GTX 480 - has it delivered as of now?

[Uberbob102000]

I don't use headphones and noise is fine with me. That's your opinion. Mine is highest FPS with minimal dips is king.

Again, if this was froogleforum, or quietforum, or smallformfactorforum, your opinion would be right.

In this forum, it's not.

This is just a tech forum, it's his opinion and only his so his opinion is just a right as yours.
Though I think the art of the dead silent ITX system while still being powerful enough is much [H]arder than just making a wicked powerful rig. I tend to lean to somewhere in the middle, the GTX 280s I had were a little on the loud side as I prefer my gaming without a side of "WHOOOOSSHHHHHHH".

 

[Spare-Flair]

This is just a tech forum, it's his opinion and only his so his opinion is just a right as yours.
Though I think the art of the dead silent ITX system while still being powerful enough is much [H]arder than just making a wicked powerful rig. I tend to lean to somewhere in the middle, the GTX 280s I had were a little on the loud side as I prefer my gaming without a side of "WHOOOOSSHHHHHHH".

Yep, the silent but powerful system is the [H]ardest system of all.

 

[shansoft]

This is just a tech forum, it's his opinion and only his so his opinion is just a right as yours.
Though I think the art of the dead silent ITX system while still being powerful enough is much [H]arder than just making a wicked powerful rig. I tend to lean to somewhere in the middle, the GTX 280s I had were a little on the loud side as I prefer my gaming without a side of "WHOOOOSSHHHHHHH".

tired of arguing with those who just registered in a month or two that spam the hell out of something specific.
they are obviously "the cleaner" if you know what I mean....

 

[Builderbobftw]

Yep, the silent but powerful system is the [H]ardest system of all.

[H]ardest of all would be Crysis maxed with 16aa 16af at 25x16 with playble frames.

 

[IRSmurf]

Yep, the silent but powerful system is the [H]ardest system of all.

I disagree. Buying a silent HTPC and using it for gaming is like buying $1,200 record player. You could buy one for significantly less with the same capabilities and no matter what you paid, the end result will never be better than a shitty record:

If you want to game on a silent HTPC, fine, but good luck gaming on that 8400GS.

[H]ardest of all would be Crysis maxed with 16aa 16af at 25x16 with playble frames.

IMHO, if you're building a rig for gaming, you can justify even the loudest fan with an enormous overclock , no frame rate is "too high" because you don't have to deal with huge frame rate dips, and no frakencase is to too unsightly if its utility requires such.

 

[anthony256]

This.

We are talking about FPS. Obviously we aren't comparing heat and noise. We are flexing muscle here.

And just like always, Nvidia wins.

See I think it's cute that people say this.

When I buy a GPU - I want it all, not just raw performance.

NVIDIA has "raw performance" at the price of heat, noise, etc
ATI has second best single GPU - but still has the PERFORMANCE crown. If this is "hard" OCP - then everyone should want dual GPU's, the single best VGA card on the market, right?

5970.

Until NVIDIA release something of equivelance, they mean shit for single GPU.

The only reason people pull the single GPU card is because this round, NVIDIA don't have dual GPU. If they were able to (which they can't... I wonder why???) to release a dual GPU GX480 then yes, it would KICK ARSE.

But, they cannot do this - if they were the "number 1" GPU manufacturer - they'd just dump it out. But, 1 GPU uses 280W+ of power, dual GPU would use 500W+

Where, ATI can smack the 480 down and still use <280W and is very overclockable.

NVIDIA can only strap gimped 470's together and still use 375W+

That's just a larf.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

I don't use headphones and noise is fine with me. That's your opinion. Mine is highest FPS with minimal dips is king.

Again, if this was froogleforum, or quietforum, or smallformfactorforum, your opinion would be right.

In this forum, it's not.

Like I said this isn't a forum dedicated to benching like XS. Most of the people here myself included don't even run heavily overclocked computers or even have any water cooling. Look at the overclocking and cooling sections here, they are not very active compared to say the display section.

Most people here want to run a solid 24/7 computer that doesn't sound like 747 on takeoff.

As to the people saying that a mini-itx gaming ris isn't hard are crazy. I know that I wouldn't want to put a massive, loud full tower in my entertainment center to game on that draws a crazy amount of electricity while using it as an HTPC. I know that I'm not dragging my full tower with a True hanging off of the motherboard and an HR-03 hanging off of the videocard out of the house to lets say a lan.

A lot of people here use their systems for more than just gaming.

See I think it's cute that people say this.

When I buy a GPU - I want it all, not just raw performance.

Edited for space

While I agree with you on the heat and noise issue I disagree with you about the crossfire part. At the end of the day it doesn't scale reliably. Thats a lot of money to pay for something that doesn't always run faster than the competition. I've already made my points in this thread enough. A 5970 is also more power hungry and hotter running than a GTX480.

Honestly I was pretty surprised to see just how much hotter the 480 ran while drawing more power than their last generation cards. It really seems like a step backwards to me. Over two years after 280 and this is all the performance that they have to show at the cost of that much heat and electricity?

At this point the 5870 looks appealing to me. I just with that I had the money.

 

[IRSmurf]

...Most people here want to run a solid 24/7 computer that doesn't sound like 747 on takeoff.

That doesn't make much sense. Even a GTX 480, the loudest video card, is not loud at idle. With the exception of folders, people aren't stressing their GPU's 24/7. A 480 is only going to sound like a jet when you switch it to the OC profile.

...blah blah blah, a bunch of stuff I agree with...

Honestly I was pretty surprised to see just how much hotter the 480 ran while drawing more power than their last generation cards. It really seems like a step backwards to me. Over two years after 280 and this is all the performance that they have to show at the cost of that much heat and electricity?

I don't know why people are surprised that video cards are consuming more power and getting hotter. It seems like every generation is consuming more electricity. And where there is more electricity, there is more heat. Just look at the heatsinks that went from a small piece of metal the size of a credit card, to a single slot metallic heat sink covering the entire card, to a massive dual slot with copper and metal heat fins encased in plastic, then growing to an even longer dual slot, and finally, with the GTX 480, a massive metal heatsink so large it is actually exposed on its top, nearly the size of a forearm, that sounds like a hair dryer when maxed.

Really, I won't be surprised to see a new form factor where the GPU's actually extend to the front of the case to bring air directly from the outside, through the card, and expelling it outside the case in the rear.

I mean, overclocked SLI GTX 470 systems are already pulling over eight hundred watts! TweakTown's test system drew 777 watts at load, and that's with a skeleton system.

Source: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3...orce_gtx_470s_in_sli_overclocked/index17.html

At this point the 5870 looks appealing to me. I just with that I had the money.

It rarely ever makes sense to go with the highest end hardware of any generation. The gains just don't scale with the increase in price. In this case, that is the 5970. Comparing the 5870 to the GTX 480, the 480 is going to generate more noise but has the potential to be much, much faster, proving to be a very OC'able card. I've never seen such large gains from OC'ing a GPU. All of this depends on the temperature of the room you'll game in. If you don't have AC (which is the case for many [H]'ers, as evidenced by a recent thread in this sub-forum), this will be an issue. If you have a thermostat, it's really a non-issue.

Taking prices from TigerDirect with MS Bing Cashback, these are today's prices on Video cards:
5870 -- $410 - 49 = $361
GTX 480 -- $500 - 60 = $440
5970 -- $700 - 84 = $616

Rather having the faster of the second tier cards is worth a 22% higher cost depends on your financial constraints. For me, it was worth it.

 

[anthony256]

While I agree with you on the heat and noise issue I disagree with you about the crossfire part. At the end of the day it doesn't scale reliably. Thats a lot of money to pay for something that doesn't always run faster than the competition. I've already made my points in this thread enough. A 5970 is also more power hungry and hotter running than a GTX480.

Honestly I was pretty surprised to see just how much hotter the 480 ran while drawing more power than their last generation cards. It really seems like a step backwards to me. Over two years after 280 and this is all the performance that they have to show at the cost of that much heat and electricity?

At this point the 5870 looks appealing to me. I just with that I had the money.

What?

My 5970 idles at <35C. It never reaches above ~86C.

I own an Antec Two Hundred - a POS low end case and still it runs cool.

480's run at 96 - 104C during load. While sounding like Superman is using his super breath in your room.

