EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked Video Card Review

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked Video Card Review
By Gabriel Torres on June 7, 2010

Introduction

GeForce GTX 465 is the latest DirectX 11-based graphics chip released by NVIDIA, being more accessible than the GTX 470 and GTX 480 models. At USD 280 – USD 300 it is quoted exactly between the Radeon HD 5830 (USD 240 – USD 275) and Radeon HD 5850 (USD 295 – USD 335). Let’s see how this factory-overclocked version from EVGA dubbed SuperClocked (SC) edition fared in our tests.

The new GeForce GTX 465 uses the same core and shader clock rates as GeForce GTX 470 (607 MHz and 1,215 MHz respectively), but it uses a 256-bit memory interface (GTX 470 uses a 320-bit memory interface) and a memory clock that is a little bit lower (3,206 MHz vs. 3,348 MHz). It also has a lower number of graphics engines (a.k.a. “shaders” or “CUDA cores”): 352 against 448. In the table below we compare the main specifications of the four video cards we included in our review. The SuperClocked model from EVGA comes with a small 3% overclocking.

Video Card	Core Clock	Shader Clock	Memory Clock (Real)	Memory Clock (Effective)	Memory Interface	Memory Transfer Rate	Memory	Shaders	DirectX
GeForce GTX 465	607 MHz	1,215 MHz	801.5 MHz	3,206 MHz	256-bit	102.6 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	352	11
EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SC	625 MHz	1,250 MHz	805 MHz	3,220 MHz	256-bit	103 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	352	11
Radeon HD 5830	800 MHz	800 MHz	1 GHz	4 GHz	256-bit	128 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	1,120	11
Radeon HD 5850	725 MHz	725 MHz	1 GHz	4 GHz	256-bit	128 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	1,440	11

You can compare the specs of these video cards with other video cards by taking a look at our AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table and NVIDIA Chips Comparison Table tutorials.

Now let’s take a complete look at this model from EVGA.

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked

At this moment EVGA offers two GeForce GTX 465 versions, one running at NVIDIA’s recommended clocks (01G-P3-1465-AR) and the one that we reviewed, SuperClocked (SC, 01G-P3-1467-AR), which has a light overclocking. As you know by now, we are reviewing the SuperClocked model.

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Figure 1: EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked.

This video card has three video outputs: two DVI-D and one HDMI.

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Figure 2: Video connectors.

On Figures 3 and 4 you have an overall look from the card.

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Figure 3: EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked.

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Figure 4: EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked.

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked (Cont’d)

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked follow NVIDIA’s reference model. The available heatsink uses four copper heatpipes (which make direct contact with the graphics chip) and aluminum fins, but it doesn’t touch the memory chips.

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Figure 5: Video card with cover removed.

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Figure 6: GPU cooler.

In Figure 7, you can see the video card with the heatsink removed. This card uses ferrite chokes on its voltage regulator circuit and only solid capacitors. On the top part of the card you can see the SLI connectors and the two six-pin auxiliary power connectors.

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Figure 7: Video card with heatsink removed.

The reviewed card uses eight 1 Gbit GDDR5 chips, making its 1 GB video memory. The chips used are K4G10325FE-HC05 parts from Samsung, which support up to 1 GHz (4 GHz QDR) and since on this video card memory is accessed at 805 MHz (3,220 MHz QDR), there is a good margin for you to increase the memory clock rate keeping the chips inside the maximum they support. By the way, the video card comes with an overclocking utility from EVGA called Precision.

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Figure 8: Memory chip.

In Figure 9, you can see the accessories that come with the reviewed card: a sticker, product manual, two power adapters, one HDMI cable and one DVI-to-VGA adapter. The product doesn’t come with any game and in fact our sample didn’t come even with a driver CD.

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Figure 9: Accessories.

Before seeing the performance results, let’s recap the main features of this video card.

Main Specifications

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 SuperClocked video card main features are:

Graphics chip: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 running at 625 MHz
Memory: 1 GB GDDR5 memory (256-bit interface) from Samsung (K4G10325FE-HC05), running at 805 MHz (“3,220 MHz”)
Bus type: PCI Express x16 2.0
Video Connectors: Two DVI-D and one HDMI
Video Capture (VIVO): No.
Cables and adapters that come with this board: One DVI-to-VGA adapter, two power adapters and one HDMI cable
Number of CDs/DVDs that come with this board: None
Games that come with this board: None
Programs that come with this board: None
More information: http://www.evga.com
Average price in the US*: USD 300.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.

How We Tested

During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only variable was the video card being tested.

Hardware Configuration

CPU: Core i7 Extreme 965 (3.2 GHz, 8 MB L2 memory cache).
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe OC Palm Edition (1611 BIOS)
Memories: 3x 1 GB Qimonda IMSH1GU03A1F1C-10F memory modules (DDR3-1066/PC3-8500, CL7)
Hard disk drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS (300 GB, SATA-300, 10,000 rpm, 16 MB cache)
Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 305T (30” LCD, 2560x1600)
Power Supply: SilverStone Element ST75EF
CPU Cooler: Intel stock
Optical Drive: LG GSA-H54N

Software Configuration

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Video resolution: 2560x1600 @ 60 Hz

Driver Versions

AMD/ATI video driver version: Catalyst 10.5
NVIDIA video driver version: 257.15 beta

Software Used

Error Margin

We adopted a 3% error margin; thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.

3DMark Vantage Professional

3DMark Vantage measures Shader 4.0 (i.e., DirectX 10) performance and supports PhysX, a programming interface developed by Ageia (now part of NVIDIA) to transfer physics calculations from the system CPU to the video card GPU in order to increase performance. Mechanical physics is the basis for calculations about the interaction of objects. For example, if you shoot, what exactly will happen to the object when the bullet hits it? Will it break? Will it move? Will the bullet bounce back? Note that since we are considering only the GPU score provided by this program, physics calculations are not taken into account.

We ran this program at three 16:10 widescreen resolutions, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, and 2560x1600. First we used the “Performance” profile, and then we used the “Extreme” profile (basically enabling anti-aliasing at 4x, anisotropic filtering at 16x, and putting all detail settings at their maximum or “extreme” values). The results being compared are the “GPU Scores” achieved by each video card.