EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2WIN 2GB dual-GPU Graphics Card Review
Metro 2033
Metro 2033 (DirectX 11)
Metro 2033 is one of the best looking PC games in years. By utilizing some advanced DX11 features as well as impressively high-quality shading routines this title pushes our graphics in way we have seen since the first days of Crysis.
Our first set of results show an interesting story with the GTX 460 2WIN graphics card. At 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 the EVGA option does VERY well and is able to match or beat all of the cards in our testing including the GTX 580 card that costs a good $60-70 more. However, at 2560x1600, the GTX 460 2WIN takes a noticeable dive and comes in last in the performance result. The reason is likely the 1GB frame buffer (per GPU) and lower per-core memory bandwidth that results from it.
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nVidia stated on their forum you can't run this in SLI with any other card, and the SLI prong on the card was a design error which wasn't fixable before the card went to mass production.
Yup, I just got this information from EVGA as well. Updating the article now, thanks for the heads up!
out of brain picking curiosity, how does 2 460s in sli compare to 2 460 on a card? From what I can gleam from previous reviews of 460s in sli, 2win does better than vanilla sli.
Also, does this card require sli on the board that uses it? Like an AMD board?
It should perform identically to a system running regular old SLI. Hardware-wise there is very little that is different.
As for the chipset requirement - that is another good point! You can use this card on an AMD-based platform without issues!
If you're asking if this particular GPU will work on a AMD board, I say, yes. Because it's two GPUs in one PCB. However, you can't run SLI on a AMD board that is not SLI certified. You can only use one Nvidia card on a non-SLI certified AMD board. Is that what you were asking for? I plan on getting this card, instead of two 6870s.
In my opinion I think the 2win does better and runs a bit smoother. Ive seen the setup both ways and the 2win wins!!! You do not need a sli motherboard for this card to work. You may need a patch though for the sli on the card directly to work for the second gpu like I did. sli patch 1.42 beta to activate the sli configurations settings in the nvidia control panel.
Sweat I think me like one.
is it just me or does any one else not real care about power consumption? I look at what the cards going to do for me I never wrong about power consumption.
Temperatures I do keep a bit of a eye on but if it meant have a little more heat to have a great card that a trade off I can make if need. EVGA done a great job on this one. I just hope when I have some money to look getting a new card this is still going to be easy to find.
Great review Ryan thanks.
Thanks!
Yes, for this class of card I think power consumption is less important than PR folks at NVIDIA and AMD want to admit.
Everyone keeps referring to this card as "to win", but I keep calling it "twin" as in twin GPUs. Am I the only one?
Interesting...hadn't thought about that pronunciation.
I had the same thoughts Heavy, seems odd that they would 2Win and not try to link it to twin (GPUS).
Same here guys. Clever idea.
Very good article and interesting card, I do have to say that in EVGA's B-stock listings http://www.evga.com/products/prodlist.asp?switch=20 You can buy a gtx 470 for 209 shipped. With increased frame buffer size and a coming in at about only 10 dollars more. Something tells me that GTX 470s in SLI would would this dual 460 card to shame. I myself have GTX 480s in SLI and am obv in GPU heaven :) -good article guys- extra points for hardest captcha online
Thanks for the comments!
Captcha and commenting SHOULD be better now to. Email me r-s-h-r-o-u-t@p-c-p-e-r.c-o-m if not!
People seem to forget the benefits of this card. It is understandable that 2 470GTX in sli or 2 480GTX in sli would out perform this. However, cards in SLI are only 2 monitor Dual link. Also, you can only utilize 2 monitors at a time in any of the SLIs.
With the 2WIN you get to use 4 monitors, and you get tri-link capabilities. An evga administrator had already noted that the 2WIN was faster than 2 460GTX in SLI due to increased clock speeds.
Another big plus, is for many of the AMD users that do not have SLI capable motherboards, they are able to utilize SLI capability and unlock the 3D Vision aspect. Most of the AMD motherboards are only compatible with Crossfire. And for people that only have 1 PCI-E slot on their mobo.