And that's the thing - I too was honestly surprised. Next gen shouldn't just be about power... it should be an evolution of hardware, everything gets upgraded:

features (3 screens, etc)
power usage
heat
noise levels

If the 480 offered THREE times the speed of a GTX285 - in most games, then yes I would agree. But, it doesn't.

Years ago - upgrading from a 4MB 3dfx Voodoo too 12MB 3dfx Voodoo 2 - there were HUGE increases in performance - where did these types of improvements go?

Fermi is barely better than last gen cards in some tests - this isn't right.

 

[IRSmurf]

...
480's run at 96 - 104C during load. While sounding like Superman is using his super breath in your room.

This is just plain inaccurate, an exaggeration. If a person left the fan on automatic, put it in a case with very little airflow, and stressed it with a program that heats the GPU up much more than any game, like Furmark's xtreme burning mode, your card would indeed sit at 100°C. But that is not the experience I have gaming with a GTX 480. At 100% fan, it is without a doubt very, very loud. But when I have the fan running at 100% and the card overclocked from 700mhz to 835mhz, the card doesn't pass 82°C. Than fan does not automatically go to 100% when you're gaming.

While, much, much louder at 100%, my GTX 285's routinely hit that same temperature.

The reason I bring it up is you can stop the card from reaching such high temperatures, if you don't have air conditioning in your home, by turning the fans up. Alternatively, if you have air conditioning, you can leave the fan on auto, where it is much more quiet, and the temperatures while gaming will be with the 80-90 range.

And that's the thing - I too was honestly surprised. Next gen shouldn't just be about power... it should be an evolution of hardware, everything gets upgraded:

features (3 screens, etc)
power usage
heat
noise levels

See above for my thoughts on people who are surprised by an increase in power consumption for GPUs. It is irrational.

If the 480 offered THREE times the speed of a GTX285 - in most games, then yes I would agree. But, it doesn't.

In the last five years, when have we seen a 300% increase in performance, across the board? This is an entirely unrealistic expectation.

Years ago - upgrading from a 4MB 3dfx Voodoo too 12MB 3dfx Voodoo 2 - there were HUGE increases in performance - where did these types of improvements go?

Fermi is barely better than last gen cards in some tests - this isn't right.

In some tests, you're right. That's because those games were designed and optimized for the hardware of that time. Last gen cards can't dream of driving the resolution, AA, AF, tessellation, etc that this generation of DX11 cards are capable of. These new cards have an enormous increase in processing power, they're just so new that only a handful of programs have taken advantage of this increased power.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

What?

My 5970 idles at <35C. It never reaches above ~86C.

How hot do those vrms run? I hear that it's obscene. I have the same vrms on my card doing less work and they run hot enough.

It rarely ever makes sense to go with the highest end hardware of any generation. The gains just don't scale with the increase in price. In this case, that is the 5970. Comparing the 5870 to the GTX 480, the 480 is going to generate more noise but has the potential to be much, much faster, proving to be a very OC'able card. I've never seen such large gains from OC'ing a GPU. All of this depends on the temperature of the room you'll game in. If you don't have AC (which is the case for many [H]'ers, as evidenced by a recent thread in this sub-forum), this will be an issue. If you have a thermostat, it's really a non-issue.

Taking prices from TigerDirect with MS Bing Cashback, these are today's prices on Video cards:
5870 -- $410 - 49 = $361
GTX 480 -- $500 - 60 = $440
5970 -- $700 - 84 = $616

Rather having the faster of the second tier cards is worth a 22% higher cost depends on your financial constraints. For me, it was worth it.

I agree with you. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing the card. Thats just always the case with the top tier cards. The part that does bother me is that for the architecture to scale down enough to be much cooler than my 280 than the gains would be minimal. I have very little faith in GTX460 or 465 or whatever it is. I am also disappointed in 5850 it's finally hit the same price as I paid for my 280 over a year and a half ago and tbh the gains in performance don't seem all that large.

If you want a top end single gpu card the 480 is the way to go. I'm at a point where I want a card that walks all over my 280 where I don't feel that I should have to run the rivatuner overlay to check my temps at all times. How long is that going to take? Four years? I think that a cooler running card with 25-50% increases in performance in two years is a reasonable expectation.

With the sound issue I wasn't just talking about the video card fans. I'm talking about the case fans to cool all of our hardware, the fans on our cpu heatsinks, etc. It was more in context to that dudes "Hardforum is about nothing more than top end overclocked machines" comment which just isn't true.

 

[Spare-Flair]

I disagree. Buying a silent HTPC and using it for gaming is like buying $1,200 record player. You could buy one for significantly less with the same capabilities and no matter what you paid, the end result will never be better than a shitty record:

If you want to game on a silent HTPC, fine, but good luck gaming on that 8400GS.

IMHO, if you're building a rig for gaming, you can justify even the loudest fan with an enormous overclock , no frame rate is "too high" because you don't have to deal with huge frame rate dips, and no frakencase is to too unsightly if its utility requires such.

What the [H] ??? You make no sense buddy.

Who said anything about buying a silent HTPC with an 8400GS? There are people on forums with HTPCs that would rival your system.

Look at the post your rig thread, how many people sacrifice beauty and something that looks great just to get the most performance out of it? A big part of gaming is sound and immersion. Who can get immersed when you have a hairdrier for a computer? Even the best noise cancelleing headphones cannot replace a proper 5.1 or 7.1 sound system for gaming.

I guess all these people watercooling their GTX 480s aren't partly doing it for silence over the stock fan then? How many [H]ardOCPs have fan controllers? Why bother using them then? Might as well run all our fans at 100% and 40 decibels each @ 3600 RPM.

The [H]ardest system is one that is powerful, silent, and beautiful. Anything else and it's just a destruction derby monstertruck that gives you nice FPS but looks like crap and sounds like a tornado.

Post up a picture of your case, if it's not a barebones case with dremel holes and tubing and a ton of rads sticking out the sides and backs and covered with fans (for utility), I guess you are being hypocritical

 

[kllrnohj]

I don't know why people are surprised that video cards are consuming more power and getting hotter. It seems like every generation is consuming more electricity. And where there is more electricity, there is more heat. Just look at the heatsinks that went from a small piece of metal the size of a credit card, to a single slot metallic heat sink covering the entire card, to a massive dual slot with copper and metal heat fins encased in plastic, then growing to an even longer dual slot, and finally, with the GTX 480, a massive metal heatsink so large it is actually exposed on its top, nearly the size of a forearm, that sounds like a hair dryer when maxed.

Really, I won't be surprised to see a new form factor where the GPU's actually extend to the front of the case to bring air directly from the outside, through the card, and expelling it outside the case in the rear.

I mean, overclocked SLI GTX 470 systems are already pulling well over eight hundred watts! TweakTown's test system drew 777 watts at load, and that's with a skeleton system.

Source: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3...orce_gtx_470s_in_sli_overclocked/index17.html

Because ATI managed to get about ~70% more performance without using any more power. The 5870 consumes 5w more than a 4890 under load. That's it, just 5w (almost 50w less than a GTX 285 under load) ( http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/09/22/amds_ati_radeon_hd_5870_video_card_review/12 )

Nvidia managed to get about ~15% more performance than the 5870 by using 110w more power ( http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/25/nvidia_fermi_gtx_470_480_sli_review/7 ). Hell, the dual GPU 5970 uses less power than the single GPU GTX 480. Peak power consumption during gaming of the 5970 vs. GTX 480 is 211w vs. 257w ( http://techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_480_Fermi/30.html )

No shit people are surprised, compared to the competition that's just terrible. Its not the people are surprised that new cards use more power, its how much additional power it uses for such a small gain (or, compared to the 5970, how much additional power it uses to be slower)

 

[IRSmurf]

What the [H] ??? You make no sense buddy.

Who said anything about buying a silent HTPC with an 8400GS? There are people on forums with HTPCs that would rival your system.

Look at the post your rig thread, how many people sacrifice beauty and something that looks great just to get the most performance out of it? A big part of gaming is sound and immersion. Who can get immersed when you have a hairdrier for a computer? Even the best noise cancelleing headphones cannot replace a proper 5.1 or 7.1 sound system for gaming.

I guess all these people watercooling their GTX 480s aren't partly doing it for silence over the stock fan then? How many [H]ardOCPs have fan controllers? Why bother using them then? Might as well run all our fans at 100% and 40 decibels each @ 3600 RPM.

