Just pulled the trigger on dual 480's. Opinions?

C

Caligulax

Gawd
Joined
May 1, 2005
Messages
526
Here are my current specs:
Kingwin 1220 watt PSU
AMD X4 965 @ 3.51ghz
Asus M4N98TD EVO
300GB velociraptor
8gb Kingston Hyperx at 1559mhz
2x GTX 280 SLI'ed.

I am wondering now if I should back out of ordering since newegg offers no refunds on this.
Will I see an improvement in older games at 1900X1080 or is this basically a DX11 Upgrade.
I already have an SLI mobo and buying an AMD mobo and crossfiring two 5870's did not make sense to me since it came out to the same price.
On a side note I have some money saved up and plan to sell my gtx 280's (I have three, or should by accident one coming from fellow H member. but run 2x) They are still fantastic cards, and now I am having doubts as to whether or not the upgrade was really worth it. I do not have plans to run a dual monitor setup, but metro 2033 looks fantastic in dx11 and according to H it blows the 5970 out of the water in that game.
 
Two GTX480s for 1920x1080 is probably a waste. Get a 30" monitor IMO.
 
why wouldn't you ask us before you ordered? A single 5850 would accomplish all you want at that res.
 
Caligulax said:
Here are my current specs:
Kingwin 1220 watt PSU
AMD X4 965 @ 3.51ghz
Asus M4N98TD EVO
300GB velociraptor
8gb Kingston Hyperx at 1559mhz
2x GTX 280 SLI'ed.

I am wondering now if I should back out of ordering since newegg offers no refunds on this.
Will I see an improvement in older games at 1900X1080 or is this basically a DX11 Upgrade.
I already have an SLI mobo and buying an AMD mobo and crossfiring two 5870's did not make sense to me since it came out to the same price.
On a side note I have some money saved up and plan to sell my gtx 280's (I have three, or should by accident one coming from fellow H member. but run 2x) They are still fantastic cards, and now I am having doubts as to whether or not the upgrade was really worth it. I do not have plans to run a dual monitor setup, but metro 2033 looks fantastic in dx11 and according to H it blows the 5970 out of the water in that game.
Click to expand...

A single 480 will handle that fine.

Cancel one of the orders.
 
Personally I'd say a single GTX480 should be enough, and then only if you really want DX11. You'll have performance very close to the dual GTX280's, and frankly at that resolution there's *very* few games that actually needs more GPU power( Metro2033 being one of the few, but you can safely disable the most taxing graphical options without actually being able to notice the difference in IQ). The extra cash would be better spent on pretty much anything else. Stuff like SSD's would likely give you far more joy than a second 480.
 
Well cancelled one. Will sell all three gtx 280's soon. Hope I didn't get screwed on that other 280 I pickup because I thought evga refused my rma. Looks like I got the same card back. Well back on topic. I can always pick up a second one down the line if it looks like I'll need it.
I made a mistake in my specs. I have an X4 945 at 3.51. Will that bottleneck me at one of two cards, at my previously stated resolution?
 
Caligulax said:
Well cancelled one. Will sell all three gtx 280's soon. Hope I didn't get screwed on that other 280 I pickup because I thought evga refused my rma. Looks like I got the same card back. Well back on topic. I can always pick up a second one down the line if it looks like I'll need it.
I made a mistake in my specs. I have an X4 945 at 3.51. Will that bottleneck me at one of two cards, at my previously stated resolution?
Click to expand...

No, It won't.

It wont bottlneck at all as long as you play with aa and under 120 frames.
 
I went from a hd4870x2 to a single gtx480 and it's been great at 1080p (min fps went way up). Even dirt with all of its full dx11 glory runs excellent with a min of 80 fps. Just make sure you overclock the beast, the scores reallllly go up with overclocking.
 
Don't forget to order earplugs and an A/C unit.

I need a new video card bad, but what I've seen and heard from the 470/480 cards keeps me from buying them.
 
For 1920X1080 it was a waste of money.

Should of got a 5870 or 5970 with 3 monitor for eyefinity.
 
You simply can't buy two of these cards or the 470s without also dropping $350 on watercooling if you want to avoid obtrusive noise levels. So factor that into your decision making.
 
