GTX 480 Owners Thread

H

heatlesssun

Extremely [H]
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Messages
44,154
So I got my first 480 just a bit ago. Got two more on backorder and they have my money so hopefully I'll have at least one more come my way by Friday (both set for overnight delivery).

eVGA%20GTX%20480%20Box%20Shot-01.jpg


One thing to note. Apparently eVGA makes 480s with only TWO year warranties. I did not notice this until I noticed the part number on the card I ordered got CHANGED after I had ordered my first 480 from mWave. The part I THOUGHT I was ordering was the standard lifetime warranty part, EVGA 015-P3-1480-AR, but the one I got was the one with only a TWO year warranty, EVGA 015-P3-1480-TR.

I'm going to go ahead for now and keep the TR part. If warranty is the ONLY difference, no problems with SLI or anything I'm going to keep what I have for now.
 
I haven't been clear on what differences were between TR and AR, either, except warranty. I wonder what the point is? Did it cost any less for the difference?
 
I have 2x Asus GTX 480 and I have a 3 year warranty on mine. No biggie, I don't keep video cards that long and they go by serial number so whoever I sell them to in a year or so will still have warranty. Win-win I say.
 
Was there a price difference between the parts?

2 year vs. lifetime is quite a big difference. That's a bit underhanded how it snuck in like that. I would have been up in arms and returned it if that had happened to me. I've had enough videocards die to make me care about lifetime warranties.
 
Last edited:
But isn't it the life of the card tho? What's that equal?

Kinda glad I got the asus 470's now, I can stick that in the face of all those evga religious fanatics lol
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Spare-Flair said:
Was there a price difference between the parts?

2 year vs. lifetime is quite a big difference. That's a bit underhanded how it snuck in like that. I would have been up in arms and returned it if that had happened to me. I've had enough videocards die to make me care about lifetime warranties.
Click to expand...

Yeah, its HOW this happened that bugged me. At any rate, for me two years is a lifetime when it comes to GPUs so it's not a big deal but others would be understandably upset. I'm just happy to have at least one card so I can now sell my 280s.
 
heatlesssun said:
So I got my first 480 just a bit ago. Got two more on backorder and they have my money so hopefully I'll have at least one more come my way by Friday (both set for overnight delivery).

eVGA%20GTX%20480%20Box%20Shot-01.jpg


One thing to note. Apparently eVGA makes 480s with only TWO year warranties. I did not notice this until I noticed the part number on the card I ordered got CHANGED after I had ordered my first 480 from mWave. The part I THOUGHT I was ordering was the standard lifetime warranty part, EVGA 015-P3-1480-AR, but the one I got was the one with only a TWO year warranty, EVGA 015-P3-1480-TR.

I'm going to go ahead for now and keep the TR part. If warranty is the ONLY difference, no problems with SLI or anything I'm going to keep what I have for now.
Click to expand...

Knowing that you got the 2 yr warrenty I am glad I canceled my order with mwave now.
 
Banditfromhell said:
Knowing that you got the 2 yr warrenty I am glad I canceled my order with mwave now.
Click to expand...

I've dealt with them before and they've treated me right as customer. This was a little tricky but to be honest they just sent me what they had and they told me they'd have no problem shipping a new card if I wanted which I would if that was a realistic option since at this point there just aren't enough cards to go around. Maybe within 30 days I might change my mind.
 
Got my first one today (Galaxy) and so far so good. Can't compare to my 5970 running @ 985/1300 but that's a different story.

My second Galaxy card is coming in tomorrow and that should give my 5970 a run for it's money. :D
 
Initial impressions. The noise factor is non-existent for me, no louder than a single 280 thus far. Running benchmarks will post results shortly.
 
I'm really interested in getting 2 of these. Only thing I'm really waiting on is surround gaming. If it works as well as ATI's eyefinity then I'm in.
 
notsane said:
I just got mine too!

I won't clutter up your thread with a re-post of my pics..

UNBOX PICS::
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035592960&postcount=89
Click to expand...

Friggin sweet rig dude.

heatlesssun said:
Initial impressions. The noise factor is non-existent for me, no louder than a single 280 thus far. Running benchmarks will post results shortly.
Click to expand...

Hehe, play some games on it for 20 minutes with the case closed and report back.

damstr said:
Mine peak like 96C then the fan kicks in and drops the temp to a constant 90C.
Click to expand...

Very different from the ones I had here. They like to stick at 93C under gaming load.
 
As far as noise/heat go, my GTX 470 @ 70% fan locked, 720core/3520mem is maxing at around 80-82c during hour+ gaming sessions. It's not really any louder than my old GTX 280 was @ 40% or so fan speed *shrug*. This is inside my CoolerMaster RC690 case, closed.

My 470 is an AR part with lifetime warranty from eVGA. My results/impressions were here (ditto the above poster, don't want to clutter up with my own pics): http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035583143. I'd have been somewhat annoyed if they had shipped me a TR 2-year warranty part, I must say... I don't think I'd have returned it, but I would have been miffed.
 
Alright, got some quick canned benchies and a Furmark run for noise and heat.

Just Cause 2 Everything at max for DX11 including Bokeh filter @ 4xAA :

Just%20Cause%202%20Benchmark%20-The%20Dark%20Tower.jpg


Just%20Cause%202%20Benchmark%20-%20Desert%20Sunrise.jpg


Just%20Cause%202%20Benchmark%20-%20Concrete%20Jungle.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think you get the lifetime warranty if you register the card with evga. I know BFG it was similar to this
 
magoo said:
I don't think mwave tried to pull a fast one, they have always been good to me.
I think that's just all they had.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's not like its a real world problem anyway, I'm not going to have the card for 2 years and since the warranties on all GPUs that I'm aware of besides XFX's aren't transferable it's not that big of a deal.
 
