EVGA GTX 480 $210

300w is a rather large exageration for one, and two, 480 SLI is plenty fine on a decent 750w PSU which you can get a Crosair TX-750 or similar for $90 or less. Not exactly a huge stretch over the 500-600w needed for a 680, that go for $60-80.

I dont know of a single overclocker who cares about power consumption. The point of OCing is to get more speed, and obviously power is going up doing so. Power draw from GPUs is not a constant thing, its always changing. So unless you are running furmark for hours every day, or gaming for literaly 8+ hours a day, the difference is minimal. And most gamers are either kids who dont pay the electric bill, or have a set rate bill. I pay $40 per month no matter how much is used. Thats why I said "unless you pay a normal electric bill" and even then, all you have do is remember to turn off a couple light bulbs in the house and you save the same amount of power.

SLI doesnt mean TDPx2. Most of the time, the cards are running way under full load, usually see them around 80% or so, and usually less in games that arent super demanding.

Me personally, I got both my cards for $150, and two water blocks for $25, so I saved about $350 and am getting about 30% more performance. So Im quite happy.

So if you have nothing constructive to say in the thread, then why dont you move on instead of trolling it?
 
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Electricity runs about $.05 kWh for me. Load power in Crysis is 668W (SLI) vs 421 (single). Idle 260w v 190w. Source .

So on load you are using about 247 more watts than a single card and and 70 more watts on idle.

1000 watts an hour = 1kWh

Price = .05 kWh * .247 kWh = $.01 For every one hour in gaming I spend I will pay $.01 more for electricity.

Heat= Sli is only 4C more than single.

I can see both of you guys points. If I were in the market and had $500 I would no doubt go for the 680gtx. But when I did my system a month ago I only had $200 for a gpu. I stretched the budget to get a 480gtx for 220 @ Amazon. If needed I plan to add an additional 480gtx in a few months.

Lets just call it a tie. :D
 
...I've always wanted to run a SLI setup that's watercooled...
hmmmm, and with me building a new rig very soon I may have to pick up one or maybe two of these guys :D

...some review hopping is in order...

Thanks for the heads up OP!
 
Petrucci_M3 said:
Gahh I was going to buy this after I posted the Amazon link but ended up purchasing another 460 GTX 1G for $125 AR.

First time going SLI, hope it goes well.
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Depends on what you play, really. Some games it works perfectly, some it doesn't work literally at all, but most of them are somewhere inbetween.

I dropped in a second card recently in my gaming rig to test it out as I'd not had SLI since the 460 launch and have been running a single 480 for a while as both 460 SLI and single 460 didn't offer the performance I required (and I had very poor luck with SLI in many games at the time). I like the 480 with AC AXP so much that I bought a second one used here on the forum and slapped it on sig rig with no alterations. Heat isn't too bad but as some of us know plopping in 2x 480+AXPs yields some tight clearances, if you can clear them at all. In my case the Z68XP-UD3P has basically no clearance between the slots in this configuration so it runs 15c hotter (max of low 80s fully loaded). Still not "hot", but not cold like the bottom card which runs in clear air.

This time around SLI is a little better but mainly because I'm playing a few somewhat newer games and have a better understanding of how to tweak profiles for SLI in the older games that somehow still don't have SLI support or the implementation is sketchy. Without knowing how to manually override nvidia SLI settings and without knowing what compatibility bits and SLI rendering methods to use through research and simple trial and error, there's no way I would keep SLI, but because I've figured out how to do it properly, and because I do get a reasonable performance improvement with specific games (especially when SGSSAA+ENB+FXAA are layered on top) I think I just might keep it this time.

Oh, and it also helps that when I run into games that just refuse to work properly in SLI (IL2-Sturmovik for example) a single 480 is more than enough juice to power through them. :)
 
Cecil said:
300w is a rather large exageration for one, and two, 480 SLI is plenty fine on a decent 750w PSU which you can get a Crosair TX-750 or similar for $90 or less. Not exactly a huge stretch over the 500-600w needed for a 680, that go for $60-80.

