GTX 460 SLI: mid-range graphics heaven

In terms of all-round performance both versions of the GTX 460 in SLI have the top-end cards beaten from both schools. All of these benchmarks were run with the top settings and all at the relevant 2560x1600 resolution.

The £350 1GB setup is easily the star of the show, only dropping points to the HD 5970 in Just Cause 2, and only then by 3fps. It also costs £150 less as a setup compared to the AMD monster…

Tessellation performance

Heaven 2.0 – FPS: higher is better

  • SC GTX 460 768MB - 20
  • Stock GTX 460 1GB - 25
  • GTX 480 - 21
  • HD 5970 – 20

DX11 gaming performance

DiRT 2 – FPS: higher is better

  • SC GTX 460 768MB - 76
  • Stock GTX 460 1GB - 76
  • GTX 480 - 56
  • HD 5970 – 71

DX10 gaming performance

Just Cause 2 – FPS: higher is better

  • SC GTX 460 768MB - 33
  • Stock GTX 460 1GB - 32
  • GTX 480 - 26
  • HD 5970 – 35

Far Cry 2 – FPS: higher is better

  • SC GTX 460 768MB - 71
  • Stock GTX 460 1GB - 82
  • GTX 480 - 64
  • HD 5970 – 72

Platform price – Sterling: cheaper is better

  • SC GTX 460 768MB - £390
  • Stock GTX 460 1GB - £350
  • GTX 480 - £390
  • HD 5970 - £500

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