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Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few months, you should have some knowledge that NVIDIA finally released their GTX 400-series lineup in order to compete against a surging ATI. If you remember our original reviews of each card, there was a serious sense of anticipation about what the future would bring for the Fermi architecture. You’ll also recall that while it was quite obvious that the GTX 480 was simply the fastest single GPU card available, we were most impressed by the GTX 470. The reasoning behind this was that card’s ability to strike a balance with its price, performance and power consumption that in our opinion made it more appealing than the no-hold-barred GTX 480. Since those first reviews were published, several of NVIDIA’s board partners have tried their hand at improving upon the reference design with some interesting results. Most recently we reviewed the EVGA GTX 470 Superclocked+ which incorporated a unique cooling design that not only lowered temperatures but also retained the reference heatsink so as not to substantially increase its price. Gigabyte will soon be bringing over the Super Overclock namesake into the GTX 400-series world which should hopefully bring about some impressive performance increases. Until that series is brought over, Gigabyte is looking to whet people’s appetites with a lineup of moderately overclocked cards beginning with the card being featured in this review: the GTX 470 OC Edition. Much like EVGA’s own Superclocked card, Gigabyte’s OC Edition doesn’t feature any massive clock speed increases but rather it is being released as a value-added proposition of those of you who simply don’t want a stock card. Naturally, this bump in performance goes hand in hand with a corresponding increase in price but this doesn’t seemed to have happened with this particular card. From the first day the GTX 470 was released, Gigabyte’s pricing has been extremely aggressive. So even though the OC Edition does retail for about $15 more than Gigabyte’s reference version, this still puts it in-line with the prices most other AIBs are asking for their stock-clocked cards. While Gigabyte may not have a lengthy warranty like EVGA, their 3 years of coverage is still more than adequate for the vast majority of consumers out there. As such, the proposition of owning even a slightly overclocked card from a reputable manufacturer for the price of most other reference versions should appeal to most people out there. So, let’s check on how this card does and see if there are any issues which may stop it from becoming an instant classic.
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Can you believe that after more than a year of rumors, debate and supposition, it has already been over four months after NVIDIA’s GTX 400-series launched? The GTX 480 and GTX 470 are for all intents and purposes are still extremely popular and have shown us their gaming capabilities again and again. Only a few weeks ago these two high end cards were joined by the GTX 465 which was met with a decidedly lukewarm reception from us as well as most other publications. In an effort to move on quickly from that bump in the road, NVIDIA is following up with yet another mid-range card: the GTX 460. Now we’re sure that some of you may be rolling your eyes towards the ceiling and thinking “not another power hungry, hot and expensive NVIDIA 400-series card”. Believe it or not, we’ll go on record right now by saying that this is one graphics card you'll want to pay attention to because the GTX 460 actually bucks several preconceptions many have had about the GTX 400-series cards. If we don’t yet have your attention, read on and I am sure you’ll start getting excited. Based off of a GF104 core, the GTX 460 doesn’t sport a 3 billion transistor GF100 with a bunch of disabled cores like the GTX 465 did. Rather, it uses a slimmed down 1.95 billion transistor die which is supposed to offer a much leaner power consumption envelope while being less expensive to produce and extremely compact. The result is beneficial for consumers on a number of fronts, especially considering NVIDIA will be releasing two versions of the GTX 460 right off the bat. There will be a 1GB, 256-bit SKU that will retail for around $230 while a slightly lower-end 768MB, 192-bit product should hit the magical $199 price point. Both are compatible with all of NVIDIA’s “Graphics Plus” technologies including CUDA and 3D Vision Surround which we talked about at length here. With the current price points as they are, the GTX 460 768MB is directly targeting the HD 5830’s performance envelope but its price is the same as or slightly below that of most HD 5830 cards on the market. Meanwhile, the $230 GTX 460 1GB is aiming to bridge the sometimes-miniscule gap between the HD 5830 and the higher-end HD 5850s. This also bodes well for those of you who held off buying the $270 GTX 465 since as you will see on the next pages, there are several areas in which this new card has the 465 beat clean in the specs department. Just be aware that in preparation for the GTX 460 landing on store shelves, several of NVIDIA’s board partners have effectively cut the price of their GTX 465s to around $255. On a final note it is important to note that while we are reviewing both the 768 MB and 1GB cards in this article, it is quite likely that only the 768MB cards will be widely available come launch time. The 1GB cards will slowly trickle in throughout this week with wide availability on the week of July 19th. All in all, the GTX 460 looks like a worthy successor its predecessors but the biggest question is whether it can actually surpass the higher end cards when it comes to capturing the attention of a market that has been waiting a long time for a proper sub-$250 GPU.