The [H]ardest system is one that is powerful, silent, and beautiful. Anything else and it's just a destruction derby monstertruck that gives you nice FPS but looks like crap and sounds like a tornado.

Post up a picture of your case, if it's not a barebones case with dremel holes and tubing and a ton of rads sticking out the sides and backs and covered with fans (for utility), I guess you are being hypocritical

I did not say more noise is better, you're blowing everything I said out of proportion. I'm just saying noise, in my system, is not a boundary for performance. I'm watercooling my GTX 480 as soon as CoolIT releases their product. And I don't leave my case fans turned to 100%. That would be completely unnecessary due to not having any measurable effect on the overclocking potential power of my computer. Regarding sound and power consumption, on a gaming rig where you need every bit of power you can muster to keep the game running smoothly at your high resolution, or in my case 3D, I see no reason to hold back.

And if you can find a "completely silent" computer with an i7 920 at 4.2ghz and a GTX 480 OC'd from 700 to 850mhz, that can be built for less than $2,000, I'm all ears. I'm sure it's possible with a generous watercooling setup, but if I had gobs of money to throw at this machine, I'd have tri-sli gtx 480's and an i7 980EX and would have no need to overclock. The reason most of us overclock is to provide the performance of a much more expensive system without paying the price. The price we pay, instead of cash, is audible cooling and a bit more heat leaving the case.

Also, I have a bit of a frankencase. The H50 does not fit in a Antec Twelve Hundred with the EVGA E758 motherboard, due to the very tall heatsink on an E758's mosfets, so I have to put the radiator outside of the case. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but the sealed system on an H50 prevents you from disconnecting the radiator to run the cables through the grommeted holes on the case. I had to pop out one of the side windows and dangle the H50 out of it. I'm not proud of that solution, but it's the only option until I decide on a new case.

 

[mathesar]

480's run at 96 - 104C during load. While sounding like Superman is using his super breath in your room.
.

As an actual owner of a GTX 480 all I can do is laugh at this totally inaccurate comment.

Im seeing 88C - 90C under load with the fan set on Auto.

And idle temps are actually lower than my previous GTX 260.

 

[unrealsword]

I just upgraded to a gtx480 from hd4870x2 and I don't see this mystal 104c load. So far with fan on auto it reached 90c mac and then fan was at around 65%.

 

[Quak3R]

looking at these temps on my galaxy gtx480, cant help but wonder whats the lifespan on these cards, I would be pretty screwed since galaxy only has a 2 year warranty coverage. This Card HAS to be on water if you want to oc it or lengthen the life.

 

[Builderbobftw]

The GTX 480 is the [H]st card around, no matter hwo you want to look at it.

3 GTX 480s is the [H]st setup money can buy, therefore the 480 is the [H]st card out there.

Sure a 5970 is more [H] than a single 480, but the 480 has a upgrade path, unlike the 5970.

 

[Brackle]

The GTX 480 is the [H]st card around, no matter hwo you want to look at it.

3 GTX 480s is the [H]st setup money can buy, therefore the 480 is the [H]st card out there.

Sure a 5970 is more [H] than a single 480, but the 480 has a upgrade path, unlike the 5970.

You forgot to mention heat, noise, multi-monitor gaming needing SLI.

You also forgot to mention you are comparing it to 8 month old ATI hardware. Wait for Southern Islands in 4-5 months to make it [H]st card around.

 

[IRSmurf]

looking at these temps on my galaxy gtx480, cant help but wonder whats the lifespan on these cards, I would be pretty screwed since galaxy only has a 2 year warranty coverage. This Card HAS to be on water if you want to oc it or lengthen the life.

While I am concerned about the warranty, especially concerning overvolting the gpu, I am happy to report that you do NOT need water cooling to overclock the GPU.

I turn the fan to 100%, run 750/1700/2025(4050mhz) @ 1125mv on my Galaxy GTX 480, and never run the game much into the 80°C's while gaming. The GPU is completely stable at this OC, in games. Furmark doesn't stress the weakest link in the card, apparently. I can go to 775 w/o a problem in Furmark, but it artifact games and crash.

