Legit Video Card Reviews

MSI GeForce N460GTX Cyclone 1GD5 Overclocked Video Card Review

Manufacturer: Micro-Star International
Product: N460GTX Cyclone 1GD5 OC
Date: Wed, Aug 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Nathan Kirsch -
Share:

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 MSI GeForce GTX 460 1GB graphics card does at idle and under a full load.

MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GB GDDR5 Video Card Idle Temperature Results:

MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GB video card GPU-Z 0.4.4 Details

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.  At idle on an open test bench the MSI N460GTC Cyclone 1GB video card temperature was observed at 29C. The fan speed on the card was running at 40% and it was silent. This is around the same temperature that we see on reference cards, but it is summer time and the room temperature has been hard to keep constant when it's 100F outside and you have a number of computers running benchmarks in a single room.

MSI N460GTX GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 1GB Video Card Load Temperature:

MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GB video card Load Temperature Testing Results

We fired up FurMark and ran the stability at 640x480, which was enough to put both of the GPUs 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 61C. Compared to the reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 design the idle temperature is about the same, but the load temperature was 10C lower thanks to the MSI Cyclone cooling solution.  This is a 14% drop in the GPU temperature of the GF104 core, which is great to see.

Next Page - MSI GeForce GTX 460 1GB Overclocking


Review Index
Page 1 - The MSI N460GTX Cyclone Video Card
Page 2 - A Closer Look at the N460GTX Cyclone
Page 3 - Retail Box and Bundle
Page 4 - GeForce GTX 460 Test Settings
Page 5 - Batman: Arkham Asylum
Page 6 - Resident Evil 5
Page 7 - Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Page 8 - 3DMark Vantage
Page 9 - Unigine 'Heaven' DX11
Page 10 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Page 11 - Aliens vs. Predator
Page 12 - FurMark 1.8.2
Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 14 - Temperature Testing
Page 15 - MSI GeForce GTX 460 1GB Overclocking
Page 16 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions