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Looking to Spend $250 or less on new Video Card, buy now or wait?
- Thread starter Ladic
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Actually, though your attitude and tone are crap, that is pretty solid advice. I had exactly the same quandary a couple of weeks ago. Was in France (I live in Brazil), and had the choice of picking up a cheapo Gainward (Palit in US) GTX460 1GB for under 150 Euros, or consider some pre-OCed model for 220+ Euros. Since everything I read said that the overclocks these offered were absolutely standard and not rare, I saw no reason to pay a 50% premium.
All I can say is that I had no problem reaching 840 MHz / 2000 memory (reference is 675/1800) before it showed artifacts when I went higher. And this is with no voltage modding which one can do with MSI Afterburner. I live in Rio de Janeiro, a pretty warm city year-round, and the temps never went over 78 at that maximum. No Furmark as I don't think it represents real-life conditions. Since I am a fairly conservative overclocker, I keep it at a "modest" 800/1900 when gaming. I leave it at default when not gaming. The Afterburner software makes switching extremely easy (just open, click, done.)
Pay the premium if it pleases you, but the advice is sound IMHO: there is no need.
No, because he has not provided any evidence to support his claim that ANY 460 can OC to the FTW specs and then some.
He if was insulted sorry, but there are so many people who claim this or that and don't provide proof of the claims.
I have been working over an EVGA 470 and 460 FTW the last few days and know the difference performance wise and what each one will OC to and I have the data to prove it.
I am working on securing a 6870 to add to the comparison.
Of course the results will be based on MY RIG.
-Funk
EVERY 460 I've seen can easily get to the FTW's stock clocks, EVERY one. I'll gladly buy the cheapest 460, flash the bios so that it's "stock" speeds are what the FTW is and you wouldn't tell the difference. If you're going to spend that much don't get a 460, there's no point anymore.
lolwut, I haven't heard about any 460 problems.
Yeah and what's funny is it's cooler isn't even one of the best ones...it looks reference.
(78C would be find to run all the time, you should see what it can max out with full voltage and what temps it runs. 78C isn't high at all for that chip though)
I overclocked my cousin's Palit Sonic 460 1GB like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=palit_460_sonic-_-14-261-075-_-Product
Got it to 880/1760/2040, and at the time I bought it (when the 460's first came out) it was the cheapest around. It certainly doesn't have the best cooler and that's why I think the memory OC was not as impressive as some...but bye bye FTW
Our cards are identical, I checked.
The fan *is* reference, and as a matter of fact, I got the same OC as your cousin's card interestingly enough. It reached 82 C. BTW.
I don't see how anyone can prove it. Suffice it to say that without voltage modding, I have not read a single review of even reference cards where they were not able to reach over 800 MHz on air. Not a single one. If you know of one, by all means.
With voltage modding, among reviewers, I have also not read of a single card that didn't reach at least FTW speeds, and I am not speaking about hand selected chips or cards. How far beyond this they can go is another story of course. Still, the real crutch in the story is not so much that every card can stabilize at 850, it is whether it is worth the difference in price.
Let us say for argument's sake that every card can run stable at 800, which seems like a fairly safe affirmation. In Europe one can find GTX 460 1 GB cards, running at roughly vanilla speeds (675-700), go for about 135 Euros. The cheapest EVGA FTW goes for 190-195. I fail to see how it is worth such a huge price difference, that is all.
Lord_Exodia
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Black Friday/Cyber Monday pick up the cheapest 470 or 6870 that you can. IF you can wait a month or so get the higer end of the two GTX 560. 
BTW the only reason you shouldn't wait for 1 month or so would be to scratch a gaming itch that can't wait. If you finished all of the game you have and are waiting on games there is absolutely no reason to settle on anything on the market when new stuff is less than 2 months away. Worse case scenario the new stuff isn't your cup of tea then you can get the other card you were eying for a few bucks less.
BTW the only reason you shouldn't wait for 1 month or so would be to scratch a gaming itch that can't wait. If you finished all of the game you have and are waiting on games there is absolutely no reason to settle on anything on the market when new stuff is less than 2 months away. Worse case scenario the new stuff isn't your cup of tea then you can get the other card you were eying for a few bucks less.
Volt modded or Stock volts? Not too shabby but not appreciably better either
I see a ~47% increase in price for ($155 for Palit 460 1GB, $227.55 for EVGA FTW 460 1GB) 3.4% Core increase and 2.9% Memory increase
Volt modded also or not??
I think 82C was about what her's got to in temps, certainly was in that ball park.
I feel we definitely got our moneys worth out of it, I almost took it and gave her my 4870x2....then I came to my senses
Volt modded also or not??
I think 82C was about what her's got to in temps, certainly was in that ball park.
I feel we definitely got our moneys worth out of it, I almost took it and gave her my 4870x2....then I came to my senses
Yes, volt modded. Otherwise the best OC I achieved without any artifacts was 840/2000.