Introduction

With the release of the GeForce GTX 460, NVIDIA’s board partners are trying all sorts of things to make their product stand apart from the crowd. Between designs like the dual-fanned ECS Black edition, Galaxy’s removable fan, and MSI’s completely different cyclone cooler, there are a lot of creative ideas for you to check out. However, most of these are not yet available, with most of the dozen GTX 460s listed on Newegg being based on the reference design.

The products that EVGA currently has available are comprised of the latter, baseline models that retail for right around the $200 MSRP. Their GTX 460 768MB is a carbon copy of NVIDIA’s reference board and comes in two flavors, regular and Superclocked. They also have plans for both 768MB and 1GB versions with more efficient EE (external exhaust) coolers using turbine fans.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 460 768MB SC comes from the factory at higher clock speeds than normal. At 763MHz core, 950MHz memory (3800MHz effective), and 1526MHz shader clocks by default, it’s 13-19% faster than a run-of-the-mill GTX 460 768MB. That’s great news for those who aren’t comfortable enough to do any overclocking themselves.

This pre-overclocking service does come at a premium, however, so the SC version will run you an extra $10. There is also a $220 version, and while the difference is very subtle, it could be considered very important by most people: a lifetime warranty. If you don’t make sure the part number is 768-P3-1362-AR, you will only get a 2-year warranty (TR model), though others may decide that that is enough.

Bundle and accessories

Included with all three EVGA SKUs (as well as some other GTX 460s) is a coupon code for a free copy of Just Cause 2. Beyond that, you’ll find the usual assortment of accessories included with your EVGA graphics card:

• User manual, quick-start guide, software disc
  
• Two 6-pin PCI-E power adapters
  
• VGA to DVI adapter
  
• Mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter
  
• EVGA case badge and bumper sticker