I dont know of a single overclocker who cares about power consumption. The point of OCing is to get more speed, and obviously power is going up doing so. Power draw from GPUs is not a constant thing, its always changing. So unless you are running furmark for hours every day, or gaming for literaly 8+ hours a day, the difference is minimal. And most gamers are either kids who dont pay the electric bill, or have a set rate bill. I pay $40 per month no matter how much is used. Thats why I said "unless you pay a normal electric bill" and even then, all you have do is remember to turn off a couple light bulbs in the house and you save the same amount of power.

SLI doesnt mean TDPx2. Most of the time, the cards are running way under full load, usually see them around 80% or so, and usually less in games that arent super demanding.

Me personally, I got both my cards for $150, and two water blocks for $25, so I saved about $350 and am getting about 30% more performance. So Im quite happy.

So if you have nothing constructive to say in the thread, then why dont you move on instead of trolling it?
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most gamers are kids or have a fixed bill? lol, what? that comment along with some of the rest of what you said does not apply to most people on here. and let me get this straight, what I say is trolling but you can twist and stretch anything to justify that having gtx480 sli is better for most people than getting a gtx680? :confused:

gtx680 performs within 15% of gtx480 sli overall

gtx680 is only 80 bucks more than gtx480 SLI if buying at the price in the OP

a gtx680 will run MUCH quieter than a gtx480 SLI setup

gtx680 will not ever have any multi gpu issue to worry about

gtx680 card by itself will idle at just 17 watts while the gtx480 SLI setup will need 100 watts just to idle

many people have a 550-650 watt psu so gtx480 SLI is not an option without getting a new psu. even 750 watt would be sketchy depending on the rest of the components

during demanding games gtx480 SLI can consume 275 watts more power than a gtx680 and if you were silly enough to run Furmark then difference is almost 400 watts

if you oc the gtx480 SLI setup the power usage goes through the roof while a 20% oc the gtx680 barely budges power consumption

that massive amount of power usage will turn out a huge amount of heat while gaming too



so when you look at the big picture, it makes more sense to me for MOST people to spend 80 bucks more for a gtx680 if they are getting a gpu setup from scratch.
 
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cannondale06 said:
so when you look at the big picture, it makes more sense to me for MOST people to spend 80 bucks more for a gtx680 if they are getting a gpu setup from scratch.
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I am setting here with one gtx 480 and pondering whether I should get another, but I still agree with this statement. It cost more and delivers less performance- but heat, increased PSU needs, noise, and no SLI hassles is worth a lot.
 
Direfox said:
I am setting here with one gtx 480 and pondering whether I should get another, but I still agree with this statement. It cost more and delivers less performance- but heat, increased PSU needs, noise, and no SLI hassles is worth a lot.
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yeah since you already have a gtx480 its a harder choice. from scratch though it becomes a much easier decision to go with a single gtx680 or even a 7970.
 
This thread is for people who are actually interested in buying the 480, and at $210 its a hot deal no matter how you look at it. Not read someone bashing it because they like something else instead. If someone wants to save some money and get two for better performance over any single card on the market, thats up to them. Fighting that is fighting the whole point to SLI/Xfire to begin with, which is to take two cheaper cards and put them together for better performance then the higher end ones, regardless of power draw/heat.

Ive ran SLI/Xfire a few times through out the years, and only in the begining did I have issues. The past 2-3 years has been pretty flawless.

Plus, the 680 is not the top card of the 6 series. So in two years or so, its not going to hold the "top of the line" used pricing like other top of line cards (285, 480, 580, etc). You pay $500+ for a 680 now and in two years it would be worth about $150. The 480s at $210 will still be worth about $100 in two years (going rate currently for used 285s). Much less of a loss. Thats the biggest problem with buying top video cards is the loss you take.

I refuse to ever buy any computer component over $250 because the ones that cost more arent worth the small gain for the huge price. And by next generation the money lost is a much larger percentage then the high end but not extreme end stuff.
 
cannondale06 said:
yeah since you already have a gtx480 its a harder choice. from scratch though it becomes a much easier decision to go with a single gtx680 or even a 7970.
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IDK, I kind of regret selling my 480s for a 680. I've run into more games that don't run anywhere near as well on the 680 as they did on the 480s especially with 3d vision. I'm not sure if that will change later on down the road as drivers mature but as of now I really don't think that the choice is really that cut and dry.
 
