The Verdict
The MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK edition with 1024MB did not disappoint. It is an eye-catching card to look at, the design is good throughout all places. Along with the card comes the extras like pre-overclock, custom PCB, phase-LEDs, voltage monitoring points and the Twin Frz II cooler. Also let's not forget the triple over voltage function MSI implemented, allowing you guys to tweak the GPU/Memory/PLL voltage with the help of the MSI afterburner application.
The improved Twin Frozr II series cooler does a good job of cooling the product while keeping the noise levels at a normal and acceptable level. We do have to mention though that this cooler design dumps the residual heat from the GPU directly into your PC, and thus does not exhaust. Especially while overclocking with added voltage on the GPU, this card will release a serious amount of heat. Make sure you have plenty of airflow in the PC/chassis to get rid of that heat okay ?
Other than the cooler remark this really is an impressive little product. We can't help feeling though that we really wanted just a tiny bite more out of it, with the luxurious voltage options we really aimed for a 1 GHz overclock, but after 950 MHz we ran into troubles if we started to really stress the GPU. This remains the reality, some cards from a batch might go a little higher, and others won't. But 950 MHz is very manageable, and if you get a number higher then that can be considered a bonus. Ah well, 950 MHz on the 1024MB is in fact a grand overclock.
Small tip, if you decide to tweak with added voltages, please bare in mind that you only should increase voltage when needed. We tried it out, we flicked open all voltages to the maximum aux/mem/gpu. Then put the card at 950 MHz and 4400 MHz on the memory and started watching ... with just the GPU stressed (100%) we noticed an increase from 347W power draw (for the entire PC) towards 502 Watt. So while overclocking will increase power consumption, adding extra voltage will seriously impact power consumption which is not always needed (high voltage). Power consumption wise, some care about this, others don't ... so that's your call. See even without added voltage tweaking; 900 to 950 MHz is still a realistic number to achieve.
Regardless of your preferences, we do have to admit we liked the HAWK quite a lot. It's something different in the GeForce GTX 460 series, make no mistake, the reference cards are just excellent all by themselves, but we like the little extras and niche options.
Performance wise you'll have noting to complain about, pretty much any game up-to 1920x1200 will run just fine with a fairly decent set of image quality preferences enabled. The GeForce GTX 460 is a huge success story, and the MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK brings it a level higher. But gosh golly darn it ... I really wanted to reach 1 GHz stable !
If you can find the MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK (tagged as N460GTX HAWK) for the right price, we can wholeheartedly recommend this product. The sheer design and quality components alone make this an awesome product which you'll like very much, and is something that the more tweaking and enthusiast crowd will like very much.
More info on the HAWK can be found here.
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