Nvidia GTX 470, 480, SLI review/benchmark round up.

Ouch..

Having waited over six months for Nvidia to deliver a DirectX 11 graphics card we can't help but feel shocked by the GeForce GTX 480. While offering performance superior to the HD 5870 in some situations, most notably Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Dirt 2, the GTX 480 is unable to conclusively claim the title as fastest single GPU graphics card, with Crysis a dead heat and the Radeon HD 5870 cards offering much better performance in STALKER.

Even when ahead, at the high resolutions and demanding settings this kind of top-of-the-range card should target, the GTX 480's performance advantage is rarely more than ten percent. Considering the six month wait since the release of the HD 5870 this is deeply disappointing, and we certainly hoped and expected more.

It's hard to back the GTX 480 elsewhere though as it brings with it incredibly high power consumption, high running temperatures and a noisy stock cooling solution which really spoil the party.

The bad news continues. Nvidia has chosen to launch the GTX 480 quoting a price thirty per cent higher than that of its direct competitor. While you can find a HD 5870 1GB for around £310 in stock without too much effort, the GeForce GTX 480 1,536MB will hit e-tailers shelves on April 6th at an MSRP of £420 ($450). Even if you value the Nvidia exclusive features like PhysX, 3D Vision and CUDA support, such a high price will be tough to stomach.

Yes, the GTX 480 offers great performance in our test games, especially in Dirt 2 and Bad Company 2, but compared to the competition, it doesn't make a strong enough case for itself, especially when you consider that there are just so many caveats involved with buying this card. The higher price, the 100W of extra power consumption, scorchingly hot temperatures and a much noisier stock cooler are all extremely detrimental to its desirability. The HD 5870 remains a far better choice if you're a gamer; while we've yet to see how the GTX 480 performs with CUDA apps and Folding, at this stage Fermi looks like a flop.bit-tech

Fermi is slightly better than I expected it would be, but it's still a massive disappointment.

Why would anyone buy this over ATi's offerings..?

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]

lol fail. I'd certianly hope it beats a 5870, but it doesn't come close to the 5970. It runs like an oven too...

nofriekinlemons

why are people comparing a single gpu card to dual card, of course a single gpu wont outperfrom 2 gpu's weres the logic in this

CellAnimation.... Man you are quoting the sites with nothing but good remarks under the link.millerlight89

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]CellAnimation.... Man you are quoting the sites with nothing but good remarks under the link.CellAnimation

[QUOTE="CellAnimation"][QUOTE="millerlight89"]CellAnimation.... Man you are quoting the sites with nothing but good remarks under the link.millerlight89

Having said that though 2 480s SLI'd sure is tempting here.CellAnimation

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]It gives you chills? This is not really what Nvidia was hopping.CellAnimation

the 5970 and the gtx 295 have similar heat signatures, yet people say the 480 harm you. touching any gpu while under load can injure you what makes the 480 worse than what I've listed?

***

lol i got to edit my post before i actually post it, but thankfully you can understand it:P

[QUOTE="CellAnimation"][QUOTE="millerlight89"]It gives you chills? This is not really what Nvidia was hopping.nofriekinlemons

the 5970 and the gtx 295 have similar heat signatures, yet people say the 480 harm you. touching any gpu while under load can injure you what makes the 480 worse than what ive listed?

[QUOTE="nofriekinlemons"]

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]

lol fail. I'd certianly hope it beats a 5870, but it doesn't come close to the 5970. It runs like an oven too...

redneckdouglas

why are people comparing a single gpu card to dual card, of course a single gpu wont outperfrom 2 gpu's weres the logic in this

its not that the power consumption is bad(it is pretty demanding though:( ) but the 5*** had a surpisingly low consumption of energy.

so yes 480 is demanding but the 5870 was just very good, no one expected to be as low as it is,

so don't think that 115 @ idle was to be the norm, it wasn't

[QUOTE="nofriekinlemons"]

[QUOTE="CellAnimation"] I was just reading a warning about people getting burnt fingers from the heatsink. Your comment made me laugh out loud. :)millerlight89

the 5970 and the gtx 295 have similar heat signatures, yet people say the 480 harm you. touching any gpu while under load can injure you what makes the 480 worse than what ive listed?

ya i know, i just want to know what were the difficulties that nvidia faced, cuz im sure it was worse than they expected.

it took so long to make the card. but im fairly sure that the hardware is very powerful all they need is the right drivers to unlock it.

otherwise i don't think there was much for them to do as for the heat issue, im sure they expected this would happen.

ya i know, i just want to know what were the difficulties that nvidia faced, cuz im sure it was worse than they expected.

it took so long to make the card. but im fairly sure that the hardware is very powerful all they need is the right drivers to unlock it.

otherwise i don't think there was much for them to do as for the heat issue, im sure they expected this would happen.

nofriekinlemons

[QUOTE="nofriekinlemons"]ya i know, i just want to know what were the difficulties that nvidia faced, cuz im sure it was worse than they expected.

