NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Review

A Closer Look at the GTX 480

While the GTX 470 may look like a run-of-the-mill graphics card, the GTX 480 incorporates a unique design that looks about as masculine as they come. Its main highlights are a quartet of heatpipes protruding from the side of the card along with a continuation of the internal heatsink in place of the usual expanse of a plastic fan shroud. It is important to note that this external heatsink as well as the heatpipes get VERY hot when the card is under load.


On the flip side of the GTX 480 we see the cut-outs in the shroud which make space for the standard 2-pronged SLI connectors (which can be used to link up to three of these cards together), the heatpipes and finally the two power connectors. Due to the high wattage nature of this card, both an 8-pin and 6-pin connector is needed.

Meanwhile, the very back of the card shows us an opening for additional fresh air to be funnelled into fan. This can be especially useful for SLI situations where the top GPU may be getting a less than optimal amount of breathing room.


Unlike the internal heatpipes on the GTX 470, the ones on this card actually protrude from the side and luckily NVIDIA decided to properly plate them instead of leaving bare copper exposed. All in all, it has a great effect in our opinion.


When it comes to connectors, the GTX 480 is decked out with a pair of DVI outputs as well as a mini-HDMI port which can be used with an included mini-HDMI to HDMI adaptor. In addition it should be noted that all Fermi-based graphics cores have compatibility for DisplayPort built into them but it is up to the board partner to add the necessary output. For the time being, all GTX 400 series cards will ship in the configuration seen above.


The back of the PCB doesn’t hold anything particularly interesting but it seems like NVIDIA thought ahead and allowed for some holes to be cut in the PCB to allow additional airflow. It’s a brilliant move in our opinion.


The length of the GTX 480 is around 10.5” which makes it longer than the GTX 470, slightly shorter then the HD 5870 with its overhung shroud and shorter than the HD 5970.