The Official GTX480 & GTX 470 Thread

[ipaine]

See for now I do like Nvidia more than ATI, but not because their cards don't perform because they do.

My reasons are the things you can't really benchmark and that is warranty, support and drivers. I like the fact that with my eVGA cards I can OC the hell out of them, put new coolers on them, hell even just redo the thermal paste, all without voiding warranty. The thing is I plan on having these cards for multiple years and that is why warranty and support factor into my decision so much.

Really if someone was making cards on the ATI side and offered that kind of warranty and support I would have been looking at them for a long time. Now I know prices will fluctuate a bit but that is just something we all have to deal with. Now will I be getting a card in a couple weeks? I hope so, but there are no guarantees.

Do I like the 470? Yes.

Do I like the 480? Yes

Do I like the 5850? Yes

Do I like the 5870? Yes

If I didn't have to think about money/value, what would I get? 480 Why? Because it is simply the fastest single GPU card out there.

When I consider value/money then it is different. I would have to go with the 470. Now that is because to me it is the best value. Remember to me that includes things like warranty. So until ATI can get something similar with its cards then I will be sticking with Nvidia. Also remember that I do not game at 2560x1600, I game at 1680x1050 and that can make a big difference.

Also as for a direct comparison between the 470 and ATI at 1680x1050 look at this:

(taken from the figures in Sky's review)
AvP 4xAA
470 = 30fps min
5870 = 27fps min
5850 = 24fps min

BBC2 4xAA
470 = 38fps min
5870 = 41fps min
5850 = 35fps min

Dirt2 4xAA
470 = 73fps min
5870 = 68fps min
5850 = 61fps min

DA:O 4xAA
470 = 68fps min
5870 = 71fps min
5850 = 64fps min

Far Cry 2 DX10 4xAA
470 = 63.47fps min
5870 = 53.65fps min
5850 = 46.24fps min

L4D2 4xAA
470 = 106fps min
5870 = 97fps min
5850 = 81fps min

Metro 2033 0xAA
470 = 25fps min
5870 = 25fps min
5850 = 19fps min

Now if you noticed only in two of those did the 5870 get better min fps than the 470. Now I know that this is selective and is only showing min framerate at 1680x1050, but to me that is what matters. Since I game at this, I can look at these results and determine that the best card for me when gaming at 1680x105 with AA is by far the 470.

I know other people will prefer the 5850 and 5870, and that is fine by me. I think the best thing that people can do is look at their exact situation and decide which card is going to work best for them. So for me the 470 will work out the best, well as long as the prices differences stay the same. If all of a sudden the 5870 gets to be cheaper than the 470, well things might be different.

[SugarJ]

Most of the folding power usage threads seem to agree that it costs about $15-20 a month per computer to run 24/7, and my hydro bills are in line with that. The 470 uses the same power at load as a GTX285, and the 480 appears to add another 40 or so watts on top of that.

[encorp]

Originally Posted by SugarJ

Most of the folding power usage threads seem to agree that it costs about $15-20 a month per computer to run 24/7, and my hydro bills are in line with that. The 470 uses the same power at load as a GTX285, and the 480 appears to add another 40 or so watts on top of that.

I just live in a place where Hydro is included :P haha

[belgolas]

Originally Posted by ipaine

See for now I do like Nvidia more than ATI, but not because their cards don't perform because they do.

My reasons are the things you can't really benchmark and that is warranty, support and drivers. I like the fact that with my eVGA cards I can OC the hell out of them, put new coolers on them, hell even just redo the thermal paste, all without voiding warranty. The thing is I plan on having these cards for multiple years and that is why warranty and support factor into my decision so much.

Really if someone was making cards on the ATI side and offered that kind of warranty and support I would have been looking at them for a long time. Now I know prices will fluctuate a bit but that is just something we all have to deal with. Now will I be getting a card in a couple weeks? I hope so, but there are no guarantees.

Do I like the 470? Yes.

Do I like the 480? Yes

Do I like the 5850? Yes

Do I like the 5870? Yes

If I didn't have to think about money/value, what would I get? 480 Why? Because it is simply the fastest single GPU card out there.

When I consider value/money then it is different. I would have to go with the 470. Now that is because to me it is the best value. Remember to me that includes things like warranty. So until ATI can get something similar with its cards then I will be sticking with Nvidia. Also remember that I do not game at 2560x1600, I game at 1680x1050 and that can make a big difference.

