Legit Video Card Reviews
ASUS GeForce ENGTX460 TOP 768MB Video Card Review
| Manufacturer: | ASUS |
| Product: | TOP/2DI/768MD5 |
| Date: | Fri, Jul 23, 2010 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Nathan Kirsch - |
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The ASUS ENGTX460 Top VoltageTweak
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB graphics card is proving to be very successful and today we are taking a look at our very first custom designed GTX460! We have already reviewed the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB reference card and a pair of EVGA GeForce GTX 460 768MB SuperClocked video cards in SLI, so we will jump right into this review as the GTX460 needs no introduction.
The card that we are looking at today is the ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 video card! What makes this card special is the fact that it uses a custom designed PCB and GPU cooler, plus it comes factory overclocked for an extra performance boost. The ENGTX460 Top has been sorted to ensure the card can operate flawlessly at above 700MHz and that is critical for those that want to be ensured their card can overclock. To help overclockers even more ASUS uses a DirectCU GPU cooler that has two 8mm flattened copper heat-pipes that make direct contact with the GPU that helps improve cooling by 20% when compared to the NVIDIA reference design. If that isn't enough, ASUS also includes their SmartDoctor utility with VoltageTweak. This means you can bump up the GPU core voltage in just a few mouse clicks if needed.
The front of the ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP is pretty plain, but features a decent looking black fan shroud with some go fast green NVIDIA stripes on it. This fan design won't exhaust all the hot air from the inside of your case since the shroud doesn't extend all the way to the exhaust bracket. The card measures 9.5" in length and stands at 4.7" tall.
Flipping the ASUS GeForce GTX 460 video card over we don't find too many interesting things, but there is a small metal plate that acts like a heatsink for some components. Notice that the fan shroud extends well past the PCB for some strange reason. We aren't sure why ASUS would make the shroud longer than the PCB as you'd want the card as small as possible, but they did. The GeForce GTX 460 graphics card does support SLI and has a single SLI bridge located along the top edge of the graphics card. The NVIDIA GTX 460 series supports two-way SLI configurations and can run NVIDIA Surround (2D) multi-panel gaming technologies. That means you can buy two of these and run games like Bad Company 2 at a resolution of 5760 x 1200 across three monitors for example.
The ASUS GeForce GTX 460 GDDR5 graphics card has a pair of dual-link DVI-I outputs along with a mini-HDMI output header. ASUS does not include an adapter with their bundle, but they do include a DVI-to-HDMI adapter. Both the Dual-link DVI and HDMI outputs can be used to send high-definition video to an HDTV via single cable (including audio if running HDMI). A regular sized HDMI header was not used since it couldn't fit next to the pair of DVI outputs.
The ASUS GeForce GTX 460 video card requires a 450 Watt or greater power supply with a minimum of 24 Amps on the +12 volt rail. It also requires that the power supply has two 6-pin PCI Express power connectors for proper connection. It should be noted that the NVIDIA minimum system power requirement is based on a PC configured with an Intel Core i7 3.2GHz CPU. If you want to run SLI we have been told that a 600 Watt or greater power supply is suggested by NVIDIA. NVIDIA refuses to give +12V requirements for SLI, which is strange since they suggest them for single card solutions. ASUS is the only company making a GeForce GTX 460 that has the power connectors coming off the top of the video card rather than the butt end of the card. This is great for those with small computer cases.
Let's see what is under the heat sink and then take a look at the bundle.
Next Page - The ENGTX460 Top GPU Cooler
| Review Index |
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Page 1 - The ASUS ENGTX460 Top VoltageTweak
Page 2 - The ENGTX460 Top GPU Cooler Page 3 - Retail Box and Bundle Page 4 - ASUS Smart Doctor & Gamer OSD Utilities Page 5 - GeForce GTX 460 Test Settings Page 6 - Batman: Arkham Asylum Page 7 - Resident Evil 5 Page 8 - Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. Page 9 - 3DMark Vantage Page 10 - Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Page 11 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Page 12 - Aliens vs. Predator Page 13 - FurMark 1.8.2 Page 14 - Power Consumption Page 15 - Temperature Testing Page 16 - ASUS GeForce GTX 460 768MB Overclocking Page 17 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions |
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