 

[IRSmurf]

You forgot to mention heat, noise, multi-monitor gaming needing SLI.

You also forgot to mention you are comparing it to 8 month old ATI hardware. Wait for Southern Islands in 4-5 months to make it [H]st card around.

Expecting gamers to buy two extra monitors is no different than expecting gamers to buy 3D Vision. This is a non-issue for 95% of the market buying ATi's second tier cards.

Also there's nothing [H] about waiting months and months for the next revision of hardware. There will ALWAYS be a huge improvement in hardware months down the line.

Regarding heat and noise, you should probably experience it before crying foul. If you're not using a massive overclock and your home has air conditioning keeping your home in the 70°F's, it will be slightly louder than the 5870 at load, but isn't a deal breaker for those who value the utmost performance without jumping into a $700 card that sometimes scales... and sometimes doesn't.

 

[kllrnohj]

The GTX 480 is the [H]st card around, no matter hwo you want to look at it.

No it isn't. You even admit that the 5970 is more [H] than a GTX 480.

5970 > GTX 480, period.

3 GTX 480s is the [H]st setup money can buy, therefore the 480 is the [H]st card out there.

No, it just means 3 GTX 480s is the [H]st setup (although really 5870 trifire puts up a hell of a fight).

Sure a 5970 is more [H] than a single 480, but the 480 has a upgrade path, unlike the 5970.

The 5970 has an upgrade path as well. Overclock it and pair it with a 5870. 5970 + 5870 trifire ftw! Only need two PCI-E x16 slots then as well.

But the only real upgrade path for both is the next generation of card. Upgrade path is so not [H]

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

No it isn't. You even admit that the 5970 is more [H] than a GTX 480.

5970 > GTX 480, period.



No, it just means 3 GTX 480s is the [H]st setup (although really 5870 trifire puts up a hell of a fight).



The 5970 has an upgrade path as well. Overclock it and pair it with a 5870. 5970 + 5870 trifire ftw! Only need two PCI-E x16 slots then as well.

But the only real upgrade path for both is the next generation of card. Upgrade path is so not [H]

Lets see a screenshot of an overclocked 5970 with GPUTool scanning for artifacts while Rivatuner is monitoring the vrms.

 

[Builderbobftw]

No it isn't. You even admit that the 5970 is more [H] than a GTX 480.

5970 > GTX 480, period.



No, it just means 3 GTX 480s is the [H]st setup (although really 5870 trifire puts up a hell of a fight).



The 5970 has an upgrade path as well. Overclock it and pair it with a 5870. 5970 + 5870 trifire ftw! Only need two PCI-E x16 slots then as well.

But the only real upgrade path for both is the next generation of card. Upgrade path is so not [H]

Right, 3 480s is mad eof 480s.

SO 480s are [H].

 

[IRSmurf]

Just played more Batman: AA in 3D with max settings... 3D Vision, PhysX, 8xMSAA, Ambient Occlusion, etc. Phenomenal game and it's *gorgeous*!

I played for two hours and my GTX 480 never went past 71°C. And yes, my GPU is still running 850mhz linked with 4050mhz memory. And yes, I'm cooling with air.

To answer OP's question, hell yes the GTX 480 has delivered. It is insanely powerful and I don't know how I could be happier. Okay, 3D Vision Surround would be nice, but I don't know if I'll ever budget the $1,200 for that toy. (2x2233rz + GTX 480 + a new PSU)

 

[kllrnohj]

Right, 3 480s is mad eof 480s.

SO 480s are [H].

First, it doesn't work like that.

Second, I didn't say 480s weren't [H], I said they weren't the [H]est.

Lets see a screenshot of an overclocked 5970 with GPUTool scanning for artifacts while Rivatuner is monitoring the vrms.

Go look for them yourself. Getting a 5970 to hit 5870 speeds is easy. Those things OC like mad.

 

[Matrices]

You guys are looking pretty ridiculous debating over your dick sizes with [H] this and [H] that. Who gives a fuck, just buy what works for you.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

You guys are looking pretty ridiculous debating over your dick sizes with [H] this and [H] that. Who gives a fuck, just buy what works for you.

Are you trying to make sense in this thread? WTF do you know about Hardforum? You've only been posting here for 7 years unlike these guys that just registered a month ago.

