GTX480 / GTX470 Reviews and Discussion

[OvrClkr]

yea Fermi sucks at low resoutions but when you are buying a card of that caliber you should not be playing on anything under 16x 10

I would like to see what the new 5850 2Gb can do, the price is not bad at all considering its a toxic ..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102889&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-889-_-Product

 

[AMW1011]

slightly?

They put the 5870 22% faster than the 480 when we all know that the 480 is at least 5-10% faster than the 5870 "using the current beta drivers".. that is not a slight mistake, that is just plain stupid IMO.

Try looking at the other tables...

 

[builderbobftw]

Dude, 16.7 frames is SOOOOO playable.

 

[AMW1011]

yea Fermi sucks at low resoutions but when you are buying a card of that caliber you should not be playing on anything under 16x 10

I would like to see what the new 5850 2Gb can do, the price is not bad at all considering its a toxic ..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102889&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-889-_-Product

No its bad, the 5870 is only $20-$40 more and the GTX 470 should come in at about the same price. Also a stock 5850 is almost $100 cheaper...

And where the 5850 2GB really sucks is that the 2GB only helps with resolutions of 2560x1600 or above where a 5850 just won't cut it, especially with DX11.

 

[Guest]

yea Fermi sucks at low resoutions but when you are buying a card of that caliber you should not be playing on anything under 16x 10

I would like to see what the new 5850 2Gb can do, the price is not bad at all considering its a toxic ..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102889&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-889-_-Product

Really? I will never pay 380$ for a 5850 lol Thats a rip off, hell the 470 is better compared to it or the 5870.

 

[AMW1011]

Dude, 16.7 frames is SOOOOO playable.

What's your point? I'm pointing out that the table he is posting is the worst of the four.

 

[Guest]

Yes, You cant compare results like that, they didn't even use the same map, like in Crysis, Ice level were much slower.

btw I expect the 5970 4Gb version to prolly top those benchs @ 2560x1600.

 

[OvrClkr]

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/nvidiageforcegtx480launch_032610115215/22181.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/nvidiageforcegtx480launch_032610115215/22180.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/nvidiageforcegtx480launch_032610115215/22182.png

Try looking at the other tables...

Ok now compare that to hardware canucks, or better yet guru's 😉 .

Why does everyone have wack numbers? Im just annoyed at the fact that the 5870 got the same treatment and yet all sites had more or less the same outcome, give or take..

 

[Guest]

Hmm, no XFX 480 or 470, waiting on low end Fermi. iPhone

 

[OvrClkr]

http://www.tech-mania.com/2010/03/xfx-confirms-no-gtx-480-and-gtx-470/

not sure why this happened but I bet it has to do with XFX being a big part of AMD's 5 series.

Anyways BFG and EVGA offer lifetime so thats good enough.

 

[IzzyCraft]

They also both have trade up programs.

 

[OvrClkr]

yea that is also a plus, might give you the option to upgrade to a 4 series.

 

[shadow187]

You still have to pay the difference, so the trade-up program is more or less like selling your card on eBay with the hassle.

 

[-Fran-]

On the difference between benchmarks, it would be pointless for ALL sites to do it alike. There would not be any point to compare to at all... I rather have the same game benchmarking a card in different ways than other sites, but explaining the choice of settings and map at least. We all know games have some maps/scenarios/parts were the video cards don't get stressed much (in Crysis is the opening scene) and we don't get a full glance of a cards performance.

Same goes for noise, power and other ways of measuring. I like having different ways of measuring things, because I can get a complete picture from all sides across the whole benchmarks from the sites.

An on the "drivers" issue... We all know nVidia is working with a new arch, and they need time to develop better drivers. The question is "how much time before polished and really good drivers?". Before Fermi2/HD6xxx I hope! 😛

Cheers!

 

[daedalus685]

People have to realize that BF:BC2 has no bench marker (at least it didn't at the time of the review.

Anand used fraps recordings of a rail chase scene, others simply used the opening cut scene. Things like this are bound to have variations... What I find particularly impressive is it indicates (specially using the two charts Anand posted) that the performance of the 5870 relative to the 480 changes drastically at various parts in the game.... Anand is not being biased, the game is just a bit silly.

 

[jennyh]

Dont forget nVidia has to get nfinityvision or whatever they are calling it working. ATI has spent months perfecting eyefinity at the expense of game optimising.

nVidia has all that to do in the upcoming drivers...either that or they just flat out lied. Whatever happens, I wouldn't be banking on huge driver improvements for fermi.

 

[OvrClkr]

You still have to pay the difference, so the trade-up program is more or less like selling your card on eBay with the hassle.

Yea you still pay the difference and the fact that you normally have 90/100 days before the trade in expires but it is nice to know that if your card is not up to the task you have that option available.

I traded in a GTX 9800 for a GTS 250 (1Gb) and while the performance was more or less the same I got a card that runs much cooler for only 20.00$ more. I also traded in another 250 that I had for my current 260. It was fairly easy for me, the only issue was waiting 20/30 days to recieve the new card other than that I have no complaints.

 

[strangestranger]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/26/nvidia_fermi_gtx_470_480_sli_review/4

If people are concenred about sites using cutscenes then why not just use that. Whilst not too keen some of [H]'s methods I have to say at least it is gameplay being recorded here.

As can be seen from the graph, bar a momentary low they are pretty much even although the graphs are mismatched, perhaps for clarity and you can see the 480 has been shifted to the right slightly or so it would appear.

 

[OvrClkr]

not bad, seems like the 470 is in need of "better" driver to show off its true capabilities.

 

[shadow187]

I like Jenny's thinking. ATI has had much more to worry about than game optimisations. And remember, the games nVidia optimised for a very select benchmarking games. Same with ATI tho.

 

[daedalus685]

not bad, seems like the 470 is in need of "better" driver to show off its true capabilities.

I'm not sure how much drivers are going to help (they will help, don't get me wrong) but even the 4800 series got huge gains in the 10.3s... It is likely that drivers will always be a step wise improvement for both sides.

 

[IzzyCraft]

I like Jenny's thinking. ATI has had much more to worry about than game optimisations. And remember, the games nVidia optimised for a very select benchmarking games. Same with ATI tho.

So your point is nothing???

Both nvidia and ati optimize for games usually due to popularity and benchmarking

Both nvidia and ati have "eyefinity" for lack of better word on nvidia

both nvidia and ati have 3d stereo

ati has had eyefinity out for awhile now, nvidia has had 3d out for awhile now...

The only diff is this gen 5xxx vs 4xx ati has had a long time of actually having the gpu to pbc out there while nvidia has pretty much just barely settled on their final gpu configuration and clocks. Both will continue to try to squeeze out extra performance from the chips it's just that nvidia is behind on development time for those optimizations but hey their fault for making a chip that can't really make lol...

 

[-Fran-]

I also like the GTX470, it has a lot of maturing potential and price is very appealing indeed (maturing HW and SW wise, that is). We'll have to see down the road, before the 6xxx launch/announcement (yes, ATI can play PR BS, too) if it becomes P/P king or close to it. I actually like it's non-gaming capabilities (video decoding became better con CUDA than Ati's) so if they improve a lot, they have my money at least.

And having said that ATI can play the PR BS card, what's going on over at ATI? Any word on any front? Eyefinity is imrpoving a lot, but besides that, there's nothing more than 3D tech going on.

Cheers!

 

[smilingman]

CUDA is a great API, its only short coming is that its not openly developed like opencl. If ATI applied CUDA and PhysX to its cards then nVidia would be in an even worse spot than they are now. nVidia is losing market share to ATI and once they become level studio's will start to rethink their partnerships and the way it meant to be played.

OpenCL and DirectX will become the two standards for API's and studio will use which is most cost effective for them, both ATI and nVidia support these API this cycle.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Both nvidia and ati have "eyefinity" for lack of better word on nvidia

Still need 2 cards for nV, so their solution is less than that of a single GTX480 plus MATROX TripleHead2GO let alone Eyefinity. Software multi-monitor surround gaming has been capable for a while, it's because of those drawbacks that a hardware solution was of note.

both nvidia and ati have 3d stereo

ati has had eyefinity out for awhile now, nvidia has had 3d out for awhile now...

Both had 3D stereo for alot longer than most of you have been gaming, so it's not new, it's just becoming more mainstream (with BestBuy selling 3D TVs and BluRays now).

The only diff is this gen 5xxx vs 4xx ati has had a long time of actually having the gpu to pbc out there while nvidia has pretty much just barely settled on their final gpu configuration and clocks.

What does the final clocks have to do with it? Are you telling me that ATi has to re-write drivers anytime and OEM or end-user overclocks/underclocks their card?
C'mon, nV has had working silicon in hand (not just held aloft) since October, now that it's a handful then and then a few dozen in Novemeber means they've had a solid 4 months to develop drivers. It's not like they just came to the game. Sure They launched 7 months after ATi, but ATi only had working silicon boards 3-4 months before them in July/August (with similar production volumes issue with TSMCs), so it's not like the lead in driver development is anywhere near the difference people make it out to be, and especially not in a new game, where they both have had equal time to develop for it.

Both will continue to try to squeeze out extra performance from the chips it's just that nvidia is behind on development time for those optimizations but hey their fault for making a chip that can't really make lol...

The main area to me that they are behind is in the glitch fix area since they don't have the install base to work from, but for optimizing new games both camps are going to be pretty even, especially anything in the TWIMTBP camp, which as smiling mentions will likely lose a little of its dominance over time (although still likely have a bit of an advantage).