Cecil said:
This thread is for people who are actually interested in buying the 480, and at $210 its a hot deal no matter how you look at it. Not read someone bashing it because they like something else instead. If someone wants to save some money and get two for better performance over any single card on the market, thats up to them. Fighting that is fighting the whole point to SLI/Xfire to begin with, which is to take two cheaper cards and put them together for better performance then the higher end ones, regardless of power draw/heat.

Ive ran SLI/Xfire a few times through out the years, and only in the begining did I have issues. The past 2-3 years has been pretty flawless.

Plus, the 680 is not the top card of the 6 series. So in two years or so, its not going to hold the "top of the line" used pricing like other top of line cards (285, 480, 580, etc). You pay $500+ for a 680 now and in two years it would be worth about $150. The 480s at $210 will still be worth about $100 in two years (going rate currently for used 285s). Much less of a loss. Thats the biggest problem with buying top video cards is the loss you take.

I refuse to ever buy any computer component over $250 because the ones that cost more arent worth the small gain for the huge price. And by next generation the money lost is a much larger percentage then the high end but not extreme end stuff.
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I love how you just make up your own criteria and disregard anything else. I also love how you twist and turn things to fit your argument. of course the gtx480 at $210 is a good deal and NO ONE is denying that.

BUT if someone is looking to spend money on TWO of them for 420 bucks then its foolish not to also look at the gtx680 or 7970. either of those single gpus offer way more pros than cons compared to going with gtx480 SLI. of course to you just me saying that is trolling. you cant seem to look past your unique and self centered situation where power consumption, heat and total costs don't matter. so bottom line is its always smart to look at ALL alternatives and factor in the big picture instead of calling someone a troll that does not agree with you.
 
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I chose a 680 over the two 480s I got for $420 in March.
It was a great decision. I recommend anyone that buys this card to step up to a 680 when they can.
 
cannondale06 said:
yeah since you already have a gtx480 its a harder choice. from scratch though it becomes a much easier decision to go with a single gtx680 or even a 7970.
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Accurate. But if you already have a 480, and want a reasonably big boost, and your computer infrastructure (power, cooling, physical space) supports two 480s, why not give it a try? Worst thing that happens is you have to resell both cards, but you'd be selling the one anyway...
 
Two 480s ain't nothing to sneeze at. I pull 10,800 in 3DMark 11 with a 800 Mhz overclock. If you hate the heat and power consumption, then a 680 or a 7970 is a better choice if you want to spend it. I still don't believe on running two on an 750w power supply. Something's going to explode.
 
spacing guild said:
Two 480s ain't nothing to sneeze at. I pull 10,800 in 3DMark 11 with a 800 Mhz overclock. If you hate the heat and power consumption, then a 680 or a 7970 is a better choice if you want to spend it. I still don't believe on running two on an 750w power supply. Something's going to explode.
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How about an 850w 80+ Silver on two 800mhz OC 480's?
 
dukenuke88 said:
How about an 850w 80+ Silver on two 800mhz OC 480's?
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You quoted someone I ignored as a result of his spreading ridiculous misinformation in this thread and the only reason I saw what he wrote above was because you quoted it, so again I must step in to stop him. You can definitely run 2x 480s even heavily overclocked using a high quality 750w, I've been doing it for weeks under heavy loads with sig rig (2500k @ 4, 5 hard drives, and I also run at least 10 USB devices simultaneously as well). You can calculate this yourself using various power draw calcs around the web.

Don't listen to the fool who claims that a loaded stock 480 will hit 90c regardless of ambient or case cooling. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to even make that claim? Does he even understand science at all? I'd say troll, but trolls are usually funny.
 
requiem99 said:
You quoted someone I ignored as a result of his spreading ridiculous misinformation in this thread and the only reason I saw what he wrote above was because you quoted it, so again I must step in to stop him. You can definitely run 2x 480s even heavily overclocked using a high quality 750w, I've been doing it for weeks under heavy loads with sig rig (2500k @ 4, 5 hard drives, and I also run at least 10 USB devices simultaneously as well). You can calculate this yourself using various power draw calcs around the web.