Your system as it is now wouldn't be able to get the most out of GTX 480 in SLI or a HD 5970, you'd want a higher overclock and ideally an i7 processor for that.

If I were you, I'd save some cash and get a single HD 5870 now.
 
Solstice said:
Your system as it is now wouldn't be able to get the most out of GTX 480 in SLI or a HD 5970, you'd want a higher overclock and ideally an i7 processor for that.

If I were you, I'd save some cash and get a single HD 5870 now.
Click to expand...
agreed. going to a 480 sli setup would require an overclocked i5/i7 quad to get the most overall performance out of it. a single 480 is fine as long as he can tolerate huge power consumption, heat and noise. after putting up with a gtx470 I would get a 5850 or 5870 at this point.
 
An OC'd 965 can handle 2 480s just fine.

And stop flaming the OP.

The 480 might not be the best choice, but it's not that much of a diffrence.

100$? Some heat? Some power? Who cares.

He might want CUDA or PhysX or he might fold, you guys don't know everything.

I don't understand why everyone here has such a hard on for X58 when it's pretty clear that CPUs don't bottlenck accept at low res/no aa.

And nobdy buys this type of [H]ardware to play at 800x600.
 
mrnoob123 said:
An OC'd 965 can handle 2 480s just fine.

And stop flaming the OP.

The 480 might not be the best choice, but it's not that much of a diffrence.

100$? Some heat? Some power? Who cares.

He might want CUDA or PhysX or he might fold, you guys don't know everything.

I don't understand why everyone here has such a hard on for X58 when it's pretty clear that CPUs don't bottlenck accept at low res/no aa.

And nobdy buys this type of [H]ardware to play at 800x600.
Click to expand...
no it cant. there have been multi gpu tests that prove it. an i5/i7 quad is better than an X4 for FULLY pushing a high end multi gpu setup like 5870 crossfire or 480 sli. no playable issues of course on X4 but still the i5/i7 quad would be better suited.
 
cannondale06 said:
no it cant. there have been multi gpu tests that prove it. an i5/i7 quad is better than an X4 for FULLY pushing a high end multi gpu setup like 5870 crossfire or 480 sli. no playable issues of course on X4 but still the i5/i7 quad would be better suited.
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Well, i mean, It might be the diffrence bewteen 300 frames and 700 frames, but it wont be bewteen 59 frames and 60 frames.

And his moniter can display only 60 frames.
 
mrnoob123 said:
Well, i mean, It might be the diffrence bewteen 300 frames and 700 frames, but it wont be bewteen 59 frames and 60 frames.

And his moniter can display only 60 frames.
Click to expand...
well its really much different than that especially when it comes to min framerate. here is a review and they didnt even use some of the games that are really cpu intensive.


http://www.legionhardware.com/artic...ossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_2,1.html

For the most part the Core i7 9xx and Core i5 7xx series were in a league of their own. Something that we did also find surprising was the fact that for the most part the Core i3 5xx series kept pace with the Phenom II X4 on a clock-for-clock basis. Something else we noticed when making this comparison was that the Core i3 5xx almost always matched the minimum frame rate of the Phenom II X4, while in a number of cases it was significantly faster.
 
mrnoob123 said:
It's all compilled resultes from diffrent systems and stuff.
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thats your excuse? of course an X4 system and i5 system cant be the same now can they. legionhardware is a very well respected tech site and that is a very comprehensive review. just because the outcome wasnt what you expected doesnt mean it was flawed. X4 is a fine cpu but it just isnt in the same league as an i5/i7 quad when it come to high end multi gpu setups.
 
Enjoy your GTX 480. Overclock it right away. At least set it to 800 core / 2000 (4ghz effective) memory.

Don't listen to the haters. The 5870 is a better value, but if you aren't pinching pennies, the 480 is the single GPU performance king. The only exceptions are BFBC2 and one other game I can't think of right now.

Oh, I agree i5/i7 is the only way to go for $1,000 GPU configs. I've seen too much data supporting this to be swayed. If you want proof, you'll have to widen you search to every gpu review and every forum... it's scattered far and wide. :(
 
I have a 30" monitor (2560x1600) and my single gtx 480 runs everything smooth as butter 60+fps with 4x fsaa.

2 is always better than one, but only 1 or 2 games will actually show visible improvements

I have a i7 @ 4ghz too, which I personally think is a must for such a powerful card
 
RyanLucier said:
I have a 30" monitor (2560x1600) and my single gtx 480 runs everything smooth as butter 60+fps with 4x fsaa.

2 is always better than one, but only 1 or 2 games will actually show visible improvements

I have a i7 @ 4ghz too, which I personally think is a must for such a powerful card
Click to expand...
since you went out of your way to underline "everything" I will point out that it doesnt run Cryostasis, Crysis, Warhead, Clear Sky, Metro 2033 and maybe some others at 60fps with 4x AA at least not with all settings on max. :p
 
I love my dual Asus GTX 480's , they scream. For 1920x1200 they are amazing .. you don't need to run it at 2560x1600 to see the major benefit , having constantly high frame rates while maxing everything out is just lovely on its own.

I will say however you're CPU will limit you , more so in games using all 4 cores. The i5 750 , i7 920 and up are really the best CPUs when it comes to gaming. But its not a huge difference just a heads up.
 
cannondale06 said:
since you went out of your way to underline "everything" I will point out that it doesnt run Cryostasis, Crysis, Warhead, Clear Sky, Metro 2033 and maybe some others at 60fps with 4x AA at least not with all settings on max. :p
Click to expand...

Yup. Still with two it doesn't either... I'm sure 3 won't either too.

Two 480's will run STALKER COP which is better then Clear Sky anyways, and I'm sure it will run Crysis 2 better then it does Crysis 1 and Warhead. Metro 2033 you're pretty much screwed no matter what system you're running it on unless you're at less then 1080p resolution.
 
You will see an improvement using dual 480s at 1920x1080, but only in one or two games. I would have only gone with a single 480 and save up for two other screens and wait for nV to make good on their false advertisments for 3D Surround.

If you bump up the IQ to maximum, you shouldn't have a problem with a CPU bottleneck.
 
hdgamer said:
Yup. Still with two it doesn't either... I'm sure 3 won't either too.

Two 480's will run STALKER COP which is better then Clear Sky anyways, and I'm sure it will run Crysis 2 better then it does Crysis 1 and Warhead. Metro 2033 you're pretty much screwed no matter what system you're running it on unless you're at less then 1080p resolution.
Click to expand...

3 480s at 850mhz core clocks on water does great with 19x12.
 
Pairing even a singleGTX 480 with a C2D is almost criminal.

I'm honestly surprised at the number of people here - many people - who apparently never got the memo on CPU bottlenecks. Speed isn't everything - architecture is. A blazing fast C2D will still perform very poorly in GTA4 or BC2. And even a C2Q pales in comparison to an i5/i7 when it comes to SLI/CF scaling.
 
Matrices said:
Pairing even a singleGTX 480 with a C2D is almost criminal.

I'm honestly surprised at the number of people here - many people - who apparently never got the memo on CPU bottlenecks. Speed isn't everything - architecture is. A blazing fast C2D will still perform very poorly in GTA4 or BC2. And even a C2Q pales in comparison to an i5/i7 when it comes to SLI/CF scaling.
Click to expand...

I think we've all seen the Crysis becnhes of a GTX 480 paired with a C2D E8600 @ 4.4ghz vs a I7-930 at 4.4ghz.

At 19x12, they got like 44 frames vs 44 frames.

So some games only utilize C2Ds.

That's pretty clear.
 
mrnoob123 said:
I think we've all seen the Crysis becnhes of a GTX 480 paired with a C2D E8600 @ 4.4ghz vs a I7-930 at 4.4ghz.

At 19x12, they got like 44 frames vs 44 frames.

So some games only utilize C2Ds.

That's pretty clear.
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you dont buy a $500 video card to play "some games". putting a gtx480 with a Core 2 Duo is wasting its potential especially in those more cpu intensive games.
 
cannondale06 said:
you dont buy a $500 video card to play "some games". putting a gtx480 with a Core 2 Duo is wasting its potential especially in those more cpu intensive games.
Click to expand...

There's no waste of poetential with a GTX 480 or even 2 and a 955 @ 4.0.
 
Some of the replies in this thread are hilarious.. A 480GTX fan at 60% (where they run during gaming) is no louder than most case fans.


Anyway, 2 480GTX's is overkill for *MOST* games at 1920x1080, but Metro 2033 and Crysis will definitely put them to good use.
 
IRSmurf said:
Enjoy your GTX 480. Overclock it right away. At least set it to 800 core / 2000 (4ghz effective) memory.

Don't listen to the haters. The 5870 is a better value, but if you aren't pinching pennies, the 480 is the single GPU performance king. The only exceptions are BFBC2 and one other game I can't think of right now.
Click to expand...

There are quite few other games that 5870 still outperform, Just Cause 2, Crysis, DiRT 2 etc...

I won't say 480 is a performance crown, since its still not outperform 5870 entirely.
Very limited to the title that people plays.

Went from 5870->480, I can clearly tell you the performance from gaming performance experience are very similar, nearly identical, beside Metro 2033 is noticeably smoother.

mrnoob123 said:
3 480s at 850mhz core clocks on water does great with 19x12.
Click to expand...

if you are on water, you should be able to go up even more, I have mine on air and I am hitting 860 :eek:

also, if you have Phenom II X4 4Ghz, GTX 480 SLi or 5870 SLI will be a waste.

I have test several games that have huge difference comparing to Core i7, especially Crysis that truly show how Core i7 shine. (HT Off of course)

jdk said:
Some of the replies in this thread are hilarious.. A 480GTX fan at 60% (where they run during gaming) is no louder than most case fans.


Anyway, 2 480GTX's is overkill for *MOST* games at 1920x1080, but Metro 2033 and Crysis will definitely put them to good use.
Click to expand...

480 on 60% of fan isn't that loud, but its definitely louder than any case fan unless you have some really crappy one.

also, 480 will rarely stay up to 60%, mostly up to 80%+... nearly 100% when playing some stressful game like Metro 2033 and Crysis.
 
shansoft said:
I have mine on air and I am hitting 860
Click to expand...

shansoft said:
480 on 60% of fan isn't that loud, but its definitely louder than any case fan unless you have some really crappy one.

also, 480 will rarely stay up to 60%, mostly up to 80%+... nearly 100% when playing some stressful game like Metro 2033 and Crysis.
Click to expand...



Heh, of course the fans are going to go higher if you overclock by 160mhz :rolleyes: I'm not sure if you didn't think about the fact that yours are OC'd before you typed that or if you're just trolling..


Mine idle at 43% and hit a max of 60% when playing Metro 2033.. Maybe you should just go back to a Radeon if you're so unhappy with your 480, but stop trying to spread around false info.
 
jdk said:
Heh, of course the fans are going to go higher if you overclock by 160mhz :rolleyes: I'm not sure if you didn't think about the fact that yours are OC'd before you typed that or if you're just trolling..


Mine idle at 43% and hit a max of 60% when playing Metro 2033.. Maybe you should just go back to a Radeon if you're so unhappy with your 480, but stop trying to spread around false info.
Click to expand...

what I am saying is on stock, not any meaning by overclock.

max 60% while playing metro 2033 with stock 480? you are full of troll..

Why would I go back to ATI if my 480 is a beast already ? :rolleyes:
 
jdk said:
Whatever you say chief :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

you are the one who claim it runs 60%.. right?

forgot your own claim?

I just tested with metro 2033, stock setting, but with 2x60mm fan blowing at it.

the GPU is running 92-93c, the stock fan is running with 70%-75%..(if the temp exceed around 95c IIRC, the fan will spin up to 90%)

so according to your 60%, on the MSI afterburner shows when the fan is running on 60% is when the GPU @ 82c.

based on your claim, the GPU never exceed 82c, am I correct? :p

keep trolling....
 
Who is trolling now? Just for you, I played Metro 2033 until fan speed stabilized, then took a screenshot of eVGA precision. I see now you're backpedaling and saying 70%, but you did say 100% before.

precisionmzm.jpg


And just for you, I recreated the same conditions and then used two different programs to verify.

untitled.jpg



So seriously, stop spreading false info.
 
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