NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 gets official: 4x DX11 performance of rivals

NVIDIA has outed its much-rumored GeForce GTX 460, a mid-range Fermi-based graphics card promising four times the performance of rivals, real-time PhysX and 3D support with a price tag of roughly $199.  The company has focussed their efforts on DirectX 11 tessellation, with a quoted up to 4x improvement in performance over cards from other manufacturers.

Two cards are being announced, the GeForce GTX 460 768MB – expected to arrive from ASL, ASUS, Colorful, ECS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, Jetway, KFA2, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, Point of View, PNY, Sparkle and Zotac – together with the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which will go on sale by July 26th 2010.  Both have 336 CUDA cores and 56 texture units; the GTX 460 768MB has a 192-bit memory interface, while the GTX 460 1GB has a 256-bit memory interface.

The graphics clock runs at 675MHz while the processor clock runs at 1,350MHz; there's also a 1,800 memory clock, NVIDIA SLI support, and 3D Vision/3D Vision Surround support.  Standard ports include two Dual Link DVI and a mini HDMI (with an internal audio input for the latter, together with HDCP compliance), while maximum display resolution is 2,560 x 1,600.  They're both dual-slot cards with a PCI-e 2.0 x16 interface.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB should be available from today, with an MRSP of $199; the GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be roughly $229 when it arrives later this month.

Press Release:

DX11 Done Right! NVIDIA Delivers Monster Tessellation Performance to the $199 Sweet Spot for Gamers

New GeForce GTX 460 Delivers up to 4x Performance Over Competing Processors, Real-Time PhysX, and Eye-Popping 3D

'Capcom has worked closely with NVIDIA on a number of PC titles and GeForce GPUs have always helped us to deliver the very best experience to users. The GeForce GTX 460 is a great card and its blazing performance helps our titles to shine.' — Capcom / Jun Takeuchi / General Manager of R&D Strategic Planning Department

'With the GeForce GTX 460, NVIDIA is really upping the ante with an amazingly fast DirectX 11 GPU available at a great, mainstream-friendly price. Its new hardware tessellation support will enable games to reach an entirely new caliber of graphics.' — Epic Games / Tim Sweeney / Chairman, CEO and Technical Director

'The Civilization V team is really excited about the high-end DirectX 11 performance at a mainstream price point that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 delivers. The 460's support for DX11 features such as tessellation and compute shaders allow Civilization V to run faster while looking better than ever.' — Firaxis Games / Dan Baker / Graphics Lead on Civilization V

'We've got a great working relationship with the NVIDIA engineers. It has enabled us to add amazing new visual effects like native 3D, 3D Vision Surround, and PhysX/APEX support in Mafia II. With the new GeForce GTX 460, Empire Bay comes to life, immersing players like never before!' –2K Games / Denby Grace / Senior Producer of Mafia II

'NVIDIA platforms continue to be the Gold Standard at Id Software for quality, performance, and support.' — Id Software / John Carmack / Technical Director

'Great performance at a great price — what's not to love? With full support for PhysX and 3D Vision, the GeForce GTX 460 is a great GPU to use for UDK development and UE3-based games.' — Epic Games / Mark Rein / Vice President

'Kings and Castles will look spectacular on the GeForce GTX 460. Imagine how full-scale battles with hundreds of soldiers, dragons, and flying zeppelin battleships will look in fantastic 3D!' — Gas Powered Games / Chris Taylor / Founder & CEO

The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 GPU delivers awesome DX11 performance and support for PhysX and 3D Vision to the $200 sweet spot gamers love.

SANTA CLARA, CA — (Marketwire) — 07/11/2010 — NVIDIA today announced the latest addition to its Fermi-class of graphics processing units (GPUs), the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460 — which delivers a great DX11 gaming experience and is priced right at the market's $199 sweet spot.

Built from the ground up for DirectX 11 tessellation, GeForce GTX 460 GPUs deliver monster tessellation performance with up to 4x tessellation performance(i) over competing GPUs. The GTX 460 brings the ultimate next-generation DX11 gaming experience to a new price segment, enabling more gamers than ever to experience incredibly detailed characters, terrain and game environments with blazing fast performance and awesome visuals.

With full support for NVIDIA 3D Vision™ technology, the GeForce GTX 460 provides the graphics horsepower and video bandwidth needed to experience games and high definition Blu-ray movies in eye-popping stereoscopic 3D.

Here's what leading game developers have to say about the GeForce GTX 460:

"With the GeForce GTX 460, NVIDIA is really upping the ante with an amazingly fast DirectX 11 GPU available at a great, mainstream-friendly price. Its new hardware tessellation support will enable games to reach an entirely new caliber of graphics."

– Epic Games / Tim Sweeney / Chairman, CEO and Technical Director

"NVIDIA platforms continue to be the Gold Standard at Id Software for quality, performance, and support."

– Id Software / John Carmack / Technical Director

"We've got a great working relationship with the NVIDIA engineers. It has enabled us to add amazing new visual effects like native 3D, 3D Vision Surround, and PhysX/APEX support in Mafia II. With the new GeForce GTX 460, Empire Bay comes to life, immersing players like never before!"

–2K Games / Denby Grace / Senior Producer of Mafia II

"The Civilization V team is really excited about the high-end DirectX 11 performance at a mainstream price point that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 delivers. The 460's support for DX11 features such as tessellation and compute shaders allow Civilization V to run faster while looking better than ever."

– Firaxis Games / Dan Baker / Graphics Lead on Civilization V

"Great performance at a great price — what's not to love? With full support for PhysX and 3D Vision, the GeForce GTX 460 is a great GPU to use for UDK development and UE3-based games."

– Epic Games / Mark Rein / Vice President

"Capcom has worked closely with NVIDIA on a number of PC titles and GeForce GPUs have always helped us to deliver the very best experience to users. The GeForce GTX 460 is a great card and its blazing performance helps our titles to shine."

– Capcom / Jun Takeuchi / General Manager of R&D Strategic Planning Department

"Kings and Castles will look spectacular on the GeForce GTX 460. Imagine how full-scale battles with hundreds of soldiers, dragons, and flying zeppelin battleships will look in fantastic 3D!"

– Gas Powered Games / Chris Taylor / Founder & CEO

With 336 NVIDIA CUDA™ cores and 56 texture units, the GeForce GTX 460 comes in two flavors:

GTX 460 768MB, with a 192-bit memory interface at an estimated U.S. price of $199

GTX 460 1GB, with a 256-bit memory interface at an estimated US price of $229

The GeForce GTX 460 768MB version is available starting today from the world's leading add-in card partners, including ASL, ASUS, Colorful, ECS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, Jetway, KFA2, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, Point of View, PNY, Sparkle, Zotac and others. Wider availability of the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is expected by July 26, 2010. Consumers are encouraged to check their favorite retailer or e-tailer for availability.