One of the most significant new products of 2010 in the segment of mid-range graphics cards was NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465. This graphics accelerator was based on the semiconductor base of more advanced solutions - ZHTIks 470 and ZHTIks 480. But unlike them, the cost of this product was significantly lower. All this in total made this solution one of the best in the niche of mid-range graphics cards.
Product History
The upper segment of graphic accelerators at the time of the release of the NVidia Geforce GTX 465 was occupied by ZHTIks 470 and ZHTIx 480. These were the most productive solutions that provided the highest possible level of video card performance in a single-chip layout. The GTX 465 was located lower in the hierarchy. The difference between these devices consisted in the number of units involved, the number of which was least of all in the hero of this review - ZHTIks 465. Even lower on the step was the "ZHTIks 460". This video card was already based on a completely different semiconductor chip. Its parameters were more modest, but energy efficiency is much better.
Contents of delivery
The package bundle in this model of the graphics accelerator is as follows:
In some cases, this list was supplemented by special adapters for creating configurations with multiple adapters. The most interesting solution in this regard was the MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 with the prefix GE +. In this case, a set of additional software included a proprietary utility that allowed in some situations to unlock idle computing units and thereby turn this product from the GTX 465 into a more productive GTX 470.
Parameters of the technical plan of the graphics accelerator
The characteristics of the GeForce GTX 465 graphics card are not impressive at that time, but still they are typical for a mid-range solution. The semiconductor crystal itself was manufactured using 40 nm technology. Its area was 526 mm 2 , and the number of transistors was 3200 million pieces. Moreover, the maximum power in this case is 200 watts. In turn, this GPU had 352 stream processors, and 44 texture units, 32 rendering units. The nominal accelerator clock frequency was 600 MHz, and the random access memory frequency was 3200 MHz. In this case, the bus width of the random access memory device is 256 bits. The accelerator itself is optimized for the PCI Express revision 2.0 bus. Well, the most recent supported DirectX modification is 11.0.
Memory
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 accelerator was imprisoned for the use of standard GDRDR5 memory. Its characteristics indicated a 256-bit bus. It was this indicator that was the limiting factor that did not allow it to come closer to the more powerful GTX 470 in terms of performance already with a 320 - bit RAM bus. At the same time, the younger model in the face of the GTX 460 already had a similar bus width of random access memory - 256 bits. But here the more modest parameters of the GTX 460 chip itself made it possible to obtain a certain advantage in terms of speed, namely the GTX 465. The recommended amount of RAM in this case was 1 GB, and its clock frequency was 3200 MHz. All this in total made it possible to obtain a bandwidth of the order of 102 Gb / s.
Overclocking
Any NVIDIA Geforce GTX 465 graphics card was equipped with a high-quality cooling system. Therefore, in this case, as a rule, there were no problems with overclocking. The only important condition is the presence of a power supply with increased power, the minimum value of which in this case should be equal to 750 watts. For the rest, it should be noted that the overclocking potential of the GTX 465 is much better than that of the older models in the face of the GTX 470 and GTX 480. This nuance is easily explained by the reduced number of blocks involved, which are least of all in the younger model. As a result, from the base frequencies of 607 MHz for the chip and 3200 MHz for memory, you can get 825 MHz and 4040 MHz, respectively. In percentage terms, this is about 35 percent. Such an increase is not enough to bridge the difference between the GTX 465 and the older model, but this will significantly reduce the gap.
Analogs
As noted earlier, direct competitors in the camp of "green" video cards for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 there were GTX 460 and GTX 470 models , between which this accelerator was located in terms of performance. The first of them was a more affordable solution, it was not so rare to find it on a PC at that time. The second one closed the initial level of the premium segment. His price was appropriate. On the part of ATI, there was only one competitor - HD 5830. From the standpoint of value, it also belonged to this price category. But its performance against the background of the GTX 460 and GTX 465 was not impressive. Therefore, the GTX 465 was rightfully considered the best graphics card in this niche at that time.
Tests
In almost all tests, the GTX 465 did not leave its competitors in the face of the GTX 460 and Radeon HD5830. For example, the then-popular Call of Duty toy of the Modern Warfare 2 version showed the following results in 1920x1200 resolution: for the GTX 465 37 frames per second, the GTX 460 - 32, and for the HD5830 - 35. If you overclock the graphics accelerators, you could get 47 images per second for the first accelerator (chip and memory frequencies were 825 MHz and 4040 MHz, respectively), 39 for the GTX 460 (850 MHz and 4280 MHz) and 40 for the HD5830 (915 MHz and 5200 MHz). Despite the fact that the frequencies of the latest video cards were higher, they significantly lost in performance to the GTX 465. It was the improved architecture of the semiconductor chip of the graphics accelerator that allowed it to beat its direct competitors with more modest frequency parameters.
The second important factor is the improved overclocking potential, which allowed to obtain 30-35 percent of additional performance. A similar situation was in StarCraft 2 version of Wings of Liberty. The first place in 1920x1200 mode was occupied by the same GTX 465. Its number of frames in the basic mode was equal to 75, and overclocking allowed to increase this value to 76. In second place is the GTX 460 with indicators of 74 and 75, respectively. Well, the decision of ATI failed at all. Its values were 49 and 56. The previous distributions by the number of frames per second were valid for most toys of that time. The first place in this case was stably occupied by solutions based on the GTX 465. The other two products in this niche with varying success occupied either the second or the third place. Moreover, the advantage in this case was on the side of the GTX 460. The only plus that could counter the ATI solution to its competitors was energy efficiency. Everything else was on the side of NVIDIA.
The cost of the device and reviews about it
Initially, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 465 graphics card could not be cheap. The price recommended by the manufacturer was $ 280. Given the positioning of this solution, such a price tag is not unusual. The main disadvantage of this board is its high power of 200 watts. Against the background of the power of the younger model of 160 watts, this figure looks really overpriced. But on the other hand, it is necessary to take into account the fact that they belong to different product families. They even have various modifications of semiconductor crystals used. Otherwise, the advantage is mostly on the side of the model with the index 465. This is a higher level of performance in the basic mode, and excellent overclocking potential, and even the ability to unlock idle modules in some cases. Be that as it may, but with a comparable cost, the technical parameters look better precisely with the model with the marking 465. This is exactly what the reviews of the owners of this product indicate.
Summary
One of the best mid-range accelerators in 2010 was the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 graphics card. Against the background of the younger model with an index of 460, it had a higher level of performance. But energy efficiency for this reason could not boast. From the position of the price / performance ratio in this segment, it was out of competition. Most of the tests in various modes directly confirmed this once again.