 

[ShuttleLuv]

Geforce GTX 480 and 5970 cannot be compared imo. It's unfair. This is a single gpu driving the 480. For that, it's the clear winner of single gpu. Dual gpus, obviously, the 5970. But what would happen if there was a capability to put two 480's on one card? Well, we know. Because two in SLI are definitely faster than a single 5970. So theres your answer.

 

[gweminence]

What?


Years ago - upgrading from a 4MB 3dfx Voodoo too 12MB 3dfx Voodoo 2 - there were HUGE increases in performance - where did these types of improvements go?

Fermi is barely better than last gen cards in some tests - this isn't right.

You're completely ignoring something basic and fundamental with this statement. As chip makers (ALL of them, not just nvidia) approach the physical limits of transistor technology as we know it -now- (currently, I believe, 28nm?), there simply is not headroom for the huge strides that we've seen in the past. The exponential curve is slowing significantly as they approach the atomic limit of what they can do. So until someone somewhere (And I'm sure there's billions being spent on this), figures out a new and different way to make integrated circuits (or whatever will replace them), there is a very-definitely narrowing margin of progress LEFT to be gained.

 

[IRSmurf]

You're completely ignoring something basic and fundamental with this statement. As chip makers (ALL of them, not just nvidia) approach the physical limits of transistor technology as we know it -now- (currently, I believe, 28nm?), there simply is not headroom for the huge strides that we've seen in the past. The exponential curve is slowing significantly as they approach the atomic limit of what they can do. So until someone somewhere (And I'm sure there's billions being spent on this), figures out a new and different way to make integrated circuits (or whatever will replace them), there is a very-definitely narrowing margin of progress LEFT to be gained.

Nah-uh. Processors double in speed every 90 days. Its magic, idiot.

 

[kllrnohj]

Are you trying to make sense in this thread? WTF do you know about Hardforum? You've only been posting here for 7 years unlike these guys that just registered a month ago.

Hey, I've been here 7 years too

I was just chiming in at the end, though.

But what would happen if there was a capability to put two 480's on one card?

It would burst into flames, duh

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Hey, I've been here 7 years too

I was just chiming in at the end, though.



It would burst into flames, duh

You know who I was talking about.

 

[vjcsmoke]

Geforce GTX 480 and 5970 cannot be compared imo. It's unfair. This is a single gpu driving the 480. For that, it's the clear winner of single gpu. Dual gpus, obviously, the 5970. But what would happen if there was a capability to put two 480's on one card? Well, we know. Because two in SLI are definitely faster than a single 5970. So theres your answer.

There's a reason why there's no 490 out. It would melt like swiss cheese with current architecture and air cooling. Plus there is no way it will fit under the PCIE compliant 300W limit. So this hypothetical 490 is just that, vapor.

GTX 480 SLI I believe are the best 2 gpu combination on separate cards in terms of outright performance. There are tradeoffs though like heat and noise. Thats why I will be transitioning to water cooling.

The 5970 is a marvel of engineering, keeping under the 300W energy envelope and fitting two full featured cypress chips on one PCB. And its vapor chamber tech allows it to absorb heat from heavy overclocking.

The GTX 480 SLI on the other hand is just brute force application - large die size, more transistors, more features than most people will ever use (cuda, physx, 3d etc.). These chips just reflect the different design philosophies of the two companies thus far.

ATI has gone for efficiency and smaller die size to allow them to offer high end performance at good margins. Smaller die size = less failures and better yields and thus more profit per wafer. In turn ATI can afford to lower prices if they want to.

The problem for consumers is that Nvidia has given them ZERO reason to do so. I mean when Nvidia releases a dog like the GTX 465 that gets soundly beaten by the 5850 and then puts it on the market at the retail price at $279... Why would ATI cut their prices?

Nvidia still hasn't released their mainstream video cards either. So ATI has basically enjoyed a monopoly on the $200 and under price point for DX11 capable cards. There is no current answer to the 5770 and nvidia needs to release a part that can compete with it AND at a reasonable price point, sub-$200.

The GTX 465 isn't going to cut it. I don't see any informed PC consumer buying one of those when the 5850 performs consistently better for just $20 more. And those with a more limited budget wanting DX11 should just be getting the 5770 or lesser lines.