Now for temps:

FurMark%202010-04-14%2021-01-15-27.jpg


And yes the fan is loud when a full blast but honestly I was expecting much worse. Three will be VERY loud no doubt but won't be it won't be a problem for me. My card is idling around 70° C with two monitors on.
 
Wow, Bokeh Filter must really tank framerates since I get better results than those on my 5850. Mind running it again with it off?
 
AceCR42 said:
Wow, Bokeh Filter must really tank framerates since I get better results than those on my 5850. Mind running it again with it off?
Click to expand...

It's only causing a 4fps difference on my system with a GTX 470 to have it on vs. off, at the same settings as heatlesssun.

I'm noticing much lower performance in Dirt 2/Just Cause 2 than the reviews, while much higher BattleField BC2, NFS Shift, and Unigine framerates. Methinks there's something funky with these release drivers (197.41) missing profiles or something vs. the reviewers' beta 197.17's.

EDIT: Just Cause 2 lines up pretty well with http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/i3dspeed/0310/itogi-video-jc-wxp-aaa-1920-pcie.html actually... the review states it uses the same settings we are here.
From main review page said:
Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) -- DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, run the benchmark from the in-game menu.
Click to expand...

This is a run with my oc'd 470:

jc2tiger.jpg
 
Last edited:
Just got done playing Bad Company 2 for about an hour and NEVER heard the card. On Furmark it screams though.
 
damstr said:
Just got done playing Bad Company 2 for about an hour and NEVER heard the card. On Furmark it screams though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I played a few hours straight with fan locked @ 70% earlier, it's not really audible while gaming at all and isn't very loud on an absolute scale either in my case :). That was with BC2 @ 2560x1600 4x AA, as well... so it's not like the card wasn't under load :p. That was also at a 720c/3520mem overclock on my GTX 470.
 
Also just thought I'd say that IMO Bad Company 2 looked better on my 480 then it did on my 5970.

I changed none of the settings in BC2 either so go figure.

Oh and it seemed to run of smoother as well.

EDIT: Oh yeah and Bad Company 2 doesn't lag when joining a game and you select all your weapons and stuff...thank god! That was so annoying on the 5970.
 
AceCR42 said:
Wow, Bokeh Filter must really tank framerates since I get better results than those on my 5850. Mind running it again with it off?
Click to expand...

Like GoldenTiger said not a lot of difference. Don't know what you have you settings at but that must be bellow this. Really no reason not to run with the Bokeh filter on at 1920x1200 even with only one card I think.

JustCause2-No%20Bokeh-2010-04-14%2021-28-50-10.jpg


JustCause2-No%20Bokeh-2010-04-14%2021-31-23-27.jpg


JustCause2-No%20Bokeh-2010-04-14%2021-40-13-71.jpg
 
damstr said:
Just got done playing Bad Company 2 for about an hour and NEVER heard the card. On Furmark it screams though.
Click to expand...

Correct, but on my 280s Furmark was pretty loud. For most gaming scenarios I'm thinking noise with one card won't be a problem most folks.
 
GoldenTiger said:
As far as noise/heat go, my GTX 470...
Click to expand...
I read 480 earlier...what you got sounds right on.

heatlesssun said:
Now for temps:

And yes the fan is loud when a full blast but honestly I was expecting much worse. Three will be VERY loud no doubt but won't be it won't be a problem for me. My card is idling around 70° C with two monitors on.
Click to expand...

Yep, mine was the same. You can hear it, in fact you almost can't keep from hearing it. I could hear my SLI with my cans on. Three? Wow.

notsane said:
Same here w/ SLI. Explosions drown out any noise :)
Click to expand...

Better be blowing lots of shit up. But as we said, it is loud but not a pitch that digs into your brain.

heatlesssun said:
Correct, but on my 280s Furmark was pretty loud. For most gaming scenarios I'm thinking noise with one card won't be a problem most folks.
Click to expand...

Shader intensive games like Metro will get it how. BF2? That game aint shit for these new cards, it better not need to cool off. The game is frame buffer limited before anything else from our experience. Looks sweet though. :)
 
damstr said:
EDIT: Oh yeah and Bad Company 2 doesn't lag when joining a game and you select all your weapons and stuff...thank god! That was so annoying on the 5970.
Click to expand...

That's supposed to be fixed with the latest beta drivers but good that you are enjoying your new fermi.
 
damstr said:
Just got done playing Bad Company 2 for about an hour and NEVER heard the card. On Furmark it screams though.
Click to expand...

Do you know what the clocks were when you were playined BC2? There was that other thread where the OP found that BC2 was only making the GTX 480 play at idle clocks instead of ramping up to full power consumption unless he did 16xAA
 
Heatlesssun: As a 280 owner I'm very interested in what you've been putting up here. You even play at the same 1920X1200 I do. Just Cause 2 is pretty demanding is the message I'm getting here but that's definitely a hell of an upgrade. If I use those same settings you did on my 280 it's 20-25 fps tops and barely playable.

I'm pleased to see you make note of the noise although I do want to get more of a gauge on the heat. You're the second 280 owner that moved to a 480 owner that I've seen make that positive comparison which is encouraging.

I tend to put my 280's fans at 70 percent most of the time anyways and I'm getting the idea that my habits really won't change much when the time comes I finally get a 480 around here myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top