Digital Alliance GTX 460 768MB: New Chip, Custom Cooling
Barely a few months after NVIDIA launched its GeForce GTX 465 series of GPU, the GTX 460 soon followed. Although it is actually based on the same Fermi architecture, the GTX 460 comes with a different codename. Previous Fermi GPUs are codenamed GF100, while the codename reserved for this particular GPU is “GF104”. Judging from the numbers in their names, it seems like NVIDIA brings along several fixes in the GF104. The GeForce GTX 460 itself comes in two variants, easily distinguishable from the amount on-board memories on each variant: the 768 MB version, and the 1 GB model.
The GeForce GTX 460 is aimed directly at the mainstream market segment, which happens to be the one of the most important battleground for GPU manufacturers since it contributes a rather large amount of sales. Usually, users in this segment are lured toward graphics cards with better (more balanced) price-performance ratio. A 768 MB version of the GeForce GTX 460 sells for around US$ 199, while its beefier sibling, the 1 GB variant, is priced at around US$ 229. A local brand, Digital Alliance (DA), happens to supply us with both their 768 MB and 1 GB GeForce GTX 460 graphics card samples. Eager to see how the GTX 460 performs, we immediately took them out of their boxes and plug them on one of our test rigs. This first article specifically focuses on the 768 Mb version.
Digital Alliance GTX 460 768 MB
Specification
Digital Alliance GTX 460 | NVIDIA GTX 460 768 MB, Reference Specs | |
Fabrication Process | 40 nm | 40 nm |
Transistors | 1.95 billion | 1.95 billion |
Die Size | 320 mm² | 320 mm² |
Core Clock | 675 MHz | 675 MHz |
Stream Processors | 336 | 336 |
Shader Clock | 1350 MHz | 1350 MHz |
Texture Units | 56 | 56 |
ROPs | 24 | 24 |
Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
Memory Size | 768 MB | 768 MB |
Memory Clock (effective) | 3600 MHz | 3600 MHz |
Memory Interface | 192-bit | 192-bit |
DirectX Version | 11 | 11 |
Shader Model | 5 | 5 |
Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | 2x 6-pin |
Bus Support | PCIe 2.1 x16 | PCIe 2.1 x16 |
Digital Alliance GTX 460 768 follows NVIDIA’s reference specification. It requires at least a 450 watt power supply.