Don't listen to the fool who claims that a loaded stock 480 will hit 90c regardless of ambient or case cooling. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to even make that claim? Does he even understand science at all? I'd say troll, but trolls are usually funny.
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who claimed that? that was true for many when the gtx480 and gtx470 first came out. I had a gtx470 and even that routinely hit mid to high 80s and occasionally 90c. the later gtx480 and gtx470 cards do run quieter and cooler than that though.
 
cannondale06 said:
who claimed that? that was true for many when the gtx480 and gtx470 first came out.
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Of course it isn't true, just because it was true for many doesn't make it "true". Read back a couple of pages in this thread for some laughs.

edit: I just went back and re-read it all a second time and it's even sillier this time around. He's definitely trolling.
 
requiem99 said:
Of course it isn't true, just because it was true for many doesn't make it "true". Read back a couple of pages in this thread for some laughs.

edit: I just went back and re-read it all a second time and it's even sillier this time around. He's definitely trolling.
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well I do not want to go back and look through all of that but release gtx480 cards did hit 90c in many reviews.
 
cannondale06 said:
well I do not want to go back and look through all of that but release gtx480 cards did hit 90c in many reviews.
Click to expand...

If you aren't willing to read this thread why are you trying to argue with people in it?

He made and then supported in multiple posts a blanket statement that all 480s hit 90c with stock fan. Period. 100%. He even claimed to have an identical computer to another poster who disagreed with him (and it wasn't even me) and continue chanting his firm belief in a flat world. Here's his posts since you're so lazy:

it won't let me quote the people he is replying to (but one of them is you, lol) so go back and find the post. It's on page 9 of 11 for me.



spacing guild said:
lol...what did I say? All the lies...

"Once you accept that the normal operating temperature is 90c stock cooler under full load [insert "mine only gets to 70c" lies]"




umm....no?




I said "full load" didn't I?

You guys are just so embarrassed by how hot these cards run...you hide your heads in shame. Worrying about what your lying friends think. It's comical.
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and more


You know...that's my EXACT case. And TIM replaced.

90c...learn it, live it, love it. And don't deny it...embrace it. Be brave my son. Tell them it's okay to be @ 90c.
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It's the wording and aggressive/combative nature of the posts (plus denying science... lol) that makes him a troll.
 
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requiem99 said:
If you aren't willing to read this thread why are you trying to argue with people in it?
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this is a 22 page thread so no I am not going to go back through to see every post. all I am saying is that the release gtx480 cards did indeed hit 90C if that is what you are referring to.

EDIT: okay I see your edited post now
 
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cannondale06 said:
this is a 22 page thread so no I am not going to go back through to see every post. all I am saying is that the release gtx480 cards did indeed hit 90C if that is what you are referring to.

EDIT: okay I see your edited post now
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My, 480s hit 90c with the stock fan profile in an FT-02 in the middle of winter. I keep my house cold too, normally 64f. These cards are made to run at those temps. The fan also stays very low with the stock fan profile.

IDK, maybe its possible that some AIBs use a different fan profile.
 
The new 7-billion transistor GPU is probably the full implementation of NVIDIA’s Kepler GK110, the true successor of the GF100 (GTX 480) / GF110 (GTX 580). The GeForce GTX 680 (based on GK104, with only 3.5 billion transistor) is actually the successor of GeForce GTX 460 / GTX 560 (GF104 / GF114). The GK110 will be a monster in GPU computing, which is the weakness of the current GK104 GPU.
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I did not know this. The "780" is going to be monster!
 
doug_7506 said:
I bought mine two weeks ago and with a custom profile I have yet to hit 90C. I hit 80 a lot though. lol.

