Final Words & Conclusion

The Verdict

The Inno3D GeForce GTX 460 with 1024MB is a lovely product. The baseline performance of this card is just really good as you'll receive a default overclock of the GPU at 750 MHz,  The graphics memory was bumped up 200 MHz as well, and that gives this product a nice kick over the reference product alright. Of all the GTX 460 cards tested this one ranks and takes the 3rd place of them all.

There are a few remarks to be made though, the power consumption of this card was simple put high as well as the GPU heat levels. Both with measurements at such a level we are convinced we received a non-final product. E.g. Inno3D did rush out this card to us for a review, and we suspect that the GPU needs a little BIOS voltage tweaking. Knowing Inno3D I have every confidence this is fixed with the final retail products.

A bit of a missed opportunity we feel the color design of the product. A green PCB, the cooler with a purple themed sticker .. that really doesn't work well in western regions. We know it's a considered a kick'ass color scheme in the Asian regions sure, but we would have preferred a black PCB with a dark themed style.

Performance wise it remains difficult to justify the extra 256MB memory and 8 ROP clusters over the cheaper 768MB models. The difference is not huge but definitely can be measured. In the long run the extra 256MB memory however will be a much saver bet. Especially with upcoming DX11 titles long shaders and huge textures might benefit from some more frame buffer.

When you grab the AfterBurner tweak application you can apply a little extra voltage on the GPU, yes this MSI application works fine on this Inno3D product as well since it uses the very same Voltage Regulation IC. The result is that typically you'd overclock just over 800 MHz on the core, yet with that added GPU voltage 850 MHz is roughly what this card seems to be capable off. Coming from a 675 MHz reference frequency that means instant extra performance and thus value. We do feel that the cooler at such an overclock becomes an issue in terms of noise and heat levels. Then again, if Inno3D can optimize their BIOS a little better the results might become better as well. Time will tell.

For the money you need to put down you can expect to get what you pay for, a lovely mid-range product that will play your games up-to 1600x1200, and in most cases 1920x1200 quite well. What keeps surprising us is the tremendous overclocking potential, pretty much any and every card we tested to date has shown a lot of reserve and room for overclocking, and they scale really well while doing so. Any card, even the cheapest you can find, can be pushed to 800 MHz on the core.

The Inno3D GTX 460 OC 1024MB comes recommended, but the smaller quirks we ran into do need to be solved. Other then that we see very nice performance across the board and it's nearly scary to see how close this card is to a reference clocked GeForce GTX 470 performance wise. At this point we have tested no less than twelve GTX 460 class cards, and this card takes the 3rd place in overall performance ranking. A card like this allows you to play any game to date with high image quality settings up-to 1600x1200 and in most scenarios 1920x1200 as well. At this price level, that is just really good overall value.

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