I want the straight story: how hot and loud is SLi GTX 480?

M

magoo

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
14,554
Alright.
My 5870s are just not cutting it. I'm having all sorts of driver issues and my Crossfire has just succeeded in frustrating me so much I can't take it...........bottom line is it just isn't as good as SLi.
I stopped using my main computer and went to the backup with SLi'd GTX 260s.

I'm thinking new GTX 480s.

So tell me, you with experience....how hot and loud and power thirsty are two of these?

I'm upgrading my PSU anyway........most likely a Corsair AX 1200.

Just give me the facts.
Only those with experience need apply.:D
 
never had a problem with crossfire or ATI drivers in many years

yes, two 480 in SLI will be faster, yes your power bill will go up as well, and your office will be well heated.

however, if you cant manage ATI drivers and Crossfire, Nvidia isnt any "easier" since both camps involved double clicking an EXE to install drivers, reboot and check a box to enable crossfire/SLI

SLI and Crossfire in the end are the same thing, some times one scales with a certain game better than the other, but other than that theres not alot of difference

had 4870, two 4870, two 4870x2, two gtx 285 sli, 5870, two 5870 xfire and now a single gtx 480, no problems with any of them or any drivers in recent years.
 
If you watercool it, nothing will be loud..

If you don't, yes, its one of the loudest card I have own so far..

About the power, I never really take a look on that, but it seems power hungry a lot..

Putz said:
...
Click to expand...

I have not yet experience ATI crossfire issue.. beside a specific game..
Overall, not much of a issue when I used 5870CF/5970....
 
My old 8800 GTS 512 ran about as hot as my GTX 480 (getting up to 90c under full load). This card is big, hot and loud, don't get me wrong - but it isn't the loudest or hottest on the market.
 
Last edited:
Putz said:
never had a problem with crossfire or ATI drivers in many years............however, if you cant manage ATI drivers and Crossfire, Nvidia isnt any "easier" since both camps involved double clicking an EXE to install drivers, reboot and check a box to enable crossfire/SLI
Click to expand...

i dunno, just made me laugh really fucking hard. :p:p

good luck with the clicking
 
ITSTHINKING said:
i dunno, just made me laugh really fucking hard. :p:p

good luck with the clicking
Click to expand...

hehe well i dont get it, ive sent cards to family in the mail to have them install and setup SLI/Crossfire over the phone...if the system is having issues odds are its something else, overclocking, ram etc.

guess i did lie, the hardest part of crossfire would be removing the side panel and adding the bridge, I think you can SLI without the bridge now.
 
Well any 'New' card will always be loud and run temps higher then usual, thats why i want to wait till they release a newer version of it.

My 8800GTX ran so dam loud and temperatures were.. well thats why i dont run it anymore.. it turned it self into a BBQ and it was barely overclocked.

I highly suggest Liquid cooling if you were SLi/CrossFire any cards, as they both get hot let alone joined.

Also liquid cooling would make it more quiet, cooler and most likely more sufficient. My GTX285 turns to sh** when it reaches over 69c/70c.

Many people i know have taken the leap to GTX 470/480s [SLi] and all recommend to liquid cooling and close monitoring.
 
Putz said:
never had a problem with crossfire or ATI drivers in many years

yes, two 480 in SLI will be faster, yes your power bill will go up as well, and your office will be well heated.

however, if you cant manage ATI drivers and Crossfire, Nvidia isnt any "easier" since both camps involved double clicking an EXE to install drivers, reboot and check a box to enable crossfire/SLI

SLI and Crossfire in the end are the same thing, some times one scales with a certain game better than the other, but other than that theres not alot of difference

had 4870, two 4870, two 4870x2, two gtx 285 sli, 5870, two 5870 xfire and now a single gtx 480, no problems with any of them or any drivers in recent years.
Click to expand...

There is no need here to insult my intellegence.
I am asking some pretty basic questions, but they apparently were not well understood.
I have been using multi-gpu set-ups since the geForce 6800, I am well aware of the mechanics involved.
I've had any number of ATI and nvidia products.
Currently, and going back into the 4800 series from ATI, I have not been satisfied with scaling and performance from ATI drivers, I do not believe the software complements the hardware. I think nvidia does a better job.

I have no experience with the current nvidia lineup and was wondering if the cards are any more noticable than the current ATI cards that I own.

Is that clear enough?

In otherwords, you failed to answer my question with any integrity.
 
