MSI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Graphics Card

MSI GeForce GTX460 Cyclone OC 1GB GDDR5

The GeForce series of graphics cards has always been a decent range of cards. Some of them where a bit useless, but otherS performed remarkably. One of the ones that never disappointed to provide was the GTX400 series. From the basics up the card is powerful. Military grade components make for a very robust and reliable piece of hardware, gauranteed to last you long.

The GTX460 is no different. What makes this card so different however, is something else. It's the capability this card has to be overclocked. Because it is not the fastest in the series (the GTX465, GTX470, GTX475, GTX480 are all faster), it is very competitively priced. Also, this means that it's not as sensitive to extremities as the others, so it runs more stable. MSI took this, and made good use of it. They fitted an aftermarket cooling system to an already good card, and overclocked it. The made the card run at speeds equal to that of the GTX465 and even the GTX470, whilst staying out of that price range.

Recently Nivo sold this card at a very special price, and I bought mine for R1,949. This placed the card in the price range of the GTX260 and GTX270, which are much less reliable cards in terms of long term use at high power. Still, this card performs, and with its bundled overclocking software, you can push the limits of the card even further, all whilst the Cyclone cooler keeps the temperatures under control (and most importantly, it does so VERY quietly)!

Value for money? Excellent, if you buy right, like I did!

PS: This card comes factory overclock from a GPU speed of 675MHz (reference) to a bit better 725MHz. However, without raising the fan speed, it is possible to overclock to 890MHz, stable. Increase the fan speed though, and you can go well above 900MHz, making this card a genuine monster if you consider it's got a price tag of only R2509 (currently). Also, the 786MB version of this card was rated as one of the best value for money cards currently on the market (www.guru3d.com), and this is just the upgrade!

EDIT/UPDATE: I upgraded my entire rig to the new Sandy Bridge technology. I am getting myself another one of these cards soon, and then I will run them in SLI. Good luck to any other person who would wish to compete for a spot in the "best GFX card" competition... :D

EDIT/UPDATE 2: After using this card for a while now, I've come to realize just how extremly powerful it really is. With just a slight bit of overclocking, without even touching the voltage increase, this card improves performance like a dream. All games I've tried thus far, including newer titles like Darksiders, have run at full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), all settings maxed out, with extremely fast loading times and very smooth gameplay. This thing is much more powerful than I originally anticipated, and this just makes me want my second one SO MUCH MORE! Appearantely the SLi scaling on the Fermi architecture is very good, so you gain much more performance from SLi than with older cards. Happiness!!!

EDIT3: Installed and played Crysis 2 with this card, overclocked to 825MHz with stock voltages. I managed 1920x1080, all settings maxed out, completely playable with very smooth everything. This card easily runs Crysis 2 maxed out. Amazing.

STRENGTHS:
Very good overclocking capacity
Price
Looks
HDMI

WEAKNESSES:
The Cyclone cooler is a bit big, and can cause problems in small-medium tower chassis'
The card only supports a maximum of two screens

BEST USES:
Gaming

SIMILAR ITEMS OWNED:
GT220

RECOMMENDED ITEMS:
GTX460 Hawk