discussion Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock Review

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8xMSAA Testing

8xMSAA Testing

In this section we take a number of games we have tested previously in this review and bring things to the next level by pushing the in-game MSAA up to 8x. All other methodologies remain the same.

BattleField: Bad Company 2 (DX11)
Note that 8x MSAA is enabled via the game’s config file for the NVIDIA cards since it is not a selectable option within the game menu

Dirt 2 (DX11)

F1 2010 (DX11)

Just Cause 2 (DX10)

 

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Temperature & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Temperature Analysis

For all temperature testing, the cards were placed on an open test bench with a single 120mm 1200RPM fan placed ~8” away from the heatsink. The ambient temperature was kept at a constant 22°C (+/- 0.5°C). If the ambient temperatures rose above 23°C at any time throughout the test, all benchmarking was stopped. For this test we use the 3DMark Batch Size test at its highest triangle count with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled and looped it for one hour to determine the peak load temperature as measured by GPU-Z.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 15 minutes and recorded the peak temperature.

Performance in this area wasn’t all that close with the Super Overclock splitting the difference between the Lightning and the reference card. A nine degree loss to the MSI card isn’t as bad as it first sounds when you consider both GTX 580s displayed very, very good temperatures. Where the SoC shines though is with acoustics…

Acoustical Testing

Yes, we have finally added decibel testing to our repertoire and this section will expand in future reviews. What you see below are the baseline idle dB(A) results attained for a relatively quiet open-case system (specs are in the Methodology section) sans GPU along with the attained results for each individual card in idle and load scenarios. The meter we use has been calibrated and is placed at seated ear-level exactly 12” away from the GPU’s fan. For the load scenarios, a loop of Unigine Heave 2.5 is used in order to generate a constant load on the GPU(s) over the course of 20 minutes.

Here the Super Overclock is able to eke out a win over the Lightning but it is nonetheless very, very close between them. With Gigabyte’s flagship single GPU card registering under 44 decibels at full load, it is actually one of the quietest cards we have ever tested.

System Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well.

Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.

Power consumption is right where we expected it. Since the Super Overclock is well cooled, it is able to attain an impressive saving over the reference product. The idle consumption difference between it and the MSI Lightning is likely due to component differences and a slight margin of error.

 

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Overclocking Results

Overclocking Results

Gigabyte’s Super Overclock’s series has always exhibited a good amount of additional overclocking headroom and the GTX 580 version is no different. We were actually quite pleased with the results, thought our sample didn’t quite hit the same clock speeds as the MSI Lightning from a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, variance from one core to the next could mean other Super Overclock cards could clock to higher or lower levels than this one. In order to increase clock speeds and voltages we used Gigbayte’s OC Guru software.

All results were achieved with voltages of 1.23V on the GPU and an additional 40mV on the GDDR5 memory. Naturally, these increases led to a spike in heat production so the fans were increased to 75% in order to compensate.

Core Clock: 966Mhz
Engine Clock: 1932Mhz
Memory Clock: 4232Mhz (QDR)

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

In the last few weeks we have seen quite a few comments on various forums which voiced worries that spending big bucks on a new graphics card will prove to be a waste due to the false hope that new flagship GPUs are just around the corner. And cards like the GTX 580 Super Overclock are more than powerful enough to provide excellent framerates in any game released within the next year or so.

When taken at face value and with its own merits, the Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock is one hell of a graphics card. It offers a laundry list of improvements over the reference GTX 580 and even has some space left in the tank for additional clock speed increases. Performance is also top notch but the real story here is the Windforce 3X heatsink. While actual temperatures may have taken a back seat to the MSI card, a lower acoustical profile allowed the Super Overclock to become one of the quietest graphics cards we’ve ever tested in any price bracket. Truth be told, you’d be hard pressed to hear a stock GTX 580 when installed in a case but that shouldn’t diminish Gigabyte’s accomplishment in any way.

Considering many reference GTX 580 cards can be found for under $500, the Super Overclock may not seem all that appealing to most buyers. And yet we find this card to be well priced in relation to many other GTX 580s. However, its main competition is actually the MSI Lightning; a GTX 580 that offers exactly the same in-game performance but retails for about $20 less.

In this market segment $20 may not seem like much but other than brand preference, there is really no reason to recommend the Super Overclock over the Lightning. Other than a nearly undetectable edge in the acoustics department, both cards are on nearly equal footing to most buyers. For overclockers though, MSI's card boasts more features like DIP switches, an easy to access BIOS toggle and well designed voltage read points which could prove to be the tipping point.

When push comes to shove, the Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock is one hell of a card. The competition between it and the MSI Lightning is a complete toss-up on the performance end of the spectrum but for the time being we give the MSI card edge due to its slightly lower price.

This brings us back to many people’s original question: is it worth spending this kind of cash for a high end GPU? In our opinion, $540 may be a ton of money but it buys you a card which will last a long, long time before obsolescence comes knocking.

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