GTX470 versus HD5750 results
Introduction
The just-released GTX460 costs US$200/$230 for a 768MB/1GB card. The 1GB card can be easily overclocked to be beyond GTX470 performance levels as shown by
anandtech and
techpowerup. I hadn't expected the GTX460 to be so good so had already lined up an unlockable GTX465.
Setup
Graphics cards:
- Gigabyte HD 5750 1GB
- PNY GTX465 flashed into a 1.25GB GTX470.
Adapter: PE4H v2.0 and PE4L v1.3. EC2C + 2xPM3Ns on hand as needed.
Power supply: Shaw 680W dual-rail ATX PSU. 12V/80W AC adapter at hand if needed more capacity.
Drivers: Catalyst 10.3/10.6, Forceware 257.21
Installation
Very easy, just throw away the supplied CD of drivers as they don't support 36-bit PAE PCI allocation. Need the latest NVidia Forceware drivers for that. I just standby the system, poweron the DIY ViDock, resume Win7 and Win7 PnP's the card.
My testing finding too that x1E and x1 1.0 give exactly the same performance, a result confirmed by ithildin's
GTX460 versus HD5750 post, meaning there is some handshaking issue b/w ATI cards/older NVidia cards and Intel pci-e ports. More details with the
x1E tweak.
PE4L and PE4H both work fine with either card.
Performance - using external LCD
^2: not relevant. Result is cpu-bound so can't compare gpu performance levels.
NOTE: RE5 var peters out at around 61FPS for a T6600 (cpu-bound).
The difference in NFS Shift using the Inspiron 1440 is incredible. The HD5750@x1E is jumpy, the HD5750@x1 is jumpy to the point of unplayable. Both need lower resolution/detail to try to get some moderate level of performance. The GTX470@x1 set to 1920x1080 and full detail is incredibly smooth, better than the HD5750@x2 on a T2050 DV2000(!!).
See also ithildin's results:
GTX465 versus HD5750 and
GTX460 versus HD5750.
Advantages over an ATI HD5750 card- PERFORMANCE!! No need for x1E tweak to get full x1 1.0 performance. Same applies to requiring x2E to get full x2 1.0 performance. In the Optimus configuration, dvmc4.scene4 sees three-times-faster performance using the GTX470 than a HD5750@x1!!
- considerably faster DX10 performance.
- uses a 128MB+64MB+32MB PCI BARs so is easier to fit into a fragmented 32-bit PCI Config space than the single 256MB bar used by the HD5750.
- CUDA processing for folding@home, Adobe products.
Disadvantages over an ATI HD5750@x1E card- uses more power and generates heat. The HD5750 can work with 12V/80W. The GTX470 needs 225W.
- costs more
- slower DX9 in the non-Optimus setup.
- Noise: ATX PSU's fan + audible ticking noises when under load are far noisier than the 12V/80W HD5750's whisper quiet fan only noise.
- doesn't 'configure' itself when hotplugged in DIY ViDock Setup 1.x, requiring a recipe for hotplugging
- ATI HD5xxx Eyefinity can provide 3D gaming across up to 3 displays off the single card. NVidia's Surround can only output to two displays and spanning across those displays for gaming requires a SLI setup. See here.
Conclusion
If you can't do x1E, then don't even consider an ATI card - go straight for a NVidia GTX460. I expect O/C GTX460 performance to be like the GTX470 results above. GTX460 runs quiet and is not a portable heater, an advantage over the GTX470. Given that it doesn't need a x1E tweak and it's great DX10 performance, I anticipate this thread will see a stack of GTX460 implementations in the coming weeks. NVidia have now delivered an incredible bang-per-buck 40nm gpu.
Further References
Panzer's real-life gaming experience: HD5750 versus GTX470
GTX460: 768MB versus 1GB
ATX PSU to drive a GTX460
PE4H versus PE4L for GTX4xx use
Recipe for hotplugging GTX470 in DIY ViDock Setup 1.x
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Appendix: warning on using cheap ATX PSUs
The GTX470 would freeze within seconds of being loaded by a 3D game. I discovered my cheap Shaw 680W ATU PSU dual rail cannot even deliver the 225W of power the GTX470 requires. The PSU has a label claiming to have 2 rails 12V1:12V/20A and 12V2:12V/22A. The side of the box says 12V/15A, 12V/16A. I did continuity tests for the 12V leads finding they all lead to the single rail. I have a < 200W single-rail PSU!! Talk about false advertising.
I ended up patching through my 12V/80W AC adapter to pick up the power deficit and now runs perfectly.