MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment

They told us what we should be able to get; we laughed, cried and ended up shocked. The GTX 465 with Voltage Adjustment Overclocked right here folks!

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: MSI
15 minutes & read time

Introduction




MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 02


It was only going to be a matter of time 'till we had the ability to adjust the voltage on the GTX 465 core. The introduction of the MSI version of the card along with the latest version of Afterburner brought that feature to the party.

The thing is we've already looked at overclocking the 465 and been very impressed with it. And while MSI said I should be able to achieve a certain speed when it came to bumping up the voltage, I did become "ye' of little faith", because the number they said I should be able to get just seemed astronomical.

Let me just give you a few numbers to start with. At default the core on the GTX 465 is 608MHz and when it came to overclocking the Galaxy we managed to achieve a clock of 725MHz without the ability to adjust the voltage. Without giving too much away, all I can say before we get into the next page is that if we couldn't get much more than the 725MHz we already achieved, I wouldn't have bothered writing this article.

So with that said, let's have a look at how we went.

MSI GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment




As we mentioned in the introduction, we would be using Afterburner today to achieve our overclock. While we used the same program when it came to overclocking the GTX 465 previously, the difference is this time in the latest version we have the ability to also adjust the core voltage.

Increasing the voltage to the max of 1.87v (which MSI let us know was safe for the card we used thanks to the extra cooling), we then provided to adjust the core clock. Speaking to MSI, they said we should be able to achieve 850MHz on the core. It's at that point I laughed to myself; maybe MSI had forgot that the default is only 608MHz.

They also said that we should be able to achieve 4000MHz QDR on the memory. I again proceeded to laugh to myself because since the Voltage Adjustment doesn't affect memory and last time we overclocked we couldn't get that high, I felt nothing was going to change this time.

MSI had the last laugh, though!

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 01


What we ended up with was a core speed of 860MHz which in turn bumped the Shader clock from 1215MHz to 1720MHz. We then aimed for 4000MHz QDR on the memory, but ended up at an even higher 4100MHz QDR.

These are just disturbingly high overclocks and while we had our fan cranked to 100%, I think when you see our graphs that look at the noise levels you won't be disappointed.

Test System Setup and 3DMark Vantage


MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 99


We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASRock, Kingston, Western Digital, Noctua and Thermaltake.

The clocks we achieved as mentioned on the previous page are just insane. Let's see what that does for performance and see how the card compares to a couple of other NVIDIA and ATI ones.

Let's get started!


3DMark Vantage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here



3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.

3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.

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Damn! Straight away we see massive performance gains; the card only just trails the much more expensive HD 5870.

Unigine Heaven Benchmark




Version and / or Patch Used: 1 and 2
Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com
Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/press-releases/091022-heaven_benchmark//



New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.

Note: If a card doesn't support DirectX 11 the benchmark will be left out, if it does it will be included along with the DirectX10 results.

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Getting into some Tessellation testing and the card is just flying along when overclocked, blowing everything else out of the water here.

Benchmarks - CINEBENCH


CINEBENCH

Version and / or Patch Used: Release 10 and Release 11.5
Developer Homepage: http://www.maxon.net/
Product Homepage: http://www.maxon.net




CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite that assesses your computer's performace capabilities. MAXON CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winning animation software, CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

MAXON CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores and is available for Windows (32-bit and 64-Bit) and Macintosh (PPC and Intel-based).

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CINEBENCH doesn't make use of the overclock so there's no real surprise here.

Benchmarks - Resident Evil 5


Resident Evil 5

Version and / or Patch Used: Demo Benchmark
Developer Homepage: www.residentevil.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.residentevil.com/




Resident Evil 5 is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on September 18. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.

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Getting into the real world and you can see the massive performance on offer. You can see that almost at every resolution the GTX 465 overclocked is able to outperform everything.
Page 7 [Benchmarks - BattleForge]

BattleForge

Version and / or Patch Used: Auto Patched at Load
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.battleforge.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.battleforge.com/





The Gods have disappeared and the old sun has died, letting a vile twilight engulf the world of Nyn. In exchange for all treasures the mortals possessed, the evil giants agreed to forge a new sun and hurl it into the sky.

But the deal was betrayed, the treasure stolen and now the mortals flee the wrath of the giants. Under the light of a new sun the mortals stumble into a world changed and twisted by an age of twilight. The long journey home has become a conquest of survival.

Note: Supporting DirectX 11 we have seperated the graphs for NVIDIA and ATI cards. While the numbers between the two brands can be compared you have to make note that ATI based HD 5000 series cards are running DirectX 11.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 24


Massive performance gains again. More importantly, we're into that 60 FPS average we want to see at 2560 x 1600. This isn't something you would expect since we were 15 FPS away from it initially.

Benchmarks - Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.


Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Version and / or Patch Used: Benchmark Demo
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/UK/default.aspx
Product Homepage: http://www.hawxgame.com/





Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X is an arcade-style flight simulator video game developed by Ubisoft Romania and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and iPhone OS.

The fundamental gameplay mechanics are similar to those of other console-based flight series. Players take on enemies with over 50 aircraft available. Each mission is at real world locations in environments created with commercial satellite data. A cockpit, first person, and third person view are selectable. The third person view gives the player an external view of both their plane and the target.

Set above the skies of a near-future world, increasingly dependent on private military companies with elite mercenaries who have a relaxed view on the law. As these non-governmental organizations gain power, global conflict erupts with one powerful PMC attacking the United States.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 25


Again massive performance with the card outperforming the HD 5870 easily at some resolutions. We again see that at 2560 x 1600 we're way past that 60 FPS average we need to see; something the card couldn't achieve at its stock clocks.

Benchmarks - Darkest of Days


Darkest of Days

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.4
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.darkestofdays.com/index.php
Product Homepage: http://www.darkestofdays.com/index.php





Darkest of Days takes the player through time into historic battles in an effort to save key individuals from certain death. The battles range from Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 to fighting in Pompeii as ash and fire rain down from an erupting Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Other locations include the battles of Antietam and Tannenberg, and a German World War II P.O.W. camp. There are different missions in every time period and the game takes about 4 hours to complete.

The game features over twenty weapons, both from the original time period as well as those brought back from the future. In addition, there are artillery weapons from different time periods to assist in battle.

Note: With the PhysX set to Medium or High Darkest of Days take advantage of the NVIDIA PhysX abilities. For that reason we will test ATI cards at the Low preset, NVIDIA based cards though will be tested at Low and High.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 26


MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 27


Big numbers continue to be seen; you can see the model leaves the GTX 470 for dead at all resolutions.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2


Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01
Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/
Buy It Here




The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 28


The GTX 465 in stock form just misses the 30 FPS minimum at 2560 x 1600. The GTX 470 in stock form just scrapes past it. The GTX 465 overclocked just screams past that yet again. There's really some amazing speed here.

Benchmarks - Batman Arkham Asylum


Batman Arkham Asylum

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com/





Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum - Gotham's psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City's most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum.

Using a wide range of Batman's gadgets and abilities, players will become the invisible predator and attempt to foil The Joker's demented scheme.
Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story penned exclusively for the game by famous Batman author and five-time Emmy award winner Paul Dini, whose credits include Lost season one and Batman: The Animated Series.

Note: With support for PhysX NVIDIA based cards will be tested with the technology on and off, ATI cards will be tested with the technology off due to it not being supported on their cards.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 29


MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 30


The massive gains are seen again and again. With PhysX on we're even able to get playable FPS at 1920 x 1200.

Benchmarks - Dark Void


Dark Void

Version and / or Patch Used: Benchmark Demo
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.airtightgames.com
Product Homepage: http://www.darkvoidgame.com/




The game's story takes place during World War II and centers around a cargo pilot named William Augustus Grey (voiced by Nolan North) who is teleported to another world while flying through the Bermuda Triangle. In this world, known as the 'Void', Will encounters an alien race as well as other humans, which are known as the Watchers and the Survivors respectively.

Will reluctantly joins the Survivors who are engaged in a feud with the alien race to satisfy his desire to return to Earth. While aiding the Survivors, Will discovers that the Void is a middle ground that connects both the Watchers homeworld and Earth. It also becomes apparent that the Watchers are supplying the Axis powers with various supplies for reasons unknown. With the help of Nikola Tesla, Will utilizes retrofited Watcher technology to combat the Watchers and eventually find a way to escape the Void.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 31


MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 32


Again we see huge performance numbers and again at the highest resolution the GTX 465 overclocked is able to blaze past the other NVIDIA cards with PhysX on and get right past that 30 FPS minimum we need to see.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF


High Quality AA and AF

Our high quality tests let us separate the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls. If the cards weren't struggling before they will start to now.


Far Cry 2

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 33


Thanks to AA being a strong point on the NVIDIA cards, the massive overclock catapults us way past that 30 FPS minimum.


Resident Evil 5

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 34


We need to see an average of 60 FPS here and the GTX 465 overclocked doesn't break a sweat which is amazing since the card at stock was way under the 60 FPS average we need to see.


Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 35


We're not quite at 60 FPS, but we're not far and a lot closer than when the card was at stock.

Benchmarks - Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor


Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.51
Timedemo or Level Used: Sample File
Developer Homepage: http://www.elcomsoft.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.elcomsoft.com/ewsa.html




ElcomSoft has pioneered many software innovations that have made it easier to recover passwords protecting various types of resources. For the first time in the industry, the company's patent-pending GPU acceleration makes its way into Wi-Fi password recovery, reducing the time required to recover Wi-Fi passwords up to a hundred times.

Supporting up to four NVIDIA boards such as GeForce 8, 9, and 200, as well as ATI video cards such as RADEON HD 4000 Series and up, Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor allows building servers with supercomputer performance at a fraction of the price.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 36


A big boost in performance is seen under WSA.

Benchmarks - Badaboom


Badaboom

Version and / or Patch Used: Release 1.2.1.7
Developer Homepage: http://www.nvidia.com//
Product Homepage: http://www.badaboomit.com/




Badaboom eliminates the frustration of video conversion by providing users with speed, efficiency, quality, and a sleek interface. In a practice that used to take several hours, Badaboom converts feature-length movies in a matter of minutes while keeping the videos looking crisp and clear.

By harnessing the power of NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPUs, Badaboom offloads the CPU to allow users to continue browsing the Internet or checking email without decreased system performance, making transcoding high-quality video fast, easy, and painless.

Note: With the requirement for a CUDA enabled graphics card to run Badaboom, this means that we can only use NVIDIA based cards for this test.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 37


No real surprise here with performance figures being as expected.

Temperature Test


Temperature Tests



With the TES 1326 Infrared Thermometer literally in hand we found ourselves getting real-world temperatures from the products we test at load (3D clock speeds).

There are two places we pull temperature from - the back of the card directly behind the core and if the card is dual slot and has an exhaust point we also pull a temperate from there, as seen in the picture.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 38


The 100% fan speed does help keep temperature levels down.

Sound Test


Sound Tests



Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 39


What's amazing, though, is at 100% the card still comes in under 70dB which isn't too bad. We could probably even drop the fan speed back a few % to help drop those noise levels, as the core is well and truly cool enough.

Power Consumption Tests






Using our new PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum - only a 7,200RPM SATA-II single hard drive is used without CD ROM or many cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 40


Power draw jumps, but it's nothing a decent quality 650 Watt+ power supply won't handle.

Total Performance Rating (TPR)


Total Performance Rating

The TPR graph is a combination of all our benchmarks in which NVIDIA and ATI are on an even playing field. This includes benchmarks where PhysX can be forced off like Dark Void and Batman: Arkham Asylum, but not Darkest of Days.

The TPR number is a combination of:

3DMark Vantage, Heaven Benchmark V2, CINEBENCH R11.5, Resident Evil 5, BattleForge, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., Far Cry 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum (PhysX Off), Dark Void (PhysX Off) and our three High Quality tests which include Far Cry 2, Resident Evil 5 and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

All of the benchmark results achieved are then combined into a single number. As this graph will grow over time and cards won't be re-tested, next to each model you'll find the driver version that was used when the card was benchmarked.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 41


Overclocked performance on a whole is just massive. We've gone from the bottom of the list to half way up it. You just have to look at the cards around it; faster than the GTX 470 stock and overclocked without voltage, only just behind the more expensive HD 5870 and really not all that far away from the much more expensive GTX 480.

Total Value Rating (TVR)


Total Value Rating

The TVR graph is the TPR score divided by the price of the video card. The price of the video card is based on the list price of the model on Newegg.com. In the event the card isn't listed, it will be based on the U.S. $ MSRP given to us by the manufacturer.

In the event we can't source a price from either, the product will not receive a TVR rating. As with our TPR graph, the amount of video cards on the list will grow over time and the price of the model won't change from what it was when first reviewed. For this reason the U.S. $ price that the card is based off will be included next to the name of the model.

In the event you want to find the TVR rating yourself based on the current price, all you have to do is simply divide the TPR number by the list price.

TVR numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number; 100.3 will be 100; 100.8 will be 101 and 100.5 will be rounded down to 100.

MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Overclocked w/ Voltage Adjustment 42


The fact that performance just sky rockets, yet price remains at $290 means that the overall value of the product just goes through the roof.

Final Thoughts




We had achieved 725MHz without voltage adjustment when we first overclocked the GTX 465. With voltage adjustment I figured if we could get another 50MHz on top of that an article was worthwhile. So when I started overclocking I started at around 775MHz.

As we moved the core up and up (and up and up), though, with runs of Vantage between each increase to see that it was stable, it just became scary as to how much performance was on tap here. We're really not that far behind a GTX 480 which sits at twice the price. And yes, while you can overclock that card and the GTX 470 and the HD 5870, you're just not going to see these kinds of gains as far as percentages go. We know that because when we look at our Total Value Graph the only card that comes close to it is the GTX 465 without Voltage Adjustment and the GTX 470 with it.

What's also great is that at 100% the fan was bearable. Considering over the past few months I've dealt with cards outputting in excess of 80dB 100% and an under 70dB noise level was reasonable. When you look at the temps the card threw at us as well, it's clear that we could probably drop the fan speed slightly.

The GTX 400 series might have gotten off to a bit of a shaky start, which is something we've said before, but it's becoming clear that NVIDIA are really finding their legs. More importantly we're coming to a point where ATI should become worried. Rumor is that the GTX 460 is going to be a strong overclocker and let's be honest, if what we're seeing here is anything to go by, we've got no reason to not believe them.

I already thought that NVIDIA had done a good job with the GTX 465. Its performance at 1920 x 1200 was strong and the fact it was priced under $300 meant I felt it was priced correctly. Afterburner and its voltage adjustment ability just opens the floodgates to a whole new level of performance.

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Shawn takes care of all of our video card reviews. From 2009, Shawn is also taking care of our memory reviews, and from May 2011, Shawn also takes care of our CPU, chipset and motherboard reviews. As of December 2011, Shawn is based out of Taipei, Taiwan.

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