nVidia GTX 465 flashing to GTX 470: Fact or Fantasy?

[plunx]

i think the biggest issue is the design of the gtx 465's stock heatsink/fan situation; it's like the newer 9800s and the GTX 285s and stuff with the fan way down at the other end of the video card, unlike most of the GTX 460s that have the stock fan right above the GPU. i'm 'moving on' from an XFX 9800 GX2 that died on me after about a year and a half of use and this GTX 465 reminds me of that card a LOT performance-wise, but -especially- after taking the heatsink/fan off. only it just looks like an older model card, not like most GTX 460s, but rather like most GTX 260/270/275/285 and then the GTX 470 and slightly like the GTX 480.

i have a firm belief that the heat is the problem with the card when you start overclocking it even just a little bit. you can pump it up real high and have other fans directly blowing at the card's fan to get it to run cooler, and as long as you can keep it cool, it'll run fine. but once it starts getting into the 80s, that's a big issue and a lot of people are complaining about it. i mean the specs can say what it says about power consumption and i'm sure the specs of the cards are true when put together (i'm talking about the GTX 460 and the GTX 465) but most of the GTX 460s also come with better stock cooling than almost every one of the GTX 465s i've seen. if the cards were made more similarly and it had the fan right above the GPU instead of the 'old style' with the hole(s) in the PCB where the fan is about 2 inches to the right of the GPU.

also, once you take the faceplate off or whatever it's called, you have to take the heatsink with the copper pipes off first, then you can take the big plate that covers everything else (like the RAM and the mosfets and stuff). i don't like the fact that the RAM and mosfets as well as other parts that get really hot are underneath a metal plate, and the air just runs 'along' the plate in order to cool it. i'm more down with the fans blowing right down at the GPU, hitting the heatsink right above the GPU as well as the memory chips/mosfets surrounding GPU. i like that there's actually copper pipes in the heatsink, but i DON'T like how there are grooves in the heatsink on the part that contacts the GPU because that seems to defeat purpose entirely. there are three 'lines' that run through the GPU that are basically like crevices in the heatsink. aren't the faces of the heatsink that make contact with the CPU/GPU/whatever supposed to be perfectly flat and smooth, with almost a mirror-like finish? because this is nothing like that, in fact, it's actually almost scary.

i forgot to add that the XFX 9800 GX2 that i had before also ran way too hot, and i personally think that it was heat that killed that card. when i took it apart, there was very little thermal paste on the GPU of each card and there was this thermal tape covering the RAM, if you really want to call it 'covering'. on both of the cards inside of the 9800 GX2, the tape was only covering about 1/3rd of the last piece of RAM to the right of the GPU. when the tape was applied, it was applied slightly 'sideways' on the memory and that bothered me too. the more and more i think about it, the more and more this card reminds me of the 9800 GX2.

[JayJay]

I just got my recertified 465 in hopes that it would be unlockable so I could throw two more together for some tri-sli fun. Recertified: PNY XLR8 RVCGGTX465XXB GeForce GTX 46... This is the one that I bought, and it appears to have all of the soldering points on the back of the PCB, nothing is missing and the PCB is black too. Revision says A3 in GPUZ but I dunno if I should take it apart just to make sure it's the unlockable rev. Any suggestions?

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by plunx

i think the biggest issue is the design of the gtx 465's stock heatsink/fan situation; it's like the newer 9800s and the GTX 285s and stuff with the fan way down at the other end of the video card, unlike most of the GTX 460s that have the stock fan right above the GPU. i'm 'moving on' from an XFX 9800 GX2 that died on me after about a year and a half of use and this GTX 465 reminds me of that card a LOT performance-wise, but -especially- after taking the heatsink/fan off. only it just looks like an older model card, not like most GTX 460s, but rather like most GTX 260/270/275/285 and then the GTX 470 and slightly like the GTX 480.

i have a firm belief that the heat is the problem with the card when you start overclocking it even just a little bit. you can pump it up real high and have other fans directly blowing at the card's fan to get it to run cooler, and as long as you can keep it cool, it'll run fine. but once it starts getting into the 80s, that's a big issue and a lot of people are complaining about it. i mean the specs can say what it says about power consumption and i'm sure the specs of the cards are true when put together (i'm talking about the GTX 460 and the GTX 465) but most of the GTX 460s also come with better stock cooling than almost every one of the GTX 465s i've seen. if the cards were made more similarly and it had the fan right above the GPU instead of the 'old style' with the hole(s) in the PCB where the fan is about 2 inches to the right of the GPU.

