Mid-Range NVIDIA GPU Battle: GTX 460 vs. GTX 470

You have to love competition. With the release of AMD's affordable HD 6870 and 6850 graphics cards, the folks over at NVIDIA decided to respond with a move of their own. In case you missed it, the same day the Radeons launched, NVIDIA dropped the price of their mid-range GeForce products to gain a competitive advantage in the market, and more importantly, to try an rain on AMD's parade. And when it comes to price wars, you won't hear us complaining.
 
Even before the Radeon launch, the GTX 460 was getting a lot of industry attention for being fast and affordable, with tons of overclocking headroom to spare. If you're planning a new system build or just want to upgrade your graphics performance, there are more options than ever at this specific market segment. DX11 cards are in full bloom, and we can only benefit from the NVIDA vs. AMD battle going on, especially with the holiday season coming up.

Today we're looking at a trio of video cards designed to give enthusiasts like you the best bang for your buck. These factory overclocked GeForce GTX 400-series graphics cards are from Gigabyte, MSI, and Zotac. Each one has taken the original reference design from NVIDIA, and gone a step further so consumers have additional options to choose from. In addition to higher GPU speeds set by the manufacturer, they provide unique features such as improved cooling solutions, customized PCB layouts, and higher memory capacity. Read on to find out how well they perform, and if one of them has what it takes to be your next upgrade.

	Gigabyte Super Overclock GTX 470 700 MHz Core / 837 MHz Memory	$309*
	MSI Hawk GTX 460 780 MHz Core / 900 MHz Memory	$214*
	Zotac GTX 460 2GB 710 MHz Core / 900 MHz Memory	$269*

When compared to reference design models, these cards command a higher price due to their improved features and performance. The Gigabyte Super Overclock GTX 470 sells for $309 at the moment, considerably more than a stock GTX 470, which we've seen as low as $239. MSI's Hawk GTX 460 can be purchased for $214, a relative bargain in its own right, but price cuts have brought reference design 460s down to $159. The Zotac GTX 460 2GB is one of only two cards that offer more than 1GB of on board video memory on a GTX 460. It goes for $269 and targets users who want the larger frame buffers to better handle high resolutions. Now let's take a closer look at each one to see how they differ and how much of a boost you can expect to see from them in various benchmarks.