The GeForce GTX 480 Update: 3-Way SLI, 3D Vision, And Noise

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Relayer

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Why does the additional GTX480 draw so much power compared to one? An extra 337W almost doubles the entire system draw with one card. Any explanation for that?
 

mitchellvii

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Why does anyone need 256 fps? That's like paying a premium for a car that goes 200 mph when the speed limit is 55. My single 4890 crushes anything I throw at it and future games will only be better-optimized and require less power, not more. Crysis 2 is said to run like a dream on machines that could barely handle Crysis.

Multiple-monitor gaming? Cool but over-rated. Punkbuster will kick you out of games if you are using 3 monitors so you are left playing with hackers. Also, all that extra visual input is distracting and makes you a less effective player.
 

mitchellvii

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I think the success of the iPad and the failure of the MS branded tablets is very telling. The future is:

1. Ease of use.
2. Black box (users don't understand how it works, it just works).
3. LOW power.
4. Transportable.

I think with the optimization of games and a move away from polygon (hardware intensive) game design that cpu/gpu combination chips will drive the market.

People are still using Crysis as the ultimate benchmark on games when Crysis was one of the most horribly optimized games of all time.
 

neiroatopelcc

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The power supply didn't act up when you pulled more from it than it was supposed to deliver?
I loaded my 620W with 762W (3x4870), and as a result the capaciators regulating the frequencies have started making an annoying whiney sound - and lost the capability to generate a stable power output I might add.

Don't overload your power supplies - it isn't healthy.
 

falchard

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I don't think an ATI fanboy has to bother complaining about power and noise. They can just point at the waste of transistors. 40% more transistors and in some cases never supercedes its competition while being 6 months late with low supplies.

I think the thing people are whining about more is how uncompetitive the GTX480 is. It hasn't lowered prices like it should have. Was hoping the HD5870 would fall down to $300 becuase the GTX480 had over a 20% performance advantage.
 

tecmo34

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[citation][nom]nforce4max[/nom]I am unimpressed and like the 9600gt sli user I am going to stick with my two 9800gt 1gb setup.[/citation]
I agree with you... I was hoping to jump up to the either 470 or 480 in SLI but I just don't see the reason to leave my GTX260 SLI setup at this time. My next move might be to ATI, as hard as that maybe for a life time Nvidia owner.
 

shin0bi272

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Please test "warmonger: operation downtown destruction" on an amd card please. Its a physx title where you can destroy like everything on the map and it runs about 25fps on my gts 250 with hardware physx enabled. Im dying to see what it runs on a 5870 but dont want to go spending 400 bucks to find out.
 

xenofin

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When GPU-Z is running, GPU clocks up to 3D-clock frequency, which is not "idle" at all. When idling at 2D-clock frequency (i.e. desktop), my GTX 470 temps are 46-48 Celsius, and I think GTX 480 temps does not exceed 60 Celsius.
 

sohei

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($8.60/average FPS versus the GeForce GTX 480’s $10.18/average FPS) this is important info despite is in accolades (why tom?)
from this short text we draw a crucial feature
ati at the same FPS is 20% cheaper than nvidia...
 
G

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Gotta love Crossfire performance at 2560x1600 with AA /snicker.

Seriously AMD, how long will it take for your driver team to fix this - another 10 years? Or shall I just say it - never?
 

gti88

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I guess, 5870 is more than enough for everyone who doesn't have 27-30 inch monitor.
And I can hardly imagine that someone will be really using 3d stereo on 3 monitors. May be, just one 42" 120hz TV will do?
 

ajulian

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And, Why didn´t you use the 2Gb version of the Radeon HD 5870, for me it´s pretty clear that the 1Gb Card will see its performance greatly hurted at 2560 x 1600 and even at 1920 x 1080 4X AA and 16X AF, would be more fair, don´t you think so?
 

trandoanhung1991

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Tri-anything with the current generation cards is just stupid. Let CPUs/developers play catch up with more horse power and better threading first LOL.

Feel free to ignore my comment/advice if you have the dough.
 

mitchellvii

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At the outer edges humans can perceive 60 fps and that's pretty much limited to those with the vision of fighter pilots. Most of us regular folk have a hard time noticing any more than 30 fps.

That being said, I need to pay $1000 for 225 fps why exactly? To be able to play Crysis (a horribly optimized game with terrible multiplayer) maxxed out?

A $200 4890 can play good MP games (COD4, BF2, etc) maxxed out without a hitch. Don't mean to sound derogatory, but it just seems silly to me. If you MUST have Dx11, get a 5850 for $300.
 

mitchellvii

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Just wondering - do guys that drop a grand on a tri-sli rig tell girls in a bar that they need to come back to their place to check out their rig? Sorry, I am just trying to think of a rationale to do something this silly.
 

banthracis

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For those wondering wondering about CPU limitations, I'll point you to an article Legion Harware did a few months ago using a 5970, which is pretty close to xfire 5870's.

The summary is that with eye candy turned on, a stock speed i7-920 has basically the same FPS as a 4.0ghz OC i7-920. Given that much headroom, I doubt even the 3 way SLI 480's were CPU limited.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/cpu_scaling_with_the_radeon_hd_5970,8.html

Done at 2560 x 1600

 

neiroatopelcc

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[citation][nom]mitchellvii[/nom]Just wondering - do guys that drop a grand on a tri-sli rig tell girls in a bar that they need to come back to their place to check out their rig? Sorry, I am just trying to think of a rationale to do something this silly.[/citation]
I doubt anyone buys such a setup to impress girls. If to impress at all, it's to do it the same way you do with a pimped car.
You do it to impress the girls' boyfriends - to make them feel inferior to you.
 

eyefinity

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Chris I believe the radeons are running out of video RAM at the highest resolutions. If you could rebench with two 2gb cards you should see a difference in some titles.
 
I'd also like to point out the "best case scenario" for price... If you only see 1 card at 509, but all the others are above 509 it makes it sound kinda biased towards showing the best P/P ratio for the nVidia cards. Same goes for a P/P on the Ati's, but they're more stable now (I think).

Also, I would've loved to see more games out there and different configs (maybe an 3way-XFire with a Phenom II) just for the WHOLE P/P ratio, but then again, that would almost be a Builder's Marathon, heh.

Cheers!
 

audiblackrs4

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Strange review. 3-way SLI in low resolution with an cpu overclocked to 3.33Ghz????? What's exactly the point. Use an overclocked i7, 980 @ 4 because this what you need to scale with a third and even a 4th 480. Take a look at the review done at guru3d, as it seems that this review is by more more informative and consistent than this one
 

audiblackrs4

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[citation][nom]audiblackrs4[/nom]Strange review. 3-way SLI in low resolution with an quadcore cpu overclocked to only 3.33Ghz????? What's exactly the point? Use an overclocked i7, 980 @ 4ghz as this is what you need to scale with a third and even a 4th 480. Take a look at the review done at guru3d, as it seems that the review there is by far more informative and stringent than this one[/citation]
 
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