also, once you take the faceplate off or whatever it's called, you have to take the heatsink with the copper pipes off first, then you can take the big plate that covers everything else (like the RAM and the mosfets and stuff). i don't like the fact that the RAM and mosfets as well as other parts that get really hot are underneath a metal plate, and the air just runs 'along' the plate in order to cool it. i'm more down with the fans blowing right down at the GPU, hitting the heatsink right above the GPU as well as the memory chips/mosfets surrounding GPU. i like that there's actually copper pipes in the heatsink, but i DON'T like how there are grooves in the heatsink on the part that contacts the GPU because that seems to defeat purpose entirely. there are three 'lines' that run through the GPU that are basically like crevices in the heatsink. aren't the faces of the heatsink that make contact with the CPU/GPU/whatever supposed to be perfectly flat and smooth, with almost a mirror-like finish? because this is nothing like that, in fact, it's actually almost scary.

i forgot to add that the XFX 9800 GX2 that i had before also ran way too hot, and i personally think that it was heat that killed that card. when i took it apart, there was very little thermal paste on the GPU of each card and there was this thermal tape covering the RAM, if you really want to call it 'covering'. on both of the cards inside of the 9800 GX2, the tape was only covering about 1/3rd of the last piece of RAM to the right of the GPU. when the tape was applied, it was applied slightly 'sideways' on the memory and that bothered me too. the more and more i think about it, the more and more this card reminds me of the 9800 GX2.

You can think that you all you want, but the fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter where the fan is located. The stock blower style fan is a much better design than the flower style fan on the GTX460. Beside the fact that is exhausts the hot air out of the case instead of dumping it into the case, it also moves more air with higher static pressure than the flower design. This means that the heatsink can have more surface are, with more fins placed closer together. As for the mono-sink design, the items underneath that really don't need much cooling. The mosfets are the biggest heat producer, but the GDDR5 doesn't need cooling anyway.

[JayJay]

Why is there such a crappy stigma associated with GTX 465 temps? My PNY Recertified GTX 465 dips down to 28 degrees celcius while idle, and doesnt go past 68 when gaming, maybe my card is one of a kind? Or maybe everyone is misinformed...should I give the GTX 470 bios a go?
Idle

[Shihabyooo]

Yours is one of a kind.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by JayJay

Why is there such a crappy stigma associated with GTX 465 temps? My PNY Recertified GTX 465 dips down to 28 degrees celcius while idle, and doesnt go past 68 when gaming, maybe my card is one of a kind? Or maybe everyone is misinformed...should I give the GTX 470 bios a go?
Idle

Consideing my GTX 470 and GTX 580 do just about the same, I'd say you have an average to belower average GTX 465 in regards to temps.

[cdawall]

Originally Posted by Shihabyooo

Yours is one of a kind.

Not really got the same card in full 470 form and it gets the same temps at stock clocks

[Shihabyooo]

Mine idles at 39~45 degrees at night with an air condition running ! When gaming it nearly almost reaches 81.
How much are your idle/fan speeds ? Maybe my default automatic settings just suck.

[tilta]

hi guys, i have gtx465 but it's gigabyte, and i haven't seen any post about gigabyte version of flashing gtx465 to gtx470.. so, any advice..? please. i dont know what to do, i'm not stupid, i'm just..... a little bit scared... o.O DDD

[KainXS]

do you really need to flash it, are you having any performance problems with the card right now, if not I would say don't flash it, especially not if your scared to flash it right now and have no backup.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by tilta

hi guys, i have gtx465 but it's gigabyte, and i haven't seen any post about gigabyte version of flashing gtx465 to gtx470.. so, any advice..? please. i dont know what to do, i'm not stupid, i'm just..... a little bit scared... o.O DDD

I'll second what KainXS said and avoid flashing it. There's nothing worse than ending up with a dead card that won't reflash back to life.

It's quite old now anyway, so I'd recommend upgrading it to a new, faster model if you want better performance. Flashing it will only get you a very small perfoemance increment anyway and carries all that risk.

[Jeffredo]

Originally Posted by TotalChaos

MSI GTX 465 Twin Frozr II Golden Edition are unlockable in many cases

Yup, did it myself. There's a whole thread devoted to the card and almost everyone could unlock it.

http://www.overclock.net/t/789983/ms...on-owners-club

I flashed it back and returned it - ran too warm and too noisy to suit me.