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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M SLI

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M SLI

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M SLI consists of two high end DirectX 11 capable Geforce GTX460M cards connected with an SLI bridge. Therefore, it offers 2x 192 cores of the GF106 chip. Due to the alternating frame rendering (AFR), the SLI solution may suffer from micro stuttering in low fps ranges (around 30fps). Furthermore, the 2x1536 MB GDDR5 cant be added together as each card uses the same date in the graphics memory.

GF106 architecture

The GF106 core of the GTX 460M is related to the GF100 core of the GeFore GTX 480M and offers 192 shaders and a 192 Bit memory bus for GDDR5. Except for the memory controllers, the GF106 can basically be considered a halved GF104. Therefore, the architecture is not comparable to the old GT215 (e.g., GeForce GTS 350M) or GT216 (e.g., GeForce GT 330M) cores.

Unlike the GF100, the smaller GF104, GF106, and GF108 cores have all been shortened and considerably modified. In contrast to the GF100, which was designed for professional applications, these GF10x chips target the consumer market. They feature more shaders (3x16 instead of 2x16), more texture units (8 instead of 4) and SFUs per streaming multi-processor (SM).

As there are still only 2 warp schedulers (versus 3 shader groups), Nvidia now uses superscalar execution to use the higher amount of shaders per SM more efficiently. In theory, the shaders can thereby be utilized more efficiently and the performance per core should be improved. However, in worst case scenarios the performance can also be worse than of the GF100 (and its predecessors). The ECC memory protection, which is important for professional applications, was completely omitted and the FP64 hardware shortened (only 1/3 of the shaders are FP64-capable and thereby only 1/12 of the FP32’s performance). Because of these cutbacks, the size of the SM  grew only by 25% despite the higher number of shaders and larger warp schedulers with superscalar dispatch capabilities. Due to the different shader architectures and the higher clock rate of the shader domain, the core count can not be directly compared to AMD cores of the Radeon 5000 series (e.g. HD 5850).

Detailed information on the GF104 architecture (and by extension the GF106 and GF108) can be found in the desktop GTX 460 article by Anandtech.

Performance

The SLI performance with the current drivers (mid 2010) should be about 15-20% faster than a single GTX 460M in high settings and resolutions. Therefore, all current games (as of 2011) should run fluently in highest detail settings with antialiasing and Full HD resolution, with the exception of Metro 2033 and Crysis.

Features

A novelty of the GF104/106/108 chips is the support for Bitstream HD Audio (Blu-Ray) output via HDMI. Similar to the Radeon HD 5850, the GTX 460M can transfer Dolby True HD and DTS-HD bitstream-wise without quality loss to a HiFi receiver.

The GTX460M offers the PureVideo HD technology for video decoding. The included Video Processor 4 (VP4) supports feature set C and therefore the GPU is able to fully decode MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 ASP - e.g., DivX or Xvid), VC-1/WMV9, and H.264 (VLD, IDCT, Motion Compensation, and Deblocking). The X500 tester was able to decode the VC-1 encoded Elephants Dream video with about 3-6% CPU load (according to the task manager). The H.264 coded Big Buck Bunny video was played back with 1-3% CPU load (both 1080p videos).

Furthermore, the GPU is able to decode two 1080p streams simultaneously (e.g. for Blu-Ray Picture-in-Picture).

Through CUDA, OpenCL, and DirectCompute 2.1 support, the GeForce GTX 460M can used for general calculations. For example, the stream processor can encode videos considerably faster than can many modern CPUs. Furthermore, physics calculations can be done by the GPU using PhysX (e.g. supported by Mafia 2 or Metro 2033). A single GTX 460M of the SLI combination can also be used for dedicated calculations.

According to Nvidia, support for 3D Vision on the GTX graphics cards is also enabled. It allows the laptop to send 3D content (3D games, 3D Web Streaming, 3D photos, 3D Blu-Rays) to a supported 3D enabled screen or an external 3D TV if compatible.

The power consumption of a single GeForce GTX 460M is supposedly about 72 Watts (TDP including the MXM board and memory). By extension, the GTX 460M SLI should use twice as much power. However, a single 460M in the SLI setup can be deactivated in the drivers to save power. If idle, each chip is clocked at 50/100 MHz and 200/400MHz (chip/shader) in 2D mode and 3D mode, respectively, to save power.

The similar desktop GeForce GTX 460 SLI is based on the GF104 chip and offers significantly more shader cores at 2x336 cores. Therefore, the desktop setup is significantly faster than the 460M SLI and even the 470M SLI graphics solutions.

