Nvidia intros GeForce GTX 460 SE with less CUDA cores

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Hoping to snag a GTX 460 1GB for the price of a 768MB model? Nvidia has just what you're looking for. The GPU-maker has introduced its GTX 460 SE, which packs 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM for the same cost as the GTX 460 768MB. What's the catch? Well, its graphics clock has been cut by 25MHz, its processor clock was lowered by 50MHz, and its memory runs 100MHz slower. Additionally, the SE loses 48 CUDA cores over the standard 1GB and 768MB models.

	GeForce GTX 460 1GB	GeForce GTX 460 768MB	GeForce GTX 460 SE 1GB
CUDA Cores	336	336	288
Graphics Clock	675MHz	675MHz	650MHz
Processor Clock	1,350MHz	1,350MHz	1,300MHz
Memory Clock	1800MHz	1800MHz	1700MHz
Memory Interface	256-bit	192-bit	256-bit
Memory Bandwidth	115.2GB/s	86.4GB/s	108.8GB/s

It isn't a completely new card, but it does give consumers another option in the GTX 460 range: more memory for less horsepower. Nvidia says the SE performs similarly to the GTX 460 768MB, except it's better for applications that are memory bandwidth intensive (256-bit interface versus 192-bit), while the GTX 460 768MB is better equipped to tackle shader or tessellation-heavy workloads. Overall, both cards provide a similar gaming experience, so you can't go wrong.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/41132-nvidia-intros-geforce-gtx-460-se-with-less-cuda-cores.html

 

[KG363]

How about a 460 with the 256-bit and 1GB?

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Both 1GB models have a 256-bit interface. Look at the table.

 

[Guest]

What's the SE stand for? Suck edition.

 

[TomSEA]

Boy, there really isn't that much of a price difference between the 1GB and 768GB price-wise to begin with. I've seen as little as $18 difference. What would be the point of getting one of these new cards when all you need to do is to just pull out another $20 bill?

 

[captaincranky]

Boy, there really isn't that much of a price difference between the 1GB and 768GB price-wise to begin with. I've seen as little as $18 difference. What would be the point of getting one of these new cards when all you need to do is to just pull out another $20 bill?

This does assume, that there's another one in the wallet.

 

[Ahmed90]

looks like poor respond for the 68xx & 69xx

i guess its just another marketing buzz

 

[princeton]

Ahmed90 said:
looks like poor respond for the 68xx & 69xx

i guess its just another marketing buzz

Not really. Depending on what resolution you play at the 1GB SE model may be superior to the 768mb vanilla model.

 

[klepto12]

wow a card that really is a waste of time imo wth nvidia

 

[princeton]

klepto12 said:
wow a card that really is a waste of time imo wth nvidia

So I guess you just post a comment without reading the others. If you would have read mine you would know,

For higher resolutions the 1GB model will be superior. It has a 256bit bus as well.

 

[captaincranky]

Nvidia says the SE performs similarly to the GTX 460 768MB, except it's better for applications that are memory bandwidth intensive (256-bit interface versus 192-bit), while the GTX 460 768MB is better equipped to tackle shader or tessellation-heavy workloads.

This explanation does seem to be a bit silly on Nvidia's part. I really don't think the average gamer is going to begin selecting which game to buy, based on memory bandwidth vs shader and tessellation considerations

 

[DokkRokken]

This would make more sense if the price differential between the 1GB and a 768MB models were greater. Right now, it seems a bit silly, and only adds to the confusion of selecting hardware.

 

[UT66]

they are doing the apple thing, less is more. son they will be no videocard, just a box and a molex connector inside.

 

[TeamworkGuy2]

I agree, this is kind of unnecessary, but it does bring in more attention to nVidia and therefore might bring in more sales.
Whatever works for them as long as they don't do this to any other GPU models.
Imagine: "NEW!!! GTX 470 SE, now with 1024 MB of memory!"

 

[Guest]

Gtx 460 ......pid Edition, that is what it means.

 

[klepto12]

princeton said:

klepto12 said:
wow a card that really is a waste of time imo wth nvidia

So I guess you just post a comment without reading the others. If you would have read mine you would know,

For higher resolutions the 1GB model will be superior. It has a 256bit bus as well.

For your info i did read it and for another you dont know that for sure do you own all 3 cards and can tell me for a fact thats for sure like i said in my post a stupid release because guess what wait for it nvidia hates that AMD has better midrange cards than them.

 

[princeton]

klepto12 said:

princeton said:

klepto12 said:
wow a card that really is a waste of time imo wth nvidia

So I guess you just post a comment without reading the others. If you would have read mine you would know,

For higher resolutions the 1GB model will be superior. It has a 256bit bus as well.

For your info i did read it and for another you dont know that for sure do you own all 3 cards and can tell me for a fact thats for sure like i said in my post a stupid release because guess what wait for it nvidia hates that AMD has better midrange cards than them.

/me facepalms. Funny, if ATi has much better midrange cards why is the GTX 460 selling so god damn well?

 

[princeton]

P.S. The fact that it'll perform better on higher resolutions is common knowledge. HIGHER RES=MORE MEMORY USAGE.

hurr durr?

 

[klepto12]

um just because it has more ram doesnt mean it will sustain higher fps so if i bought a 9500gt with 512mb ram vs one with 1gb thats the same thing except that the damn card is to slow to make much difference weather it has 1GB or 512 all i was saying is its a dumb card why have 3 different gtx 460s? do u see 3 different 6870 cards nope yeah the gtx 460 is selling well but AMD does have better midrange cards and thats a cold hard fact my good sir.

 

[Guest]

What's the point? People should just get the GTX460 1gb and call it a day. If people really are that cheap to skimp out on another $20, then I guess they deserve to have the lower model 460. TBH, I don't get why nvidia even bother releasing 2 different versions. It just adds more confusion to the already huge list of GPUs available.

 

[Archean]

These cards probably are the ones 'initially rejected during manufacturing', where some core cluster(s) may not have been working; hence, I am guessing here they are just trying to make some money out of these cards by disabling the damaged cluster(s) and selling them as 'GTX 460 SE'.

 

[Puiu]

they already had 2 good cards there, why release another one that confuses the hell out of the consumers?

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

I agree with Archean. With TSMC 40-nm yields so low, it makes sense to maximize their existing inventory even if the chips aren't 100% up-to-spec for a particular SKU. The downside is the confusion it causes especially if retail cards aren't clearly labelled as such. I already discovered a long time ago that there was nothing "Special" in any card labelled "S.E.".

 

[yukka]

klepto12 said:
um just because it has more ram doesnt mean it will sustain higher fps so if i bought a 9500gt with 512mb ram vs one with 1gb thats the same thing except that the damn card is to slow to make much difference weather it has 1GB or 512 all i was saying is its a dumb card why have 3 different gtx 460s? do u see 3 different 6870 cards nope yeah the gtx 460 is selling well but AMD does have better midrange cards and thats a cold hard fact my good sir.

Hi Klepto12. Had to point out you are talking complete dross sir

Talking about the 9500gt is just ridiculous. It has nothing to do with the current crop of cards and their performance. If you compare the GTX 460 with a ATI 6870 (both directx11 - and we are talking about only dx11 here if people are upgrading) then the 6870 outperforms it BUT the cost difference more than makes up for it. The 6870 costs £195 compared to the GTX 460 1GB which averages around £150. The GTX 460 also has the same performance as a GTX 285 while running cooler with less power. To say ATI has the midrange market sown up at this point is brainless fanboyism.

Personally I just got a 460 after owning ATI since the 9700pro and before that the Geforce 2/3 and 3dfx Voodoo 1/2/3 before that. Memory bandwidth is extremely important to me - I often purchase older top level cards rather than buy the lower memory bandwidth current mainstream ones. I got my 9700pro late, then an x850XT.

I would not personally choose a 768mb version of the 460 because of the reduced memory bandwidth and the lower cache - it is an utterly dead card to me. But a 1GB version with less cores while keeping the full bandwidth allowing for better full screen anti aliasing etc might be VERY useful.

I agree that its not a massive difference between the full card and the 768 model - 20 quid here but then again that is a difference of 1/7th of the card cost. I know which card I would go for if I was limited on funds and it would probably be the 1GB with less cores than the lower bandwidth, lower memory one. You can always overclock these anyway

 

[Johny47]

Not always about the stream processors, the memory bandwidth and bus is good and even better than the 768MB version. Wait until the benchmarks =)