MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB OC Review

Conclusion

There really isn’t much to say about the MSI GTX 460 Cyclone that hasn’t already been said about these new GF104 cards. It embodies all of the qualities we have come to expect from the GTX 460 (performance, excellent pricing, relative efficiency and more) and adds a healthy clock speed increases as well a custom heatsink. To say this card merely succeeds in its goals is a massive understatement.

The real star of this show is of course the Cyclone heatsink; while the reference cooler is good, this one MSI installed is simply awe-inspiring. Granted, it exhausts all of the core’s heat into the general vicinity around the card but as long as you have sufficient airflow within your case, this should be of no concern. Performance was also quite good with the increased core speed bumping framerates to somewhere between the stock and higher clocked cards.

Considering the fact that EVGA’s Superclocked edition had previously shown us how an overclocked card should perform, seeing MSI take a bit more pedestrian approach was a bit disappointing. We understand that not every card needs to reach stratospheric speeds in order to be appealing but it would definitely have been nice to see at least a moderate increase to the memory clocks on the Cyclone. The result is overall very good but we do see this MSI card running out of wind in some tests where additional memory bandwidth is sorely needed.

Another standout here is price. A mere $10 more expensive than the reference version is absolutely astounding considering the high end heatsink and increased overall performance that walk hand in hand with the Cyclone. We also love the fact that MSI allows Canadian residents to RMA their cards within Canada instead of having to send them on a lengthy journey south of the border.

Even though it isn’t the highest performing GTX 460 we have looked at, the 768MB version of the Cyclone is a good card with a simply incredible heatsink. In addition, its overall value is literally second to none. As such, it receives our Dam Good Value Award.


Pros:

- Very good performance
- High end heatsink
- Quiet
- Excellent price for this type of card
- RMAs stay within Canada (for the Canadians reading this)


Cons:

- Memory should have joined in on the overclocking fun
- Heat from the cooler stays in the case