GeForce GTX 400M Series

GeForce GTX 485M SLI compare 768 @ 0.58 GHz256 Bit @ 1500 MHz
GeForce GTX 470M SLI compare 576 @ 0.54 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 480M SLI compare 704 @ 0.43 GHz256 Bit @ 1200 MHz
GeForce GTX 460M SLI 384 @ 0.68 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 485M compare 384 @ 0.58 GHz256 Bit @ 1500 MHz
GeForce GTX 470M compare 288 @ 0.54 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 480M compare 352 @ 0.43 GHz256 Bit @ 1200 MHz
GeForce GTX 460M compare 192 @ 0.68 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
CodenameN11E-GS
ArchitectureFermi
Pipelines384 - unified
Core Speed675 MHz
Shader Speed1350 MHz
Memory Speed1250 MHz
Memory Bus Width192 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory2x1536 MB
Shared Memoryno
APIDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
technology40 nm
FeaturesOptimus Support, PureVideo HD VP4, 3D Vision, Bitstream HD Audio, CUDA, DirectCompute, OpenCL, OpenGL 4.0, DirectX 11, SLI Supported
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement03.09.2010
Link to Manufacturer Pagewww.nvidia.com

Benchmarks

3DMark Vantage
3DM Vant. Perf. total +
3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX +
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +
SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +
specvp11 tcvis-02 +
specvp11 sw-02 +
specvp11 proe-05 +
specvp11 maya-03 +
specvp11 lightwave-01 +
specvp11 ensight-04 +
specvp11 catia-03 +
Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +
Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Fifa 11

Fifa 11

2010
low 800x600
551  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
318.4  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
216.8  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
133.4  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Mafia 2

Mafia 2

2010
low 800x600
120.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
102.9  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
92.1  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
66  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 1024x768
260  fps    + Compare
med. 1360x768
76.1  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
67.2  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
40.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 800x600
med. 1360x768
high 1600x900
ultra 1920x1080
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
low 1024x768
med. 1366x768
high 1366x768
ultra 1920x1080
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 800x600
med. 1024x768
high 1366x768
ultra 1920x1080
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen

Risen

2009
low 800x600
med. 1024x768
high 1366x768
ultra 1920x1080
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5

2009
low 800x600
151.9  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
112.4  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
91.1  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Need for Speed Shift

Need for Speed Shift

2009
med. 1024x768
high 1366x768
ultra 1920x1080
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2

Colin McRae: DIRT 2

2009
low 800x600
164.8  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
143.1  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
122.9  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
75.4  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 1404

Anno 1404

2009
low 1024x768
180.9  fps    + Compare
ultra 1280x1024
94.6  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
F.E.A.R. 2

F.E.A.R. 2

2009
low 800x600
227.7  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
152.5  fps    + Compare
high 1280x1024
149.3  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
91.2  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead

2008
low 640x480
250.2  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
190.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

2008
low 640x480
193.8  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
132.7  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
80.6  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

2007
low 800x600
352.5  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
226.5  fps    + Compare
high 1280x1024
159.7  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - GPU Benchmark

Crysis - GPU Benchmark

2007
low 1024x768
139.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
88.1  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
73.9  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
25.4  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - CPU Benchmark

Crysis - CPU Benchmark

2007
low 1024x768
184.3  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
93.1  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
76.5  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
24.1  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Call of Juarez Benchmark

Call of Juarez Benchmark

2006
high 1024x768
126.1  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark

Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark

2005
high 1024x768
243.4  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
lowmed.highultraQHD4K
Fifa 11551318.4216.8133.4
Mafia 2120.9102.992.166
StarCraft 226076.167.240.8
Metro 2033122.891.35218.5
Battlefield: Bad Company 2140.9122.298.256.7
CoD Modern Warfare 2278.9152.2132.288.3
Risen155.1126.399.963.5
Resident Evil 5151.9112.491.1
Need for Speed Shift107.6113.981.6
Colin McRae: DIRT 2164.8143.1122.975.4
Anno 1404180.994.6
F.E.A.R. 2227.7152.5149.391.2
Left 4 Dead250.2190.8
Far Cry 2193.8132.780.6
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare352.5226.5159.7
Crysis - GPU Benchmark139.988.173.925.4
Crysis - CPU Benchmark184.393.176.524.1
Call of Juarez Benchmark126.1
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark243.4
< 30 fps
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Class 0

Arc A380

Class 1

Class 2

Radeon PRO W6600M *

Class 3

UHD Graphics 32EUs
UHD Graphics 750

Class 4

Class 5

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter