Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested

We've looked at it in single stock form and single overclocked form. Today we combine two and see what the GTX 465 does in tandem.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Galaxy
14 minutes & 46 seconds read time

Introduction




Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 02


We've already had a good look at the GTX 465 in single form. Today we're going to be looking at it in SLI form and this is an important form for a few reasons. The first is that we want to know how the mid range cards perform in SLI. More importantly, though, this is going to be a great setup for people who are interested in going down the Surround Gaming path.

While some may say it's an issue, the one thing you're going to need for Surround Gaming is two video cards in SLI. While this isn't the end of the world when you consider the fact that the more GPU power is going to be a plus, the setup can become very expensive with a GTX 470 or GTX 480 SLI setup.

So we want to make sure that performance and scaling is good. If it is, then this could well become the setup to get for people who want to go down the Surround Gaming path.

There's not a whole lot to look at before we get into the testing side of things; we will just have a quick look at our GPU-Z screen shot before we get stuck into the benchmarking side of things.

Galaxy GTX 465 in SLI




As always, setting up SLI is an easy task; you throw the two cards in the system, make sure you've got all the power connectors in and throw a SLI bridge over the top of them. Once in Windows you'll be told that your system is SLI capable and if you click the balloon, you can then enable it.

Once that's done there's two things you can do. The first is just fire up something like 3DMark Vantage and run a quick performance preset to make sure everything is running well.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 01


The other way is to fire up GPU-Z and make sure that SLI is enabled, as you can see towards the bottom of the GPU-Z screenshot. Even then, we would recommend that you fire up 3DMark Vantage to make sure everything is running well.

Test System Setup and 3DMark Vantage


Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 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.

Apart from being compared to the single GTX 465, we've also compared the SLI setup against the GTX 470, GTX 480 and GTX 470 SLI setups.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 20


Straight away we see that awesome scaling from SLI with it beating everything but the GTX 470 SLI setup.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 21


Strong performance under Unigine. Not quite the scaling we saw in Vantage, but some very good gains nonetheless. The setup is only second to the GTX 470 SLI one.

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).

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 22


No surprises under CINEBENCH; let's keep moving.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 23


Getting into the real world games, we see some awesome performance from the SLI setup. We've got awesome scaling and again the setup is only second to the GTX 480.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 24


BattleForge continues to see strong performance, second to only the GTX 470 SLI setup. More importantly, though, the scaling is just insane; we're really not all that far from 100% scaling.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 25


We're seeing the same thing as our other tests with the setup only second to the GTX 470 SLI one. Scaling isn't quite as good as some of our other benchmarks, but still very impressive.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 26


Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 27


Strong performance across the board and very strong scaling again under this benchmark. There's not much more you could ask for.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 28


Massive gains, awesome scaling and second to only the GTX 470 SLI setup. There's nothing more we want from this. It really is a fantastic setup, the GTX 465 in SLI.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 29


Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 30


Good gains again and good scaling. 2560 x 1600 performance with PhysX on is so close to that 30 FPS minimum we want to see.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 31


Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 32


Huge numbers again and great minimums with PhysX on. Just a fantastic setup that's putting out some massive numbers.

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

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 33


Throwing a huge amount of pressure on the card, we can see that the GTX 400 series really shines. We again see some stellar numbers from the GTX 465 SLI setup.


Resident Evil 5

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 34


AA performance again shines. Huge numbers with the setup only falling second to a GTX 470 SLI one.


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

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 35


The GTX 465 tends to struggle a bit here. While we see a good gain and the average of 60 FPS we want, the setup does fall ever so slightly behind the GTX 480 in this test.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 36


Not working with SLI at the moment; WSA holds no surprises.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 37


Like WSA, we've got no SLI support, so again there's no surprise here as to the performance.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 38


Temperatures aren't bad. The top card as you would expect runs a little warmer, but nothing surprising or unacceptable.

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).

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 39


Even under SLI noise levels are very acceptable.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 40


It comes as no surprise power draw is up, but honestly, nothing a good 600 Watt+ Power Supply would have trouble with. You'd be laughing if you're in the 700 Watt+ area.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 41


Our TPR graphs really help us wrap everything up. Looking at the numbers, performance is strong; the setup falls only behind a single HD 5970 and not by that much, nor the Sapphire HD 5970 TOXIC and GTX 470 SLI setups for that matter.

This is a real testament to the scaling of these cards; you can't help but be impressed with just how good SLI is running these days.

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.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 465 in SLI Tested 42


Value and SLI or CrossFire just don't go hand in hand. In saying that, though, the setup fairs well; better than a standard HD 5970 and also better than the GTX 480 and SLI GTX 470 setup.

Final Thoughts




Surround Gaming shouldn't be linked in with people having more dollars than sense. Just because someone has a multi monitor setup, it doesn't mean they can run out and afford to buy a GTX 480 SLI or HD 5970 CrossFireX setup. The fact that you need two cards in SLI to run Surround Gaming is a bit of a pain, but it's not the end of the world; not needing a DisplayPort monitor is extremely nice.

An SLI GTX 465 setup for starters offers more performance than both a single GTX 470 and GTX 480. Unlike those two setups, though, it also offers Surround Gaming. A second card would have to be added to the GTX 470 or GTX 480 to do that; a very costly exercise.

Sure, ATI can do it off one card, but for the best experience you want to get at least a HD 5970 or a HD 5870 CrossFire setup. Please note, I'm saying best here. Yes, you could do it with a HD 5850, but really, to have real fun with it and enjoy the image quality, you need a stronger setup.

Compared to a HD 5970, this setup we're looking at today performs only slightly behind it, but offers better value. Now, what we need is for NVIDIA to give us a Surround Gaming driver so we can do some testing with it. It's all good and well that this might be the perfect setup for it, but until we test it ourselves the setup could be a complete and utter failure at the massive resolutions that Tri-Monitor setups offer.

Outside of that, though, the setup is just fast at any resolution and it's going to be a great little future proofing setup as it really handles everything you throw at it at all resolutions. What's also great about the setup is that if someone says 'why go two GTX 465s when you could go a single GTX 480?', you can say 'because this setup is faster'. It's so often we see mid range SLI / CF setups perform worse or very similar to the higher end models, but this setup does really outshine the other single GTX 400 setups.

As the weeks go on, the GTX 400 series is becoming a better card to own. We've had some great drivers from NVIDIA recently, SLI scaling is fantastic and companies are offering cooling solutions that keep our cards cooler while running quieter.

Like I said, though, where's our Surround Gaming driver?!?!

PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.

USUnited States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com

UKUnited Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.co.uk

AUAustralia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com.au

CACanada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.ca

DEDeutschland: Finde andere Technik- und Computerprodukte wie dieses auf Amazon.de

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.

Newsletter Subscription
We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.