What the hottest that it is okay to run these card at day in and day out? Anything under 100C good?
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80-85C is fine. Anything hotter would worry me.
 
price is back up to $219 on amazon

do you guys think it will get any lower before end of life? maybe $189 or $199?
 
cannondale06 said:
is 9 bucks an issue? and tbh I am surprised that the gtx480 is even still around.
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Well $10 isn't an issue...but I do plan to run a dual GPU setup...so if you consider $190 vs $220...$30 difference x2 = $60

regardless though...I want to wait about 1 month to see how things unfold....if the GTX 670ti is a kick ass product, with custom solutions on hard launch...I might just go with that....price will also come into play...if it's $400 a card, then I might just pass and go with the 480's instead....hopefully the price would have gone down by then
 
dukenuke88 said:
Well $10 isn't an issue...but I do plan to run a dual GPU setup...so if you consider $190 vs $220...$30 difference x2 = $60

regardless though...I want to wait about 1 month to see how things unfold....if the GTX 670ti is a kick ass product, with custom solutions on hard launch...I might just go with that....price will also come into play...if it's $400 a card, then I might just pass and go with the 480's instead....hopefully the price would have gone down by then
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Then there is the fact that a $370 7950 performs so close to a 7970 clock for clock.
 
WorldExclusive said:
If someone is think about buying a 480, anything AMD is far from their mind.
I rather save up a bit more and buy the 680 before any AMD card.
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Why? Have you used any AMD products recently? I had a great experience with 6950 crossfire. If it weren't for 3d vision I would have picked up 7970 before the 680 even launched.

Also, here we are over a month after GTX680 launch and still pretty much on launch drivers and it shows.Oh, I take that back they released a beta to support all of their cards. The change log mentions a bunch of improvements for Fermi and not one mention of Kepler or GTX680. I wonder why the launch drivers didn't include the rest of Nvidia's lineup. ;)
 
requiem99 said:
If you aren't willing to read this thread why are you trying to argue with people in it?

He made and then supported in multiple posts a blanket statement that all 480s hit 90c with stock fan. Period. 100%. He even claimed to have an identical computer to another poster who disagreed with him (and it wasn't even me) and continue chanting his firm belief in a flat world. Here's his posts since you're so lazy:

it won't let me quote the people he is replying to (but one of them is you, lol) so go back and find the post. It's on page 9 of 11 for me.





and more




It's the wording and aggressive/combative nature of the posts (plus denying science... lol) that makes him a troll.
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lol...hey I'm not trolling. I tell like it is. You guys just can't handle the truth. You want to say your cards run 10c cooler than everyone else gtx 480. It's a documented fact that on the stock cooler the 480 will hit 90c at full load and it's normal. Now I did the math with my rig on the New Egg power supply calculator...not that that is the absolute truth or anything...but it said 968w for my rig...and it's a modest one. And if you check the nVidia recommend SLI power supply for the 480, every one is 1000w recommended. People on here seem to think they know better than the company that engineered it.

Now if you want to not care about putting your system at risk with a 750w PS...be my guest. Don't say I put out misinformation.

And if you have a problem with it...talk to Brent and Kyle. Everyone says... "I'll wait for the [H] review" ...well here it is:

"For anyone running a 2-Way SLI GTX 480 setup, we would suggest no less than a 800 watt power supply of good quality and surely we suggest a 1000 watt if you are overclocking anything in your system."

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/26/nvidia_fermi_gtx_470_480_sli_review/7
 
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BababooeyHTJ said:
Why? Have you used any AMD products recently? I had a great experience with 6950 crossfire. If it weren't for 3d vision I would have picked up 7970 before the 680 even launched.

Also, here we are over a month after GTX680 launch and still pretty much on launch drivers and it shows.Oh, I take that back they released a beta to support all of their cards. The change log mentions a bunch of improvements for Fermi and not one mention of Kepler or GTX680. I wonder why the launch drivers didn't include the rest of Nvidia's lineup. ;)
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Didn't AMD take a month to get official drivers for the 7970 too? Yeah, they did.

I have used AMD products recently, and I can completely and totally without a doubt in my mind say that AMDs drivers are piss poor comparatively. Just to have nice constantly working drivers was worth it for me.
 
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dpemoh.jpg


I dont think you need a 1000w. Furmark sucks some serious power. I think you would be safe with >850w PSU.
 
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