Legit Video Card Reviews

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB and 1GB Video Card Reviews

Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Product: GeForce GTX 460
Date: Sun, Jul 11, 2010 - 11:00 PM
Written By: Nathan Kirsch -
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Temperature Testing

Since video card temperatures and the heat generated by next-generation cards have become an area of concern among enthusiasts and gamers, we want to take a closer look at how the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB graphics card does at idle and under a full load.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB Video Card Idle Temperature:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 GPU-Z 0.4.4

At idle on an open test bench the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 4601GB has some very impressive temperature numbers, which is amazing for a reference card with budget friendly cooling!  We were seeing right around 28C (82.4F) at idle it a room that was pushing 77F since it is summer.  As you can see from the screen shot above, the idle state of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 drops the GPU core clock frequency down to 50.6MHz and the memory clock down to 67.5MHz to help conserve power and lower temperatures. The fan spins at 40% rotation speed when at idle and is very quiet.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB Reference Video Card Load Temperature:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Video Card Load Temperature Testing Results

We fired up FurMark and ran the stability at 640x480, which was enough to put the GPU at 100% load in order to get the highest load temperature possible. This application also charts the temperature results so you can see how the temperature rises and levels off, which is very nice. The fan on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB video card was left on auto during temperature testing and the fan speed is dynamic. This means that it will increase/decrease depending on the GPU temp and GPU load. When we hit the space bar to stop the rendering the temperature dropped. The peak temperature reported on the open air test bench was 71C!  This is a very good temperature to observe on the open test bench like this and with stock cooling!  The GeForce GTX 460 is a very temperature friendly card unlike the GTX470 and GTX480 as they can push 100C at full load with just a single monitor plugged in! The GeForce GTX 460 is nothing like that and during casual gaming in a PC case we would hit between 55-65C, which is perfectly fine.

Next Page - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Overclocking


Review Index
Page 1 - GeForce GTX 460 Brings NVIDIA DX11 to $199
Page 2 - A Closer Look At The GeForce GTX460
Page 3 - Video Card Test System
Page 4 - Batman: Arkham Asylum
Page 5 - Resident Evil 5
Page 6 - Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Page 7 - 3DMark Vantage
Page 8 - Unigine 'Heaven' DX11
Page 9 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Page 10 - Aliens vs. Predator
Page 11 - FurMark 1.8.2
Page 12 - Power Consumption
Page 13 - Temperature Testing
Page 14 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Overclocking
Page 15 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions