Need honest experienced opinion on GTX480's

jstanthr

jstanthr

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Messages
236
Even though all cards being manufactured right now are of the reference design. Is any one manufacture's product better than the others? I am looking at buying 2+ of them but am stuck between MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte, among others. I need good honest opinions here, not flamers or trolls trash talking about the heat output or anything like that. I use NVidia because i want to, and thats it.

Thanks,
JsT
 
You can use Evga's Percision software with ANY 480, so that shouldn't be a reason.

However, I'd go with EVGA for their Lifetime Warranty and support. Check out their support forum as it's nice to have that if there are any issues.
 
Choose the one with the warranty you consider worth it for.
EVGA Precision works even if you don't own a EVGA card.
According to Alex, (Unwinder) MSI pays for more features than EVGA does for Precision. A user defined auto fan control is one such feature in MSI Afterburner
 
Night_Hawk-19 said:
Also step up makes it worth it.
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Right now, probably not. EVGA's StepUp allows you to get back whatever you paid for your card toward a new card at retail price, for 90 days after purchase. If you get a great deal on the first card, that's completely negated because you only get that much back and pay full retail on the new card. You pay shipping on the new card and to send your old one back to them. You also ship them the old card first, then they ship you the new one after they receive and inspect it (meaning you're without a card for that time). They only have vanilla models available for StepUp, so you'd only be able to go from a GTX470 to a GTX480, if they have any available.

StepUp might be handy if you're looking at paying full retail for the cards and you're not quite sure if a 470 is enough (so you could easily upgrade to a 480) or if you think the 490 or whatever is going to come out within the next few months (and in enough quantity to be available via StepUp). As someone who has actually used their StepUp program, I really don't think it's all that useful to most people.
 
EVGA is great. I use 2 280s at work and am very happy with their products.
 
I went from an EVGA 7800 GTX 512mb to a EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked and recently ordered a EVGA GTX 480 (should be here tomorrow).

Ive never had a problem with these cards and the lifetime warranty is nice.
 
well step up should not be a concern with gtx 480 cards, cuz I bet there is not anything that is going to come three months from now that is better then 480, why because it is simply not possible that fast. Nvidia have to shrink it to get enough yields to produce a 512 shader card. They might release a card in a few months just to prove a point and make like 1000 of them, but like I said I seriously doubt it.
 
Evga is nice but the cards they send back as replacements are pretty shitty. I've RMA'd a half dozen 285s in my experience with them, the replacements they send back are just garbage, takes awhile to get a solid one (took me 5 tries just to get a solid one back). And you pay for each failed one they send, fortunately I'm in the west so shipping them an RMA only cost me $12 out of pocket with insurance, but if you are on the east coast it can be expensive I'm sure getting it to CA.

My best video card so far has been a used BGF 192 GTX 260, just a solid performer and is my backup for when my high end ones fail. :(

Trying MSI this round, so far so good.
 
Video Card for physx (Also EVGA 9800GT). Always had good service. Can't go wrong with most Nvidia partners. Whether MSI, EVGA, ASUS, BFG. Its extras they give. Price is usually all the same. In Canada we pay 539.99 plus taxes for vanilla and 30 bucks extra for overclocked version from EVGA.
 
maximus87 said:
Evga is nice but the cards they send back as replacements are pretty shitty. I've RMA'd a half dozen 285s in my experience with them, the replacements they send back are just garbage, takes awhile to get a solid one (took me 5 tries just to get a solid one back). And you pay for each failed one they send, fortunately I'm in the west so shipping them an RMA only cost me $12 out of pocket with insurance, but if you are on the east coast it can be expensive I'm sure getting it to CA.

My best video card so far has been a used BGF 192 GTX 260, just a solid performer and is my backup for when my high end ones fail. :(

Trying MSI this round, so far so good.
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Bad luck I'd say . I've had to do a few RMAs over the years with EVGA and always got a good working card or better when what I had was not made any longer. And also painless RMA.
 
i went to bfg's site (i currently have 3x gtx 280's) one of them is still elidgeable for step up, but for some reason the gtx480 is not an option to step up to. i think that is kinda odd, i emailed them about it but haven't heard back yet.
 
