Comment Thread for GTX 480 and GTX 470 Reviews

[Spitfire]

Thanks for the review Sky.

Originally Posted by rjbarker

Perhaps after these Cards stretch thier wings we'll see SSC and FTW versions.

The FTW versions atm come with waterblocks. Kind of disappointing clock speeds though. Usually EVGA does a lot better with their FTW cards.

[gimark]

Great review guys. Really enjoyed reading it.

[YukonTrooper]

The minimum framerate inclusion in your reviews makes them invaluable. I'm liking the GTX 470 as an upgrade to my GTX 260 216, but the power consumption, heat and noise are nagging at my good nature.

[StockClocker]

Originally Posted by Sushi Warrior

Is it just me or is [H] pretty ATI biased? I haven't read that many of their reviews but the general tone of their forums is "ATI FTW cuz Kyle says ____" and their reviews are always very positive of ATI.

Well, there was that whole shenanigans not too long ago where NV supposedly refused to sample HardOCP any boards for the GTS 250 launch because they don't talk enough about PhysX/CUDA, so there was definitely some bad blood.
On the other hand, Kyle Bennett was extremely frank regarding his negative experience with 3x2 Eyefinity, so he isn't exactly in bed with ATI either.

But back on topic. I'm rather surprised no one has used the P-word yet in this thread since NV has acknowledged that general availability of these cards won't be until April 12th. Perhaps because we've already waited 7 months for them, another 2 weeks isn't a big deal.

[sswilson]

Heh.... didn't need to use the p-word in the thread, it's already been used in one of the two reviews.... ;)

15K ppd eh..... hrmmmm.... that'd replace my whole 9600 farm with 3K to spare...... that or I could swap it out for my single 275, and drop the 275 into my young lad's rig which is unfortunately running mostly idle 24/7 due to the ATI 4850 residing inside......

Hrmmmm..... will have to ponder, but I'm a bit more excited about the budget minded 6 core procs from AMD next month........ ;)

[burebista]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

What, where?

I can swear that it was on 480 review.

Thanks SKY, impressive work, 2x32 pages with thorough testing is a hell of a job.
The results are predictable though. After six months it was obvious that nVidia should come with a good performer. And it did. But with what price? Power, noise, heat and price (yes in North America maybe looks OK but here in EU is starting from €480 or £428 for GTX480).
And if we take a look at every graph and trying to ignore e-peen we can see that HD5870 still deliver comfortable framerates (Metro 2033 is exception though) and IMO for actual games and actual drivers GTX 480 is not worth the hassle. I'm sure that in time drivers will be polished and games would benefit more from GTX480 (especially DX11 with Tessellation at high resolutions and full AA/AF) but TBH now I have no reason to dream at Fermi especially if I look at this table and counting price, power, heat and noise vs. HD5870.



Just a question SKY. From all reviews I've read I saw 100-130W power consumption difference between HD5870 and GTX480 (for example TPU isolated only card consumption) and yours is "only" 70W. Why?

Bottom line that's my impression after Fermi's paper launch

[ontariotl]

Good review SKY,

The outcome with the 480 left me with just a "Meh" feeling. If this had come out the same time as the HD5800 line, it might have been a different story. Sure the 480 knocks the 5870 (which has been out for 6 months already) around, but not by much really to justify a higher price. For reviewing games with TWIMTBP (isn't Metro 2033 one of them?), well that would take an obvious hit for ATI, but the 480 comes with more memory for the frame buffer especially when AA is applied. So I am curious to see what the 2gig 5870 would be like against the 480 with AA on.

So far, I haven't been wowed by Nvidia since the G80 introduction. Before the 5870, I wasn't wowed with ATI since the 9800pro. Both the 8800gtx and 9800pro stood the test of time during their hayday compared to other cards that have come out in the past 5 or 6 years. I have a feeling the 480 won't be part of this elite group. With all the reviews that I have read so far, it would seem to prove my thought as I have yet to see anyone highly recommend this card, give 2 thumbs up, gold seal of approval...etc, etc.

Even with owning a 5970, and being a dual GPU which is unfair to review with the 480 (although nice to see a comparison nonetheless), I'm glad I bought one as I fell in love with the 5800 series due to Eyefinity that only requires one card. If I had to get Nivida, I would have to spend on 2 cards which would cost more than my current setup to accomodate my needs.

Of course, everyone has their own needs, which my perception for this forum the majority is folding. So the 480 maybe the way to go.

[no_pulse]

As a Nvidia fanboy, I was expecting the latest cards to somewhat surpass Ati's flagship, the 5970. Is it better to get a dual GPU or single? Do most games support and utilize both GPU's? I'm confused on whether to replace my 280 gtx with the 5970 or the 480.....

[Delavan]

For OC'ing the GPU I've always paid a little more for SC or SSC versions and they have never dissapointed me (better binned chips), the vanilla Cards are hit n miss, some OC well, some don't OC at all....

In the last few years I bought an eVGA 8800GTS 640 "vanilla" and a eVGA GTX260 Core216 55nm "vanilla" from NCIX. On both of these cards, I got cards "factory-flashed" to Superclocked speeds right out-of-the-box.

I've been lucky probably, but they were (and still are) really stable and good overclockers. The GTX470SC is just $20 more. I'm not saying SC is worth it, as it's such a small OC increment.

The GTX470 looks good IMHO. I'll probably get one. The Gigabyte HD5870 Ultra durable is available at NCIX and ca be PMed to $420...so I hesitate (GSOD scares me), but if ATI drops it's prices next week a little bit, I'll be sitting on the fence (I'm climbing on it right now LOL).

How good the GTX470 can become once the drivers are "polished"? How important the GpGPU thing is to a guy like me that doesn't FOLD? Why a MINI HDMI??? Doesn't make sense IMHO...saving $1.25?
Can CUDA/GPGPU, in the next few years, become useful to the average joe that games/general computing???

[Delavan]

Lol The wife is telling me that I should "threat myself" to the GTX480, because it's likely the LAST graphics card upgrade she wants to hear about for the next two years...

SKYMTL,
I think my Antec True power Trio 650 watts (52amps) won't work because of the lack of a 8pin PCI-E.

Really, can the 6pin to 8pin PCI-e adapter like this work 100% reliably???

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...ufacture=Works

Would it be SAFE? I know the 6 pin is supposed to hold 75 watts and the 8pin 150 watts...can my PSU cables catch on fire if I use such connector (wire gauge issue)?

Can a GTX480 (PLAYING at 1680 X 1050) makes sense for futureproofing (I know it doesn't exist) my rig a little?