Gigabyte GTX 460 OC SLi Review

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 25c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.

When we were taking shots with the cooler off, we noticed a lack of paste on the cores so we cleaned them and applied Noctua NT H1 thermal paste. Although this isn't the first time we have seen a graphics card with very little thermal paste applied it really helped reduce temperatures with our stress testing. Our recommendation is to always check your graphics card has the right amount of thermal paste applied … even then we always replace it with high quality Noctua or Arctic Cooling paste.

You can see above that with Furmark stress testing you can see the difference in temperatures between card 1 and card 2. One of them has had Noctua thermal paste reapplied. It isn't rocket science to work out which is which.

The cooler on these cards is exceptional with temperatures hovering between 58-60c when playing Crysis Warhead.

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