I should note the clock speeds on the GTX 460 2WIN are NOT faster than reference - higher clocked single GPU cards in SLI would likely be faster.
The gtx 460 2win can overclock pretty nicely too. but A standard gtx 460 comes at 675 mhz while a gtx 2win at 700 mhz. unless you get a overclocked addition from msi or another company then I see your point. I had my gtx 460 2win at 850 mhz stable . I pretty much keep it at 800 oc to keep the heat down but I heard them getting over 900 mhz with voltage tweak. I dont recommend over clocking any of them that high if you want your card to last a longer life. Didnt really see much point to oc to much more than 800 because i most likely already suffering from a slight bottleneck sometimes with my amd phenom II x4 965 3.4 ghz.
I am hoping you are correct on the aspect of using this card in SLI mode even though I have a crosfire motherboard. I just ordered one and I am just waiting to receive it. Just wondering where you found the information saying that an AMD Crossfire board could Utilize the SLI on this card. I figured it could be done because it is only in one PCI-e slot. I tried looking on NVidia for more information about it... If you do know where there is more information, please post a link. :) Ty and happy Gamming!
It is a nice solution for 1 slot pci-e 16x mb owners and amd guys who wish to try sli and have some modern features on their mb but, it is way over priced ,not even talking about rebate i can get a 1gb 460 GTX for 140.If the price gets near the cost of 2 460's I might consider it.I still pin my hopes on a amd chipset with sli support ,as lucid for the time being has let me down
ps currently i am pronouncing it twin if the price comes in line i shall refer to it as To Win
The card is a custom card from evga directly. Everything about the card is custom pretty much. The gtx 460 2win out of the box is faster than 2 gtx 460 in sli due to the increased clock speeds. The sli chip on the the pcb also raises the price a little. You have to remember that this card really was targeted for people that don't have sli certified board or just one pci express slot. It a wonderful solution if you dont want to buy a new mobo and have to reload windows. Well with the price in my opinion. you can get a gtx 460 2win for 369 after rebate and I heard of someone getting a 2win as low as 330. A gtx 460 1gig for 140? Must be the worst brand out there because i haven't seen a decent one for under 189.00
No limited Lifetime warranty on this one. It is a three year one reserved for SKUs ending in 'KR'.
If you order it directly off the EVGA site ($429), they provide a lifetime limited warranty. Authorized retailers are only getting the 3 year limited.
If you register one before a certain date with evga they are offering a 10 year warranty on it for free right now. Who needs more than 10 years of warranty. It like a lifetime in the gaming industry. Even three is enough really.
I don't like how this card has only 1 GB effective memory.
Same here. I think its too "powerful" to have only 1 GB memory.
Rick Jones
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1 gig is plenty if you dont plan on running a higher resolution that 1980 x 1020. Dont really need that in my opinion unless you are running over a 30 inch monitor. It has one gig per gpu. So If your running multiple monitors then It will utilize 1 gig for 1 monitor and 1 gig for 2 monitors. I believe. Dont quate me on that but it would make since. Considering that the display output working according to that in 3d surround.
So you can use this SLI internal card on a crossfire MB?
Neat. That is a good selling point. if so I will have to get one. Will the Sli be active or will only one be active?
The 600+ cores alone will keep me ahead for a while. Maxed settings on crysis 2? love to see it in action, lifetime warranty? for sure!
You know for us non-AMD guys- would this card work to bridge the gap for Intel quads?
How does the internal SLi work?
answers:
Crossfire board support= YES, kinda you can use one of them
Maxed Setting on crysis 2 = YES
Bridge gap for single slot Intel Boards that want to use SLI NVIDIA POWER = YES
On-board Internal SLI = YES
Cooks Fries and serves popcorn = No but I can do that.
Thanks.
Holy Macaroni I just got this video card on ebay brand new for $330. Yessssssssssssss!
nice well worth it.. make sure to register the card with evga before the end of June I believe to get your free 10 year warranty
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