{"id":18715,"date":"2010-05-31T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2010-05-30T23:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=18715"},"modified":"2010-06-04T19:23:18","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T18:23:18","slug":"galaxy-gtx-465-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/galaxy-gtx-465-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Galaxy Nvidia GeForce GTX 465 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nvidia launched their much anticipated DX11 video cards about a month ago, the GTX 480 and the GTX 470, to much fanfare. We posted our review of the GTX 480, published by our own Senior editor Mark Poppin here,<\/span><\/a> here<\/a><\/span> and here<\/a><\/span>. He concluded that the GTX 480 was the fastest single video card. Along with premiere performance comes a premiere price tag of $499 MSRP. This price tag is out of the range of many users and casual gamers who are not looking to play at the highest resolutions but still want the new features such as DX11 and hardware tessellation. For them Nvidia is launching the GTX 465 today which is built from the same GPU and technology powering the GTX 480 and the GTX 470. The GTX 465 will be Nvidia\u2019s attack on the mid-range $200-$300 price segment in between the HD 5830 and the HD 5850 pricing. This is a hard launch with the boards available for purchase even before launch on Newegg.com. Link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Specifications\"<\/p>\n

The GPU in the GTX 465 is the same as the one used in the GTX 470 and the GTX 480. This is possible due to the industrial practice of die harvesting the GPUs that do not have fully functional units to make up the required number of Streaming Multiprocessors (SM) for the GTX 470 and the GTX 480. These GPUs can be used in GTX 465 by disabling the defective SMs. Each Streaming Multiprocessor (SM) contains 32 stream processors. For example, the GTX 480 has one SM disabled which leaves it with 480 stream processors instead of the expected 512 (The GPU in the GTX 480 has 16 SMs). Similarly, the GTX 470 has 2 SMs disabled giving it 440 stream processors. In addition, the GTX 465 has 5 SMs disabled leaving it with 352 stream processors. The memory bus width has also been reduced to 256-bit from the 320-bit for the GTX 470, while the clocks remain the same as the GTX 470.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see the GTX 465 compete with the GTX 275 and the HD 5830. The GTX 275 in comparison to the GTX 465 has fewer stream processors but higher memory bus width giving it a higher bandwidth. The HD 5830 uses higher clocked GDDR5 memory at the same memory bus width as the GTX 465 which gives it a bandwidth similar to that of GTX 275.<\/p>\n

\"logo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

About Galaxy<\/span><\/h2>\n

Galaxy, established in 1994, is a Nvidia Add-in-Board (AIB) partner which manufactures products from the low-end GeForce 7200 series to the high-end GTX200 series. They manufacture products based on Nvidia\u2019s reference design as well as using their own in-house production facilities to manufacture graphic cards based on their own designs using high-end coolers from Arctic Cooling and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Galaxy has shipped to the US for a long time as they built video cards for many of the tier 1 brands in the market today. They realized they could create a brand for themselves and save the end customer the middleman fees.\u00a0 Two years ago they launched Galaxy in the US and their products are now available at Best Buy<\/a>, Microcenter<\/a>, Fry\u2019s<\/a>, Dell.com<\/a>, Newegg<\/a>, TigerDirect<\/a> and many other sites.\u00a0 They have excellent quality and toll-free tech support with a 2 year transferable no-registration warranty.<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Closer Look<\/h1>\n

Here are the unboxing videos and a look at the card itself. I take off the cooler in the second video. Please watch it in 1080p for the highest quality. If you like this video please rate it and subscribe to our channel.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s take a look at the card.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-a\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-b\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The card arrived in a fairly-decent sized box. The Galaxy GTX 465 is featured on the cover of the box which is in contrast to some video card boxes featuring unrelated CGI characters on the cover. The cover makes the user very well aware of the unique design of this video card, which is the flip fan. In addition to featuring their unique design, the user can also see that the video card uses 1 GB of GDDR5 memory and offers CUDA and PhysX support from the cover of the box. Other key features and system requirements are listed on the side of the box.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-g\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-e\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The other side of the box shows what\u2019s included in the box as well as the output display connectors on the video card. The inclusion of a mini-HDMI connector is a strange occurrence as I have seen full HDMI connectors on most video cards before. However, it is a relief for the user that Galaxy ships the video card with a mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter cable.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-h\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-i\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-j\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-k\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The video card itself looks like something that may have escaped from a military base because of the look of the plastic shroud. It reminds me of the Humvee. The fan is fixed on to this plastic shroud.<\/p>\n

The output display configuration \u2013 2x Dual Link DVI , 1 Mini-HDMI can be seen above.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-l\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-m\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-q\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Galaxy GTX 465 is rated for a TDP of 200W and is powered by two six-pin connectors.<\/p>\n

The name of the video card is listed on the cooler, which is the first time I have seen that. The cooler also mentions, that a Fermi GPU is resident inside. PhysX, CUDA, DX11, minimum PSU requirement, 3D Vision support are also printed on the cooler which gives this video card a very unique look.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-o\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-p\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-r\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the flip fan that is the unique design feature of this card. The dust that may accumulate on the fan during its operation can be cleaned by simply flipping it. The fan also features a blue LED which adds Bling! factor to the card.<\/p>\n

The back of the video card does not feature any memory chips. All the video memory chips are placed on the front side of the PCB.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-s\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-t\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-u\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the video card without its cooler. Galaxy uses eight 128 MB chips to make up the 1 GB GDDR5 memory. As seen on the PCB, two memory chips are missing. This is most likely due to this PCB also being used for manufacturing the GTX 470.<\/p>\n

Also pictured on the right, the card uses 5+1 phase for its power circuitry which should allow for some interesting overclocking.<\/p>\n

\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-v\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-w\"<\/a>\"galaxy-gtx-465-review-x\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the heatsink block that cools the GPU. It uses four heatpipes emanating from the cooper block that remains in contact with the GPU. In our testing, this heatsink does a very good job of keeping the GPU cool, even when it is overclocked.
\n<\/p>\n

Test Setup<\/h1>\n