 

[gweminence]

Not really sure why you're crapping on a 465 in a 480 thread.

Just saying.

 

[Naieve]

You're completely ignoring something basic and fundamental with this statement. As chip makers (ALL of them, not just nvidia) approach the physical limits of transistor technology as we know it -now- (currently, I believe, 28nm?), there simply is not headroom for the huge strides that we've seen in the past. The exponential curve is slowing significantly as they approach the atomic limit of what they can do. So until someone somewhere (And I'm sure there's billions being spent on this), figures out a new and different way to make integrated circuits (or whatever will replace them), there is a very-definitely narrowing margin of progress LEFT to be gained.

I agree we are reaching the limits of current materials, but there are some very interesting things going on in the science world. In fact in Sydney they just built the first Quantum Transistor. Albeit by hand very slowly, but there are a lot of other things happening.

Until those hit though, we will be seeing further use of multi core GPU's., and I expect Crossfire and SLI to get much more attention in the drivers.

 

[PostsOnPercocet]

tired of arguing with those who just registered in a month or two that spam the hell out of something specific.
they are obviously "the cleaner" if you know what I mean....

I'm not spamming the hell out of anything. I'm telling you why your opinion is wrong, and you're all butthurt about it.

I'll say it one more time, the 480 is the best single card for the highest FPS and the lowest dips. Please show me facts that disprove this. Until you do, YOU'RE the spammer.

I didn't see Nvidia spout off about how quiet the card was going to be. I didn't see them talk about how the card would require very little power. I didn't hear Nvidia advertise how cool the card would be.

I saw them say it was going to kick ass with graphical performance. Guess what? it does. End of story. Why are you so worked up about it anyway? Do you want to see them fail? Who really cares? Get over it buddy.

 

[PostsOnPercocet]

See I think it's cute that people say this.

When I buy a GPU - I want it all, not just raw performance.

NVIDIA has "raw performance" at the price of heat, noise, etc
ATI has second best single GPU - but still has the PERFORMANCE crown. If this is "hard" OCP - then everyone should want dual GPU's, the single best VGA card on the market, right?

5970.

Until NVIDIA release something of equivelance, they mean shit for single GPU.

The only reason people pull the single GPU card is because this round, NVIDIA don't have dual GPU. If they were able to (which they can't... I wonder why???) to release a dual GPU GX480 then yes, it would KICK ARSE.

But, they cannot do this - if they were the "number 1" GPU manufacturer - they'd just dump it out. But, 1 GPU uses 280W+ of power, dual GPU would use 500W+

Where, ATI can smack the 480 down and still use <280W and is very overclockable.

NVIDIA can only strap gimped 470's together and still use 375W+

That's just a larf.

OK, if you want to compare anything with anything. ATI does NOT have the performance crown.

Nvidia does with tri or quad sli. So you are wrong about that.

As far as what YOU want, that is fine. ATi produces the best card for you. I have no qualms about that.

And how do you know what Nvidia can and can't do? You don't, so why talk like you do?

This thread asks if Nvidia delivered. They never said their card was going to be quiet or cool. They said it would be the fastest single GPU out. It is. So it delivered.

Why does this piss off so many ATi fanboys? It never ceases to amaze me how much facts piss people off.

 

[PostsOnPercocet]

Geforce GTX 480 and 5970 cannot be compared imo. It's unfair. This is a single gpu driving the 480. For that, it's the clear winner of single gpu. Dual gpus, obviously, the 5970. But what would happen if there was a capability to put two 480's on one card? Well, we know. Because two in SLI are definitely faster than a single 5970. So theres your answer.

This.

 

[vengence]

There's a reason why there's no 490 out. It would melt like swiss cheese with current architecture and air cooling. Plus there is no way it will fit under the PCIE compliant 300W limit. So this hypothetical 490 is just that, vapor.

Sorry, but that's simply not true.

(credit)
Guess that kind of kills your arguments now doesn't it? Galaxy is making one and they are already showing it off at computex.

And if you can single slot coolt a 470, you can dual slot cool this guy. http://www.anandtech.com/show/3731/news-a-single-slot-gtx-470-from-galaxy