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The Core i7 Nehalem architecture was introduced almost two years ago. Socket 1366 motherboards to support this new architecture from Intel were available en masse at launch and provided a great performance platform for the new processors. After close to two years, the platform needed a little updating as newer technologies, such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s, and higher end graphics solutions became available. At launch we looked at the Eclipse SLI and, shortly thereafter, the X58 Platinum SLI from MSI. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, but delivered solid performance. Lately, MSI has ratcheted up its product line up both on the video card and motherboard segments with the Big Bang series and latest video cards including the HD 5870 Lightning. The use of Military Class components including Hi-c Capacitors, Super Ferrite Chokes and solid capacitors mean you get a product that lasts longer, runs more efficiently, and operates at lower temperatures. Add in value added tools like the OC Genie and you get a high performing board at a reasonable cost. On paper the Xpower looks like a winner. Let's see if the Xpower can gain some credential as an overclocking board for the gamer and enthusiast, all the while delivering rock solid performance at baseline levels. If the performance characteristics of the Eclipse SLI translate to an expectation of performance, the Xpower should do well.
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AMD has somewhat revolutionized the current PC market by offering extremely affordable and versatile multi core solutions to the low-end, mid-range, and high-end market sectors. With its most basic Athlon II processors starting at under $80 CDN and its top-of-the-line six-core Phenom II X6 1090T processor costing only $300 CDN, this pricing strategy will certainly appeal to most budget-conscious computer enthusiasts. AMD’s chipset offerings are also geared towards the affordable end of the spectrum. The most basic 870-based motherboards are approximately retail for about $99, and the top-of-the-line 890FX-based motherboards cost substantially less than competing products based on the Intel platform. Today, we are going to take a look at a motherboard which is targeted at the low-end market share. Let’s all be honest; average computer users do not want to spend $300 on a motherboard, nor would they ever use half of the features those motherboards tend to offer. With a price of under $110, the GIGABYTE 870A-UD3 fits the bill perfectly for someone who wants stability and some features normally associated with enthusiast-grade products. While this motherboard features AMD’s most basic 870 chipset, you should not be too quick to judge as it packs a formidable punch. Its support for all AM3 CPUs and PCI-E 2.0 X16 graphics cards definitely makes it an attractive option for budget-conscious gamers or enthusiasts who want core unlocking, USB3.0 and SATA 6Gbps capabilities - all new technologies commonly found in the 870A-UD3’s more expensive brethren. Since its inception in 1986, GIGABYTE has been known for making high-quality products. The company stands heavily behind everything that they make by providing a 3 year warranty on all motherboards currently sold in the US and Canada regardless of price. In other words, GIGABYTE is equally as confident with their low-end budget products as they are with the high-end enthusiast components. The GIGABYTE 870A-UD3 featured in this review sports an AMD 870 northbridge and a SB850 southbridge chipset combo and is designed to replace the AMD 770X and SB750 chipsets that were originally introduced in 2007. While the 870 and the 770X offer identical features, the evolution to the SB850 is what provides the 870A-UD3 its list of new technologies. All in all, this product could be the perfect fit for a massive number of consumers.
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