460m.

Hey guys, so lately I've been seeing people say that this card blows, and frankly, It's ok with me. Yeah, so maybe it doesn't run every game on max settings, but I don't really mind. How good is this card actually? Like compared to other cards. Keep in mind, I'm computer illiterate so pretend you're explaining this to a 5 year old.

 

Right so the 460m is a "High Performance" GPU, it is roughly half the speed (perhaps maybe 60%) of the 580m which is a "Enthusiast" GPU. Compared with the 6970m, it is about 70% of the speed, and compared with the 6990m, it is about the same as the 580m.

 

That card is excellent and 3D capable. It runs nice and cool in the M17x and is rather overclockable.

It runs almost every game on ultra settings (Starcraft II, Metro, Crysis, Mafia are the only exceptions I know of) and then a slight tweek of the AA or motion blur settings is all that is needed to run them just fine.

Having to run a game on high instead of ultra is not much of a sacrifice in reality.

I still have an ATI 4670 in an XPS 1645 that runs all but the above games perfectly and the 460M blow's the 4670 away.

Enjoy unless you get caught up in the benchmark game...

 

Toledano, i have a 460m in my Asus G73 laptop that is overclocked to faster than 560m speeds. It is ok except that you have to make compromises when running games. I.E., turn down the resolution and/or detail settings on the more demanding games.

The difference between the 460m and my current 6990m is huge. I'm currently playing Crysis 2 on ULTRA settings at 1920x1080. There is no way i could even dream about doing that on the 460m (even overclocked)

If you want to see where a stock 460m ranks with the other vid cards out there, look here on the right side:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

The 460m is fine GPU. Sure better ones are available, but yours is sufficient. 10 months ago the 460m was considered a top of the line card. It is now considered more of a mid-grade mobile card, but that doesn't mean it is bad.

I used to play on 5870m, which is roughly equal to a 460m, I was very happy with it's performance.

Your 460m will be just fine for today's use. I wouldn't recommend ordering one on a new laptop simply because it could get outdated quickly, but if you already have one I wouldn't worry about it.

 

its decent for most things (not Metro 2033, Crysis 2)...but i upgraded to a 6990m because i loaded the Witcher 2 on my Asus G73 and had to downgrade resolution and details just to make it run smooth. Kinda pointless to have a gaming laptop when you can't game the way it was "meant to be played". So a few days later, Alienware was ordered

My 460m is overclocked to 800mhz/1600mhz/1480 DDR5 (faster than a stock 560m) and it just wasnt enough for my purposes

With some big titles coming like Skyrim, i might need to upgrade again lol

 

Yeah, that's what I thought.

True true, I do like the 3d features of the card, and when i play crysis 2, i'm not really concerned if i don't hit crazy high fps.

You used to have a G73? So did I, but i had the 5870. And thanks for the link, I didn't understand everything, but it was helpful.

lol, yeah, i tried metro 2033 on max settings and it felt like a hangover, not that i drink, but you get the point. And overclocking? I wanted to try it but i'm not really sure what that does. And yeah, i'll upgrade when the next series comes out

 

And Toledano is my last name, people ask me all the time about that, lol

 

download an application called MSI Afterburner. This is what i used to overclock my 460m...for your info, the 460m and 560m are identical spec wise...but the 560m has higher clock rates

All 460m's should do what mine is currently set at (i.e., 800mhz core/1600mhz shaders/1480 mhz DDR5). So you can set those speeds with MSI afterburner and have a gtx 560m free of charge. Its still not good enough for metro 2033, but it makes things better

Those clock rates are easily attained on the 460m and it was still running quite cool at those speeds

 

Aw snap. On my to do list. Are there any down sides to this?

 

You are stressing a gpu with more power and heat. It can fry so OC at your own risk.

That said, as long as you OC in small increments and monitor you gpu temps, you should do fine.

 

O, ok, I guess i wont do it then, lol, thanks anyways.

 

460m is easy to OC as long as you watch your temps you can increase performance by as much as you feel comfortable with and you don't need to push the card to its limit if you don't want to. Mine i have OC'd at 815/1630/1500 and get about 63C with the back propped up. I have only used this OC with more demanding games such as the Witcher 2 and Battlefield 3 beta as it can easy be toggled on and off using MSI Afterburner.

 

Tried running the BF3 beta with my 460M. It says, "Detected NVidia driver version 267.64; minimum version is 285.27; please update drivers on nvidia.com/drivers before playing the game." Problematic since dell doesn't seem to provide drivers anymore. Suggestions? OP, maybe it is as bad as they say,

 

I know a method but it entails risk. Let me know if you want to know.

