Cooling Performance

In order to test cooling performance and efficiency we used a Radio Shack IR Thermometer and took the temperatures of the cards while running a 10 minute loop of the Unreal Performance Test 2002. The GPU temperature was recorded from directly behind the GPU on the PCB and the memory temperature was recorded from behind the same memory chip on each board, once again on the back of the PCB. The highest sustainable temperature was recorded during the 10 minute period.

GPU Temperatures - Stock Clockspeed
Temperature in Degrees Fahrenheit (Lower is Better)
ASUS V8460 Ultra Ti 4600

MSI GeForce4 Ti 4600

Gainward GeForce4 Ultra 750XP

Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4600

PNY GeForce4 Ti 4600

NVIDIA Reference Ti 4600

eVGA e-GeForce4 Ti 4600

Chaintech GeForce4 Ti 4600

MSI GeForce4 Ti 4400

ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti 4400

Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4400

ASUS V8440 Ti 4400

146.5

147.5

152.5

155.0

156.5

159.5

161.0

163.5

143.5

151.5

153.5

155.0

|
0
|
33
|
65
|
98
|
131
|
164
|
196

It's always good to see that it's not always the most elaborate cooling solutions that end up doing the best. If you recall, the most bells and whistles belonged to the eVGA Ti 4600 yet it was one of the worst in terms of cooling performance.

Memory Temperatures - Stock Clockspeed
Temperature in Degrees Fahrenheit (Lower is Better)
MSI GeForce4 Ti 4600

ASUS V8460 Ultra Ti 4600

Gainward GeForce4 Ultra 750XP

eVGA e-GeForce4 Ti 4600

Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4600

PNY GeForce4 Ti 4600

NVIDIA Reference Ti 4600

Chaintech GeForce4 Ti 4600

MSI GeForce4 Ti 4400

Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4400

ASUS V8440 Ti 4400

ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti 4400

117.5

119.0

120.5

123.0

123.0

126.5

128.0

130.0

115.0

119.5

120.0

120.5

|
0
|
26
|
52
|
78
|
104
|
130
|
156

Once again we see that the best cooled memory is that which doesn't have a poorly designed heatsink on it. The two coolest Ti 4600 and Ti 4400 cards both fail to use any heatsinks on their memory yet they perform at the very top of the pack.

Gaming Performance - Unreal Performance Test 2002 Summary Table
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