Nvidia GeForce GTX 465 Released: Details and Pricing

Today Nvidia released its latest GTX 400 series graphics card, the GTX 465. The card's architecture is very similar to that of the GTX 480 and GTX 470, but with lower specs, and a much lower price point. The GTX 465 features 352 stream processors, a core clock at 607MHz, shader clock at 1215MHz, and 1GB of 256-bit GDDR5 memory at 802MHz. All of these specs are a step below the GTX 470 with the exception of the core clock speed. However, it is introduced at a much lower price point; $279 MSRP.

Another thing that the GTX 465 has in common with the other 400-series card is it's 40nm architecture. Therefore, the GTX 470 looks very similar to this card. This is because Nvidia simply disables certain features of the card, instead of producing an entirely different lineup. For the GTX 465, Nvidia simply disabled one of the four GPCs, cutting performance by about 25%. This sets back the card's max power consumption to about 200 watts, down 15 watts from the GTX 470.

With a 25% hit in performance, Nvidia is finally entering the sub-$300 market. The GTX 465 should compete with both the Radeon HD 5830, and Radeon HD 5850, but mostly the latter. The Radeon HD 5830 is sold for $220-$250, while the Radeon HD 5850 sells for $280-$290. Nvidia should continue to have problems with this market because the GTX 465 offers slightly less performance than the Radeon HD 5850, yet they can be bought for comparable prices. The Radeon HD 5850 also runs much cooler both idle and under stress, with much lower power consumption. This makes the GeForce GTX 465 tough to consider buying, knowing there is a better option available that outperforms it in nearly every way. We'll have to wait and see how Nvidia intends to find sales in the sub-$300 market.