It's using a modified bios and disabling Optimus, which I think is useless since I am never not plugged into a wall. It will also allow you to update to any supported nvidia driver available also.

 

Is there really no way with just modified video drivers? I am going to be really mad about this... modifying bios sounds risky as you say.

 

this (laptop2go) site makes modded infs for nividia drivers. just download the modded inf by clicking on the green link and put it in the C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\285.27\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver folder. if you don't have the original 285.27 drivers get them here. if you haven't already tried to install, try it without putting the inf in and let it extract itself, then put the inf in the folder above. after this is done the install should go smoothly

 

Try bigtonyman's method first. If it doesnt work, then do mine.

Your not modifying it. Just make sure you don't tell Dell you installed a mod bios. It's just using an unlocked one for the R3. Here's my post if you want to look into it.

Here's my post. And yes it will say 32bit but it will still install. Just make sure you install the vid drivers through Safe Mode.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-m17x-r3-bsod-start-till-now.html#post7903069

 

might have to go do this sometime soon can you toggle the GPU's still with the modded bios?

 

No, unfortunately this will totally shut off the integrated chip. I also replaced the 460m w/ my 580 D) so I can't say for sure if you can just revert back to normal with optimus enabled.

 

"this (laptop2go) site makes modded infs for nividia drivers. just download the modded inf by clicking on the green link and put it in the C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\285.27\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver folder. if you don't have the original 285.27 drivers get them here. if you haven't already tried to install, try it without putting the inf in and let it extract itself, then put the inf in the folder above. after this is done the install should go smoothly"

Can you explain the process for me? Been about 5 years since I've had a gaming laptop until now... Do I need to uninstall the current drivers in a certain way first?

 

What happens is there's already an "Inf" file in that folder. All you would do is extract the downloaded inf into that driver folder and it should let you install it.

Make sure it prompts you to "Overwrite" the previous file though.

 

So, no need to uninstall anything first? Just download the driver exe, trying running it normally, then place the modified inf and re-run installer?

 

You first download the driver. then once its extracted, it will be in the giant long folder file, aka the C: link you have there. Then you download the modified Inf and then extract into that exact link. It should prompt you to replace a very small file which will allow the driver to install for you, most of the time.

 

Okay. And should I choose "Perform a clean installation"?

Also, do I let it install all of the components? Currently listed as not having are 3D vision controller driver, nvidia update, and nview.

Or, should I just be doing Express installation rather than looking at custom.

 

For now, pick Express.

 

Thanks. Okay, so now the BF3 beta runs. However, my dell ultrasharp no longer works through display port. Suggestions?

 

Unfortunately, I have no idea on that.

 

The 460m OC'ed to those speeds i specified is running very cool (800/1600/1480)...meaning, there is no downside. Unless you experience instability, there is very little extra heat generated on my 460m and it is completely stable. Runs great.

 

do it...460m is a 560m. Just overclock and go. plus remember, you can turn on the overclock when you need it. Leave it at stock for all other things

 

O, ok, after i get my lappy back to normal :/ ill do that, thanks :]

 

This is exactly what I did:

1) Downloaded 285.38 from Nvidia.
2) Ran the .exe and it told me my hardware wasn't supported. No problem as that was what I expected.
3) Downloaded the modded .inf from LaptopVideo2Go and dropped it into the directory noted above (automatically created when during step 2)
4) Ran setup.exe from the International directory.
5) Did a custom install and removed the 3D and Nvidia Update components as well as selecting a Clean Install.
6) After the reboot, I went into the Nvidia Control Panel and added my games again to the exception list so they'd use the 460M rather than the Intel Integrated GPU.
7) Enjoyed my lovely new drivers.

Thanks, bigtonyman

 

Np im here to help im experimenting with overclocking now and the 460 can be up-clocked to the standard 560m with little heat increase. This gives a few extra Fps in higher demanding games like the witcher 2 and the BF3 beta.

 

I'm having the same issues on my MX 17 r3. I followed the steps but when I download the green link (inf file) it gives me nothing to extract. Just a read me file?

What am I doing wrong?

 

Do you have a way to test an external display through hdmi or display port? When I installed, I lost my multiple monitor settings in nvidia control panel, and could no longer hookup through displayport.

 

Not on topic, but is Dell going to release any new drivers for 460m?

 

Not likely. Don't worry, enjoy your gaming as is and upgrade to a 580 in six months when on sale at Dell!

 

Yeah, I was asking because somebody mentioned that you cannot play Battlefield 3 without a newer driver, and I'd like to get the ones from Dell because....well, because lol. And yeah, that 580 sounds like a good idea to me.