I am enjoying my gtx480 after 5870's, however I made the mistake of trying to remove it from the case after a few minutes of it being off to a lower slot away from the NB (warning label says have the system off 2 minutes, id suggest 10+ if you have been gaming)
 
magoo said:
Alright.
My 5870s are just not cutting it. I'm having all sorts of driver issues and my Crossfire has just succeeded in frustrating me so much I can't take it...........bottom line is it just isn't as good as SLi.
I stopped using my main computer and went to the backup with SLi'd GTX 260s.

I'm thinking new GTX 480s.

So tell me, you with experience....how hot and loud and power thirsty are two of these?

I'm upgrading my PSU anyway........most likely a Corsair AX 1200.

Just give me the facts.
Only those with experience need apply.:D
Click to expand...

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/25/nvidia_fermi_gtx_470_480_sli_review/7

H already gave you everything you need here, you can go watch it for yourself.
 
Putz said:
hehe well i dont get it, ive sent cards to family in the mail to have them install and setup SLI/Crossfire over the phone...if the system is having issues odds are its something else, overclocking, ram etc.

guess i did lie, the hardest part of crossfire would be removing the side panel and adding the bridge, I think you can SLI without the bridge now.
Click to expand...

I am going to assume this is a funny joke, unfortunately it did not help me in any way, shape or form.

Iguess you didn't think I was serious or you feel I am some sort of an idiot.

I was asking for reasonable input, not jokes. Maybe you are a comedian?:eek:
 
Man I sold one of my sapphire 5850s and refuned the second after crossfire was a let down for battlefield BC2 and had to use old drivers to run it well. the old drivers would make SC2 lose units on my screen so I was pissed. Got a zotac 480 amp! edtion. night and day for gaming. and as for heat with a 850core oc it run cooler then my last 5850. temps change for people. but drop the extra bucks for the card and it will pay off. if not zalman keep saying they will have a VF3000F come out but the cost of that and a card will be the same.
 
Magoo, I measured my 470GTX in SLI (which is close to the 480). At full load these exhuast 122 degrees F, at a rate of 94CFM. My cpu temp does not fluctuate much (air cooling) with the cards at idle or max, so it really isnt about case heat.

The main issue is the exhaust heat, which means air conditioning or special venting or else your room heats up fairly quickly. I am actually working on a way to vent the exhuast out of the room..
 
Notleh said:
Magoo, I measured my 470GTX in SLI (which is close to the 480). At full load these exhuast 122 degrees F, at a rate of 94CFM. My cpu temp does not fluctuate much (air cooling) with the cards at idle or max, so it really isnt about case heat.

The main issue is the exhaust heat, which means air conditioning or special venting or else your room heats up fairly quickly. I am actually working on a way to vent the exhuast out of the room..
Click to expand...

If you don't mind the way it looks the drier house mod works awesome. even for a server box.
 
Went from dual 5970s to dual 480s and haven't regretted the move. ATI drivers just don't take advantage of multiple gpus very well. Ok so quadfire is a bit of an extreme example but it sounds like you're unsatisfied with your dual crossfirex setup.

I won't sugarcoat it. The 480 SLI on air are noisy. It's like turning on a hairdryer right next to you. The fan pitch is fortunately not whiney. But it is very loud and noticeable. The best air cooling cases for those cards would be the RV02 and the FT02 because the vertical position apparently helps cool the gpus very well. Load temps hit 93c on the 480 SLI in my case in stock configuration but perhaps my ambient temps are a bit higher than others. Adding more fans to the case (additional 120mm front and 120mm bottom intakes) and a slot cooler as well as the new high flow brackets brought gaming load temps down to 87/88ish.

I went with watercooling, and now I've got the best of both worlds, temps, heat, and noise. But upgradng to WC cost a pretty penny. So if you're not ready for water get yourself one of the best air cooling cases on the market to house those beasts. I believe that you can also get sound dampening material to help line your case. I didn't have such in my haf 932.

In other words, 480 SLI performance kicks ass. NV Surround works really well right out of the box for the games that will support the resolution. Water cooling is the best solution. But if you don't want to go there, get yourself one of the best performing air cooling cases on the market. Then buy the 480s with the high flow air brackets and cooling plate from EVGA because those things do help the temps. I think they are labeled as gtx 480 SC+.
 
magoo said:
Been there, done that.
Just wanted some more real use input. That data was from nearly day one.
Click to expand...

So what? The hardware and reference cooling hasn't changed. It's just as hot and loud now as it was at launch.
 
GTX480 Sauna Sample Loud As Hell, to mimick the naming convention of my Gainward GTX 460 ;)

If you really want two of those... things... in SLI, I'd strongly recommend watercooling as some others have before me.
 
magoo said:
Been there, done that.
Just wanted some more real use input. That data was from nearly day one.
I am looking for experience from real world use and day to day.

Thanks anyway, though.

I realize I should use multiquote, but I'm using a netbook and it's a real pain in the ass to do, sorry.
Click to expand...

I don't understand, outside of third party the cooling has not changed at all. really if I was going to do this I would bite the bullet and go to water. but that's me. but if your wanting quiet your going to have to go with a high end case and maybe AM cooling, or H2O. I have never used or installed dual 480GTX, but I can tell you that a single card is clearly audible while playing crysis with the volume up. I suspect that a good case would have damped the sound quite a bit though.
 
kllrnohj said:
So what? The hardware and reference cooling hasn't changed. It's just as hot and loud now as it was at launch.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct.
But what I am looking for here is just people's experience over a longer term.
Is the noise that bothersome?
Is the heat really that bad?
Do they whoop-ass the 5870 enough for me to consider and also spend the dough on a new PSU?
 
@magoo

I agree with having enough of AMD and their drivers for Crossfire. I too ditched 5870 CFX for GTX 470 SLI and have not looked back.

Even the 6xxx series is of no interest to me whatsoever. AMD had a chance and they blew it with me...

For reference I am using GTX 470 SLI which I am confident will provide the performance you need.

With the release of the 256xx series drivers the GTX 470 is basically on par with the 5870.

As you know the scaling on Fermi for GF100 and GF104 is awesome and GTX 470 or 480 SLI would smoke any AMD combination at this time. Also the heat thing and noise thing as far as the 470's are concerned really is a non issue and definitely over hyped IMO but YMMV.

I do realise with the 480's in SLI that heat and noise will be more of a problem.

Good luck! :)
 
tejas said:
With the release of the 256xx series drivers the GTX 470 is basically on par with the 5870.
Click to expand...

Haha, no, no it isn't. The 256xx drivers gave a fairly small bump in most games - nothing that would come close to closing the gap to the 5870. Hell, it still only barely edges out the 5850.

magoo said:
Yes, you are correct.
But what I am looking for here is just people's experience over a longer term.
Is the noise that bothersome?
Is the heat really that bad?
Do they whoop-ass the 5870 enough for me to consider and also spend the dough on a new PSU?
Click to expand...

The noise is really going to depend on what you are OK with. Hell, I ran a 92mm tornado back in the day. Since I always had on headphones, it didn't bother me (annoyed everyone else in the house, though, lol). Listen to those [H] videos and compare with what you currently have. Adjust the sound and how far you are from the speakers to match your current cards, and then compare to the GTX 480.

As for the heat, you are looking at an increase of like 150-250w to go to 480 SLI vs. 5870 CF. Whether or not that will matter is going to largely depend on the room its in. If you have a small room with poor ventilation, that shit gonna get real hot real fast. If the room has good ventilation, it probably won't matter. If your room isn't getting hot from 5870 CFX, it can probably handle GTX 480 SLI as well. At worst you might need a floor fan to suck the hot air away from the case and you, which seems to be the problem Kyle was having.

As for the money/performance, GTX 480 SLI is definitely wicked fast. If your 5870s have enough grunt with the latest 10.8a and you're just getting annoyed with the broken then fixed then broken situation, you might want to hold off until it breaks again. Personally I find selling cards to be more of a hassle than putting up with the odd driver issue every couple of months (I only ever update my drivers every couple of months as well - unless something was fixed/improved in the newest that affected you, why bother?). If it just isn't fast enough, then upgrade.
 
With this SilverStone Raven2 case I never get fan percentages over 80. Not that big of a deal. When it starts getting over that, the things get loud.

Anyone telling you an 8800 is as loud and hot as a 480 is smoking crack.
 
It doesn't seem too loud to me, but I came from crossfired 4890's, which were loud. The heat is there for sure and its certainly noticeable.
 
I've got a pair of 480s in a Silverstone RV02. If I fire up Furmark things get apeshit loud and it's almost painful to put my hand near the video cards exhaust. During normal gaming though, I haven't really noticed them being any louder than any other high end video cards I've owned in recent years.

Note that I also have my rig on my desk about two feet from my ear. It's also in a corner, which means more sound reflection off the wall. It would be much quieter if I had it on the floor, but my carpet is fairly tall and my case uses bottom intakes, so I have to build it a stand or find something to use as one.
 
Again, I appreciate the honest opinions.
I have a CoolerMaster Stacker Evo with two 120mm fans on the side window, 120mm x 2 in the front, and a top exhaust 120mm plus the rear 120mm.
My motherboard is watercooled.

I just built my son a new computer using a Silverstone Fortress2, maybe I should steal it back....:eek:

I think the heat thing is going to be OK. It might be a blessing in the winter. I could always vent the rear exhausts if I had to...Lowes + dryer vent = warm basement!!!;)

I run my 5870s on 50% all the time, yes I can hear them, but they are not annoying.

I'm looking at this long and Hard.....I just bought one 480 yesterday.....so I guess I'm in.
 
If you already have your motherboard and cpu watercooled, it wouldn't take that much effort to slap on a waterblock and cool the gpu too. Sure you'd have to drain your loop first, but it's not that hard.
 
I have a pair of GTX480s running stock air cooling and it is not a big deal at all...

Here is my setup:

Coolermaster Stacker 832
- 3 120mm fans in the sidepanel
- 2 120mm fans in the front
- 1 120mm fan on the back
- 1 92mm fan on the back of the motherboard mount
Corsair AX1200 powersupply
Asus Rampage III Extreme motherboard
Corsair 12gb XMS3 RAM
Corsair H50 cooler (using push/pull venting out the back)
1 eVGA GTX480
1 Asus GTX480
2 slot fans (each positioned to pull air across the outside heatsink off the GTX480s)

I have this setup in a large free-standing desk with the front/back of the cubby for the computer open and about 2-3 inches of space available on the sides.

If I run furmark the temps hit 91c-92c at most and the fan speeds don't go over 80%.

During normal gaming I rarely see the fans hit higher than 60-65%.

After about 4 hours of gaming I do notice the temps in the room up a degree or two, but I would expect that even with watercooling.

Sounds wise, sure it isn't silent, but unless you watercool, or are a noise fanatic, then you will never have a silent air-cooled videocard. Honestly they are not that loud when not at 100% fan and under normal gaming I don't even notice it. Hell under Furmark I don't notice it much...
 
I own 465@470 ref design cooler.
Once that fan hits 70% or higher you'll hear it for sure. Its like hearing hair dryer when its at 90%.
I had Asus 5850 and it was dead slient.
performance vs loudness.
You pick.

If you do pick 480, try to get with aftermarket cooler.
Don't listen to people until you hear it for youself.
I read its not too loud here and there but it wasnt true.

I did fanmod(took out casing, attached 80mm fan)
Now its silent and cooler than ref fan but cant run sli on this mod.
 
Loud enough to push me in to water cooling. I could hear them through my Logitech G35s while gaming (The headphones cover your whole ear and do a good job of blocking noise). I took off my headphones in the middle of some gaming and came to the realization that it sounded like a freaking vacuum running. Having piss-poor ambient temps didn't help at all either.

Speaking of which, I'm also glad as hell that it's starting to cool down outside. Was unable to use AC to fight it and I've been miserably hot inside my room through the summer.
 
They are the loudest and hottest cards I have used BUT if you have them in the right case and use some fan profiles they are not that bad. I use headphones it is not a real problem for me. I have them in a HAF-X case with 120 CFM sythe fan controlled by a fan controller with a thermal sensor connected to the top cards heatpipe so as it heats up the fan increases as well. After 2 hours of BC2 i rarely get over 72 - 76 on both cards. Crysis slightly hotter at around 80 - 82. Fans never go over 82%. The only problem is my room does get hot!! after a few hours. The cards sit next to each other so no gap. Waiting on tri-sli surround working properly.

The performance is VERY good though go for it and get some good cooling and headphones.
 
I made the plunge.

Got a couple 480s and a new AX-1200.

I'll give an honest opinion one I strap these things in the case and fire (literally, it sounds) this up.

I'm looking for triple 24" Surround to best EyeFinity.....maybe finally run Metro 2030 in Surround!
 
Congrats on your purchase. Let us know when it gets there and post pics. 480 SLI is really the best dual gpu performance you can get today.

magoo said:
I'm looking for triple 24" Surround to best EyeFinity.....maybe finally run Metro 2030 in Surround!
Click to expand...


