeds are those that proved stable over a 15 minute test at 1920x1200 8x AA.