it took so long to make the card. but im fairly sure that the hardware is very powerful all they need is the right drivers to unlock it.

otherwise i don't think there was much for them to do as for the heat issue, im sure they expected this would happen.

millerlight89

dude thats the exact same as me,i used to be hard core nvidia back with my 8800(god rest it) but now ive chilled into the middle to where i envy the 5870 but alas to broke to get one:P

***

lol well no one said that it was going to be pretty and i doubt my gpu can handle the 480 oh well. but if some one can pull off sli'ed 480s hes set for a good while.

i wonder what 4 sli'ed 480s would look like:shock:

dude thats the exact same as me,i used to be hard core nvidia back with my 8800(god rest it) but now ive chilled into the middle to where i envy the 5870 but alas to broke to get one:P

nofriekinlemons

i wonder what 4 sli'ed 480s would look like:shock:

nofriekinlemons

[QUOTE="nofriekinlemons"]i wonder what 4 sli'ed 480s would look like:shock:

millerlight89

[QUOTE="nofriekinlemons"]i wonder what 4 sli'ed 480s would look like:shock:

millerlight89

ya you'll need 2 PSUs just to power the cards alone

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]

[QUOTE="nofriekinlemons"]i wonder what 4 sli'ed 480s would look like:shock:

akbar13

[QUOTE="akbar13"][QUOTE="millerlight89"] IDK, but I imagine that it would make the room feel like a furnace. I wonder if there is even a PSU that could handle that?

millerlight89

And look at the SLi wattage consumption, did nVIDIA even try this round? If getting anything nVIDIA this gen it will be after the re-brand cards.

samuraiguns

Sweet! GTX 480>>5870, end of discussion. And if the same thing with 5xxx drivers happened with the GTX 4xx series, then 5xxx is ****. ahh so relieved to see some real benches that will shut ATI fanboys forever. but dam that thing is hot.GazaAli

[QUOTE="samuraiguns"] And look at the SLi wattage consumption, did nVIDIA even try this round? If getting anything nVIDIA this gen it will be after the re-brand cards.

millerlight89

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]

[QUOTE="samuraiguns"] And look at the SLi wattage consumption, did nVIDIA even try this round? If getting anything nVIDIA this gen it will be after the re-brand cards.

CellAnimation

[QUOTE="CellAnimation"][QUOTE="millerlight89"] Hmmmmmm, I do not think it is so much they didn't try, but maybe they gave up? What I mean is they had so much trouble in producing these cards they just ended up getting delayed and delayed. I think they were finally tired of losing market share they just said they are "good enough" for now and are going to release them. If they took a few more months they could have come up with s solution and even made these cards really powerful.

millerlight89

LOL funny thought what if they dont fix the problems by 485, i wonder what the 495 would look like(ok that actually might melt your system)

LOL funny thought what if they dont fix the problems by 485, i wonder what the 495 would look like(ok that actually might melt your system)

nofriekinlemons

From my understanding Fermi wasn't a new architecture. It was an old shelved architecture brought back from the dead and made with some improvements.

When the nVidia 8k series was released it was an astounding leap from their previous 7k series and ATi's current offerings. Since ATi didn't really have a breakthrough follow up with their HD3000 series, nVidia basically turned their refresh into the 9k series because they knew they could get away with it and still top the charts. When the GTX2xx series came out it was again basically just a refresh of the 9k series. A refresh of a refresh.

They knew they couldn't continue this path of refreshing old architecture so they pulled their fermi architecture off the shelf and rebranded it for gaming since most of the design work had already been accomplished (they wouldn't have to start from the beginning and waste more time while ATi soaked up the gravy).

Apparently it was orginally designed to be a work-horse platform much like Intel's Larabee is (was?) and, ironically, Larabee started out as an advanced multicore graphics processor that is now desigated towards research, number crunching, etc.

I have no idea where I read this bit about Fermi being a shelved/old/experimental architecture (read it months ago) so it could all be a bunch of smoke up my rear, but I'm sure some of you interweb sleuths can find it. It kinda makes sense though, especially when compairing Larabeee and Fermi.

im just trying to sit this one through, waiting for a price drop.

but then again i cam across a 5870 on ebay bidding at $187 it still has 5 days left but ill keep an eye on it(i hope this isnt counted as advertising or something)

[QUOTE="akbar13"][QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]lol Swiftstrike5

NO NO not fusion.. nuclear reactors.. theres a difference.

looks like i might go for the 5970 this time around maybe even the 5990

Sweet!

-Great preformance (as drivers mature it will only get better)

-reasonable price (which will eventually go down)

-temps... doesn't bother me (you people act like you have to sit on it or something)

-power... 100 watts more then the 5870 for about 10-15% more performance? I don't see a problem.

If only I could afford a new system... :P I think I'll just wait till the next series of DX11 cards. Although I'll go see how cheap the 5870s are going for on ebay, now that the hardcore are going to want the latest and greatest.

Sooo whats next? Intels Larrabee? :D

What a let-down... They've pushed back the release of these cards to improve the quality of their products and this is what we get? Now I'm not saying that the test results came out terrible, infact they came out pretty good. But considering the hype from Nvidia and the time they put into these cards, this is a huge dissapointment for me. The test results are great, but no-where near impressive. The GTX 470 would be the more logical choice if you were to buy one of the two, as it's comparable to the 5850 and and the 5870 in a few cases. The release of these cards were gonna play the factor in which company I was going to invest in when I have to choose my new graphics cards. And I have decided to ride with ATi and their 5870.

Sweet!

-Great preformance (as drivers mature it will only get better)

-reasonable price (which will eventually go down)

-temps... doesn't bother me (you people act like you have to sit on it or something)

-power... 100 watts more then the 5870 for about 10-15% more performance? I don't see a problem.

If only I could afford a new system... :P I think I'll just wait till the next series of DX11 cards. Although I'll go see how cheap the 5870s are going for on ebay, now that the hardcore are going to want the latest and greatest.

Sooo whats next? Intels Larrabee? :D

Rob_101

its drivers are out already this is what your going to get flat out. they might mature but not in any hardcore way.

prices are actually pretty off there. the ppl up in great britain (who have a vaslty more valued currency than either usa or canada) are paying at least 200 usd more so im standing skeptical at those prices (my proof 428.99 gbp = 639.43 US dollars(and thats not even a good brand!)) .

temps are actually fairly bad case fans/alternative cooling solutions will need to be purchased for many wishing to buy one, and many cases wont fit one (basically it will be sharing cases with an hd 5970).

finally its still worthwhile to note that it require more power than the DUAL gpu solutions in the gtx 295, hd 5970 and hd 4870x2 which are notorious for being power hogs. its not the amount of pwoer that makes the difference is the OTHER cards it hogs pwoer over. this would be like saying your car uses as much gas as 2 hybrid cars to go the same distance as one of them. at the end of the day thats still 2 other friendlier options

Sweet! GTX 480>>5870, end of discussion. And if the same thing with 5xxx drivers happened with the GTX 4xx series, then 5xxx is ****. ahh so relieved to see some real benches that will shut ATI fanboys forever. but dam that thing is hot.GazaAli

[QUOTE="GazaAli"]Sweet! GTX 480>>5870, end of discussion. And if the same thing with 5xxx drivers happened with the GTX 4xx series, then 5xxx is ****. ahh so relieved to see some real benches that will shut ATI fanboys forever. but dam that thing is hot.Human-after-all

not worth the wait or the money. 5870 ftw.

I think the performance of GTX 480 and 470 is solid but man at that price and with that power consumption and noise levels this is a no go. Sorry nVidia but I'm with ATI now.

[QUOTE="Human-after-all"][QUOTE="GazaAli"]Sweet! GTX 480>>5870, end of discussion. And if the same thing with 5xxx drivers happened with the GTX 4xx series, then 5xxx is ****. ahh so relieved to see some real benches that will shut ATI fanboys forever. but dam that thing is hot.bunny569

going to NEED to be a card of the g92 stock architecture (geforce 9 series) as a gts 250, gt200/300 and gtx 200/400 series tend to disagree with ati cards significantly

Sweet!

-Great preformance (as drivers mature it will only get better)

-reasonable price (which will eventually go down)

-temps... doesn't bother me (you people act like you have to sit on it or something)

-power... 100 watts more then the 5870 for about 10-15% more performance? I don't see a problem.

If only I could afford a new system... :P I think I'll just wait till the next series of DX11 cards. Although I'll go see how cheap the 5870s are going for on ebay, now that the hardcore are going to want the latest and greatest.

Sooo whats next? Intels Larrabee? :D

Rob_101

In 1 word: noise.

BAHHH!

GTX480 is undeniable the worst card Nvidia has put out under many years, with a compleate system you'll end up at a whooping 400W! the price it skyrocket high when you compare the performance to the HD5870 witch isn't that far off performance wise.

The HD5970 runs over the gtx480 wile actually does that on less wattage and produce less noise, the dual gpu card even does run cooler with is truuly very odd...

The price of a gtx470 even lie about the HD5870 with is better on most things, including power/noise/temps!

I am seriousy vey dissapointed, this is awfull, the Fermi was HALF A YEAR later than the HD5XXX series but are worce in almoust all aspects except for tesselation witch many Nvidia fan already thinks is worthless and probably wont use anyway... :roll:

Man.. This stinks, anyone who cares for PChardware effectiviness will wait for a refresh of the Fermi or the HD6xxx cards, the HD58xx cards are the ones to get still even as the are a half year old rigth now!

Who would thougth that Nvidia was working a half year overdue to put out cards that runs hot as hell, nead to use a 700w PSU, make your ears fall off, not only thoose things... The cards aren't even for sale if you anyway would want such of a card, you'll have to get very lycky to get your hand one witch is already undeniable awfull...