Also as for a direct comparison between the 470 and ATI at 1680x1050 look at this:

(taken from the figures in Sky's review)
AvP 4xAA
470 = 30fps min
5870 = 27fps min
5850 = 24fps min

BBC2 4xAA
470 = 38fps min
5870 = 41fps min
5850 = 35fps min

Dirt2 4xAA
470 = 73fps min
5870 = 68fps min
5850 = 61fps min

DA:O 4xAA
470 = 68fps min
5870 = 71fps min
5850 = 64fps min

Far Cry 2 DX10 4xAA
470 = 63.47fps min
5870 = 53.65fps min
5850 = 46.24fps min

L4D2 4xAA
470 = 106fps min
5870 = 97fps min
5850 = 81fps min

Metro 2033 0xAA
470 = 25fps min
5870 = 25fps min
5850 = 19fps min

Now if you noticed only in two of those did the 5870 get better min fps than the 470. Now I know that this is selective and is only showing min framerate at 1680x1050, but to me that is what matters. Since I game at this, I can look at these results and determine that the best card for me when gaming at 1680x105 with AA is by far the 470.

I know other people will prefer the 5850 and 5870, and that is fine by me. I think the best thing that people can do is look at their exact situation and decide which card is going to work best for them. So for me the 470 will work out the best, well as long as the prices differences stay the same. If all of a sudden the 5870 gets to be cheaper than the 470, well things might be different.

Yes for you the 470 is by far the best option. I also look at warranty and support as well as these are big investments but ATI now has XFX so that argument is mute.



For me I game at 2560 x 1600 and want the fastest cards at decent prices. The GTX 480 is cheaper than I though it would be so I am going with that. I don't care about heat as the gaming PC is in the basement and it is usually cold. Plus I could just open a window or turn up the fan speeds. Who gives a hoot about power consumption when you have 1600 watts of power in your system. I don't fold on my GPUs because I run SLI and until folding works with SLI I wont ever fold on my GPU's so power is again not a concern.

I believe once nvidia fixes the 2560 x 1600 performance issues there will be no comparison to the 5870.

[Delavan]

I really like Sky's review.
I know he's been one of the very few that really liked the performance of the GTX470 and recommend it.

There is another review that gave good marks to the GTX470:

GeForce GTX 470 & 480 review

Like above posters RJBARKER and iPAINE, I'm an nVidia fanboi and an eVGA fan also. (XFX and BFG are my other top choices).

Lifetime warranty covering overclocking...can't beat that.


Heat-wize, people were complaining about the G80 chips running warm back in the day. Exactly like right now with the new GTX models.

The GTX470 looks GOOD. But I got XFX HD5870 in the back of my mind too.
Will I use Badabing encoding? LOL probably not. I do like the MAX eye-candy I can get at 1680 X 1050 and keep the option of decent framerates at 1920 X 1200 (in case I get a bigger screen down the road).

eVGA GTX470 for me, probably. I might install a 120mm intake fan in my antec 300 side panel, and use a Antec spotcool (a spare I have)to cool-off the back of the card...lol

[Realityshift]

GTX 470 + full cover water block + decent loop = heat dealt with, still a tempting card...

as for dropping 2 of these GPUs onto one card, obviously it wont be 2 fully fledged GTX 480 cores... but neither is the 5970... Its not a question of IF they will be making a GTX dual GPU card, its when and I wont be supprised when it smashes the 5970 by a good 10-15%. Yes these produce a decent amount of heat, but as we can clearly see with the shear length of the 5970 we can just throw on more card to cool it ;) Honestly if your looking for this sort of performance the vast magority of users are going to also be looking into alternate means of cooling anyhow, once water cooled max performance doesnt hinge on heat output.


I also agree with RJ, when looking at benchmarks, look at the resolutions you use... I dont care one bit about what a card can do above my rated resolution because I have absolutely no plans to go higher then my 23" monitor..

[matsta31]

PAX East: Interview with Nvidia’s Bryan Del Rizzo on the GTX400 series | TechREACTION

info on fermi X 2m and other really interesting stuff on fermi vs telsa ect...... There is also pc Perspective getting their take on this, mostly it seems that it is in The Green team future plans possibly once a reviewed version (à la GTX285-275) comes to the market.

EDIT : read the PS of the third comment at the bottom of the article.... Meh

[_dangtx_]

what comment? *checks

[matsta31]

comment was deleted....

[Ramon Zarat]

Originally Posted by Realityshift

as for dropping 2 of these GPUs onto one card, obviously it wont be 2 fully fledged GTX 480 cores... but neither is the 5970.....

Not true.... Those cores on the 5970 are the exact same full 1600 streams of the 5870, just running at the lower clock of 725Mhz. If you overclock your 5970 to 850Mhz, you have in effect a 100% replica of a 5870 crossfire setup. The 470 is a cut down version of the 480 (448sp VS 480sp), on top of having lower clock (607Mhz VS 700Mhz).

If EVER Nvidia come with a dual GPU with Fermi, which I seriously doubt they will considering the astronomical engineering obstacles they already face with 1 GPU, it will be even more castrated, probably around 418SP, and even lower clocked than the 470, probably around 550Mhz, in order to stay withing the 300W PCIe power cap, which they already blow with the 480 anyway!! The result could be something between a 480 and a 470 SLI, or about the same as a....5970!!! LOL forget it, it won't happen!