Metro 2033 in surround does look pretty amazing. Unfortunately a lot of it happens in tight spaces so you don't really get the effect of how much more this is letting you see until you get outdoors or into the bigger more wide open stations like freedom station. There is one section where you're fighting these annoying molerat things, and having the wider vision really helps you see where they jump out of the holes to try to surprise you. Just keep your back against a wall and use your peripheral vision to your advantage.

Although Fallout 3 doesn't support Surround natively, it's pretty easy to hack the ini for the larger superwide resolution. Oh bezel correction actual works with the game too once you've done that. Weird. Roaming the wastelands in tirple screens is just an awesome sight. And since this is an older game you can max out your settings at full resolution. So much fun. I'm having a hoot so far playing it all over again from the beginning. I'm playing a relatively 'good guy' this time so I didn't blow up megaton. With triple screen gaming It's like seeing a new world open up before you and it made Fallout 3 look that much better!
 
Although Fallout 3 doesn't support Surround natively, it's pretty easy to hack the ini for the larger superwide resolution. Oh bezel correction actual works with the game too once you've done that. Weird. Roaming the wastelands in tirple screens is just an awesome sight. And since this is an older game you can max out your settings at full resolution. So much fun. I'm having a hoot so far playing it all over again from the beginning. I'm playing a relatively 'good guy' this time so I didn't blow up megaton. With triple screen gaming It's like seeing a new world open up before you and it made Fallout 3 look that much better!
Click to expand...

I've been playing Fallout3 on my older computer that has GTX 260s.I was able to modify the files to support Surronud and fix the FOV a little bit as well as centering the HUD to the middle screen.
Fallout is a little too much for the 260s at 6036 x 1200, but the view is amazing.:D

I had all sorts of problems with this game on my EyeFinity computer, the game kept crashing and implicating the ATI drivers. I tried everything and finally gave up and switched to the Surround set-up. I'm going after this game once I get the 480s.

I couldn't run Metro in EyeFinity with my 5870 E6 CF setup.....the graphics were just too much and the game lagged like an old dog. To make it playable I had to sacrifice way too much graphically.
 
I swapped out my old PSU and GTX 285 for GTX 480 SLI and an AX1200 about a month ago, and I have been extremely happy so far. I'm running 2560 x 1600 and the GTX 480's simply dominate at that resolution. I went with the EVGA SC+ edition for the Back Plate and High Flow Bracket. I overclocked my cards to 800/1600/1900, stock volts, stable through an hour of OC Scanner and many hours of gaming :D

My chassis is a bit old, a CM Stacker 830. I have two front 120mm intake fans, a top 120mm exhaust fan and a back 120mm exhaust fan. One of my front intake fans is situated such that the airflow goes directly over my GTX 480's. With that being said, my cards idle at about 48 degrees, and the fan stays at 44 percent. When I'm gaming, I simply set the fans on the cards to 80% and temperatures usually hover between the high 70's to mid 80's, depending on how much the game stresses my cards. For the record, 80% fan speed is somewhat loud, but I game with a headset on so it's not an issue for me.

I did set the fans to 100% once out of morbid curiosity, and my computer sounded like a leaf blower... seriously.
 
I have to agree with Kyle, with the right case they are not over the top loud. I am running them in a coolermaster HAF 932 and it is pretty decent. I had gtx285 tri sli in the same computer before and it is not much difference. Performance is amazing at 25x16. This is the ifrst gaming setup I have ever had that I am truly happy with. I always felt like my res was ahead of my card setup. I will be keeping this setup longer than I have been in the past.

Last rigs:
8800gts 320 sli
8800gt 512 sli
9800gtx sli
gtx 280 (later went sli)
gtx 285 sli (later went tri sli)
5870 (tested crossfire, ended up installing them in my wife's current pc.
 
just get some nice fans and well cooled setup for them sli gtx480 keep it below 80 and it won't be so bad
 
Here of some pics of my case and wiring job that may help you in your build. My system is not all that loud and temps are great considering the parts I am using.

GTX_480_SLI1.jpg

GTX_480_SLI2.jpg

GTX_480_SLI4.jpg

GTX_480_SLI3.jpg
 
Canon t2i with 17-40 F4L lens shot at F8. (except the close up which is the 100 Macro 2.8L IS)

Really not the camera, but good natural light and technique.

If you want to take good pictures, take your computer out from under your desk and turn your flash off :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top