Lets face it, there is really no difference between the different manufacturers. Because all the cards are basically from the same factory and each company does minor changes like heat sinks etc. It will come down to the luck of the card. You may get a good card or you may get a bad card.

I have seen this a million times, people trying to argue over which product is better. What I found out is when nobody has any real evidence like gtx 480 is better than gtx 470, and everybody is throwing their opinion around, it means that there really is no difference and just peoples preferences and biases.
 
my opinion is EVGA is the way to go. EVGA AR ver gtx480 card if it fails I have overnight shipping and then I send the RMA card back when I get the new one. It does cost $44 but it is good for lifetime. Peace of mind.
 
Just installed my EVGA GTX 480 yesterday these cards are F A S T lol.

Whats interesting is my previous EVGA GTX 260 would idle around 49-50C and run 88-90C under load and this GTX 480 has yet to run higher than 83C under load and idles at 41C.

gtx480_idle.jpg
 
mathesar said:
Just installed my EVGA GTX 480 yesterday these cards are F A S T lol.

Whats interesting is my previous EVGA GTX 260 would idle around 49-50C and run 88-90C under load and this GTX 480 has yet to run higher than 83C under load and idles at 41C.

gtx480_idle.jpg
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I'm idling at 46C.

But according to Precision, the temperature of my GTX 480 has never eclipsed 81C in any game, and I've run them all. I'm gaming at 1920x1080. The fan has never ramped up beyond 60%.

At 60% I can hear a gentle buzzing noise if I turn the sound down on my speakers, but anything below that, even with the speakers turned off, I can't hear a thing.

This card was supposed to be noisy and hot. What a total joke. It's one of the quietest cards I've ever owned.
 
WabeWalker said:
I'm idling at 46C.

But according to Precision, the temperature of my GTX 480 has never eclipsed 81C in any game, and I've run them all. I'm gaming at 1920x1080. The fan has never ramped up beyond 60%.

At 60% I can hear a gentle buzzing noise if I turn the sound down on my speakers, but anything below that, even with the speakers turned off, I can't hear a thing.

This card was supposed to be noisy and hot. What a total joke. It's one of the quietest cards I've ever owned.
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I think it was definately overblown, I have good case cooling so im sure thats a big factor as well.

But so far this 480 is running cooler than my previous GTX 260 did for the last 2 years lol.
 
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mathesar said:
I think it was definately overblown, I have good case cooling so im sure thats a big factor as well.

But so far this 480 is running cooler than my previous GTX 260 did for the last 2 years lol.
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Yup - my GTX 480 is running way, way quieter than my old GTX 275. That card was the noisiest damned card I've ever owned.

And I love the way that people who don't even own a GTX 480 have been telling me that my hearing must have gone. Rubbish. This card is quiet. The only thing that screams on it is its performance level. Best card I've owned in years. I couldn't care less if this card was six months late. It's the bees knees, and virtually every person who owns one is thrilled by it.
 
WabeWalker said:
Yup - my GTX 480 is running way, way quieter than my old GTX 275. That card was the noisiest damned card I've ever owned.

And I love the way that people who don't even own a GTX 480 have been telling me that my hearing must have gone. Rubbish. This card is quiet. The only thing that screams on it is its performance level. Best card I've owned in years. I couldn't care less if this card was six months late. It's the bees knees, and virtually every person who owns one is thrilled by it.
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GTX 260 wasn't any louder than GTX 480, not even near it.. and definitely not hotter..

especially while playing Crysis, sounds like leaf blower and starting to annoying after awhile ..

don't know about GTX 275, since I never really use it before, beside doing benchmark..

I been seeing some odd result with GTX 480, if the card is under stress with a certain temp around 90-100, the fan will spin up extremely loud and cool the card to around 85-90.. but the fan won't slow down...
 
WabeWalker said:
Yup - my GTX 480 is running way, way quieter than my old GTX 275. That card was the noisiest damned card I've ever owned.

And I love the way that people who don't even own a GTX 480 have been telling me that my hearing must have gone. Rubbish. This card is quiet. The only thing that screams on it is its performance level. Best card I've owned in years. I couldn't care less if this card was six months late. It's the bees knees, and virtually every person who owns one is thrilled by it.
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I heard my GTX480's fan spin up while I was playing Crysis Warhead last night and it was fairly noticeable but nothing outrageous, Crysis always made my GTX 260 run hotter than any other game and im sure its no different here.

But oh man Crysis Warhead runs EXCELLENT on a 480 its about time I can play this with everything maxed (Enthusiast mode) the game looks a lot nicer as well vs. the mixed settings I used to run on my previous GTX 260.
 
mathesar said:
I heard my GTX480's fan spin up while I was playing Crysis Warhead last night and it was fairly noticeable but nothing outrageous, Crysis always made my GTX 260 run hotter than any other game and im sure its no different here.

But oh man Crysis Warhead runs EXCELLENT on a 480 its about time I can play this with everything maxed (Enthusiast mode) the game looks a lot nicer as well vs. the mixed settings I used to run on my previous GTX 260.
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I bought the Crysis Maximum Edition last summer when I bought my GTX 275, foolishly thinking that the GTX 275 would easily handle these games... it didn't.

Finally the GTX 480 can handle these two titles.

And yeah, the engine looks pretty amazing maxed out. In my opinion, though, Crysis doesn't scale very well. You have to max the game out completely - and that includes 8x AA - for it to look stunning. I also believe you have to apply the texture pack that was moded by a member of the community. Even at medium settings, I think the game looks kind of ugly. But crank it up and it starts to look amazing.

The funny this is that you can still tell that you're playing a game that's three years old. There's something about the look of it that tells you the engine isn't modern.
 
EVGA products are very good and have a lifetime warranty. Granted, it was like pulling teeth to get my RMA for my GTX 280 but eventually I did :)
 
I've own Nvidia cards made by XFX and BFG and never had any problems with them. However I don't know if either make a 480 currently do I suppose that doesn't help much.
 
Do any brands have better analog VGA performance over other brands?
The reason I ask is that my EVGA 280GTX has some noticeable interference (a vertical dark band in the center of the screen) on one of it's video outputs, and through testing I know it's not just that particular CRT. My EVGA 8800GT didn't have an issues, so my guess is that I either got a mild lemon of a card, or EVGA's QA has gone down a little. I can't blame 'em, since most people use LCDs nowadays which are much less susceptible to interference and stuff.
 
My evga 480SC idles around 60C and tops out at about 94C while playing games. That is in a case with great airflow (3x120mm + 2x140mm fans) and after replacing the crappy tim with some IC diamond.

I call BS to those claiming they never go over 80C. You must all have your fans running at 100% and live in the arctic. /me waves at the nvidia reps :)

Overall I'm happy with the card, the performance is good and the noise is not bad if you set a custom fan profile and have a case with good airflow.
 
Rendermonkey said:
My evga 480SC idles around 60C and tops out at about 94C while playing games. That is in a case with great airflow (3x120mm + 2x140mm fans) and after replacing the crappy tim with some IC diamond.

I call BS to those claiming they never go over 80C. You must all have your fans running at 100% and live in the arctic. /me waves at the nvidia reps :)

Overall I'm happy with the card, the performance is good and the noise is not bad if you set a custom fan profile and have a case with good airflow.
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the card will exceed 90c under normal gaming, unless fan is set as 100% as you mention.

those who claim this card is quiet or not hot, need to step back..
 
LOOK i am happy with my card and I love it, I have two. But someone absolutely claiming that the cards are quieter then gtx 260 is just blinded by the beauty of the beast, it has its cons, and it does spin up,as soon as my card hits 93-94c the fan spins up and it will try to keep the card below 95c, and it settles at around 90c after the fan spins up. I don't mind it because I have the sound up when I game so I don't even hear it. Ofcourse it is not like hd 5870 that sounds like a leaf blower but my hd 5870 never got hot enough that it needed to spin that high, that card was happy with fan at 30%.
 
NKD said:
LOOK i am happy with my card and I love it, I have two. But someone absolutely claiming that the cards are quieter then gtx 260 is just blinded by the beauty of the beast, it has its cons, and it does spin up,as soon as my card hits 93-94c the fan spins up and it will try to keep the card below 95c, and it settles at around 90c after the fan spins up. I don't mind it because I have the sound up when I game so I don't even hear it. Ofcourse it is not like hd 5870 that sounds like a leaf blower but my hd 5870 never got hot enough that it needed to spin that high, that card was happy with fan at 30%.
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5870 @ 100% feels like your machine is ready to take off for flight :eek:
 
I waited all day on release for the EVGA 480's (vanilla) that Newegg said would come in. I could have bought any of the brands that were available that day, but kept waiting thinking I would snag my vanilla 480's. They never came in stock.

I got 2 PNY and 1 MSI. The MSI one was bad, but the 2 PNY were nice, with one being VERY nice and is now my main card. I returned the MSI card and saw Newegg said it wouldn't be in stock for almost a month. Great I thought, I'll just go ahead and order the EVGA one I want that's in stock now. Of course 2 days before my RMA arrives, the MSI comes in stock without warning and never goes out of stock. So if anyone wants a 480....

Nontheless, I've used three different brands, and the PNY cards are the best. Both equal my EVGA card and one is significantly better than all of the other 3 cards I've had. My main PNY runs over 10 degress lower sometimes.

I don't know if it means anything, but the good card had an orangish red PCB and all the other cards had a green PCB. It's just a correlation at this point, but it made me wonder if they color coded higher binnings.
 
What concerns me is stuff like this: (taken from a review on NewEgg of EVGA's GTX 480) "Cons: Minor cons; it gets a little hot running dual monitors (75c) and it reduces resolution on my 1080p hdtv to 1814x1026 when I resize the screen to fit the display. So one egg off." See the two scenarios I might use this in are; 1. connected to an HDTV, or 2. connected to 2 Hanns-G 28" displays. Now just one report of this wouldn't concern me. But I'm hearing more and more of this, and it has always been in regards to EVGA cards. And I want to buy an EVGA for their warranty, and customer service....
 
Naieve said:
I waited all day on release for the EVGA 480's (vanilla) that Newegg said would come in. I could have bought any of the brands that were available that day, but kept waiting thinking I would snag my vanilla 480's. They never came in stock.

I got 2 PNY and 1 MSI. The MSI one was bad, but the 2 PNY were nice, with one being VERY nice and is now my main card. I returned the MSI card and saw Newegg said it wouldn't be in stock for almost a month. Great I thought, I'll just go ahead and order the EVGA one I want that's in stock now. Of course 2 days before my RMA arrives, the MSI comes in stock without warning and never goes out of stock. So if anyone wants a 480....

Nontheless, I've used three different brands, and the PNY cards are the best. Both equal my EVGA card and one is significantly better than all of the other 3 cards I've had. My main PNY runs over 10 degress lower sometimes.

I don't know if it means anything, but the good card had an orangish red PCB and all the other cards had a green PCB. It's just a correlation at this point, but it made me wonder if they color coded higher binnings.
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That's interesting. An off-color PCB usually means a custom layout and board. At launch I thought that all of the cards were reference, I don't even know if PNY makes non-reference boards.

Non-reference could be good or bad, awesome that you somehow got your hands on a monster though. Both my cards are the normal colored reference, EVGA, Galaxy.
 
shansoft said:
5870 @ 100% feels like your machine is ready to take off for flight :eek:
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True but the fan on hd 5870's on auto never spins up, unless you really wanna hurt your ears by adjusting it manually to 100% lol.
 
Naieve said:
I don't know if it means anything, but the good card had an orangish red PCB and all the other cards had a green PCB. It's just a correlation at this point, but it made me wonder if they color coded higher binnings.
Click to expand...

Do you have the model number/sku of the orange pcb card? Try to match it online with the video card brand's website. It could be that the particular AIB partner just decided to use different color PCBs to be different. Or it could be a different model accidentally shipped. Compare and let us know.
 
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