Overclocking

With the out-of-the-box testing done we turned to overclocking the Hawk and were astonished by its prowess. Typically a GTX 460 1GB will cap out at 840MHz core when overclocking but thanks to the voltage tweakery of the Hawk we were able to push it all the way up 900MHz core and 1,800MHz shader, a huge 33 per cent overclock over a stock GTX 460 1GB.

The memory also overclocked well, rising to 1.1GHz (4.4GHz effective), a 22 per cent improvement. To accomplish this overclock, we increased the GPU’s core voltage by 0.06V, or +60 in the MSI Afterburner software, but found that adjusting the memory and PLL voltage has no effect on overclocking. Adding 0.06V to the vcore was the sweet spot for our sample; adding any more voltage just made the card unstable, whereas at +0.06V and 900MHz core the card passed a 24 hour stability test.

This huge overclock translated into some big performance gains and in Just Cause 2 at 1,920 x 1,200 with 4x AA the overclocked Hawk produced a minimum frame rate of 24fps and an average frame rate of 39fps. This is some fifteen percent faster than a stock GTX 470 1.2GB in the same test and shows just how much overclocking potential this card has.


Despite the extra voltage, the Hawk’s cooler handled the extra juice very well; the load delta T rose just 4°C to 33°C. Power consumption did jump markedly though, rising to 301W under load. While we were hugely impressed by the Hawk’s overclocked performance, be warned that overclocking can always be hit and miss, and there’s no way to guarantee retail models will overclock as well as our sample.

Conclusion

The £100-£200 graphics market is the most completive it’s ever been right now, and factory overclocked cards such as the Hawk are looking more and more attractive. As we’ve seen, with so many cards squeezed so closely together, a 15 per cent overclock can make all the difference. Despite being a GTX 460 1GB in the £150-£170 price band, the factory overclock is enough to see the hawk challenge, and often match, the GTX 470 1.3GB, the cheapest of which are £185.

When you consider the power consumption and noise benefits of a GTX 460 1GB over a GTX 470 1.3GB, the Hawk becomes even more attractive. The coup-de-grace is MSI’s superb Afterburner software, making overclocking the N460GTX Hawk to insane levels easy. It’s a great package, and well worth the extra £25 over a stock GTX 460 1GB.

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Score Guide