PNY 580GTX, to get or not to get.

Agreed, wish they existed at 209 back when I got my 560  

The only thing I'm worried about for a GTX480 is that it's an older model, and consumes more electricity, and some since I'm in college and my place next year actually charges for the amount of electric you use, I don't want my bills to skyrocket, but maybe my fears aren't justified. Doesn't it also get quite a bit hot?

Again agreeing with recon, unless you are stacking several of them in there together it won't be noticable, and the performance will be.

As far as power usage they're about the same. GTX 580 max 244 watts and GTX 480 max 250 watts. The GTX 580 stock is faster than the 480 stock and maybe a little quieter.

But the 480 is half the cost!  

True, and that is a hell of a good deal.

Meh, I can consider the 480 and the 580 just looked like a good deal so I was pretty shocked when I saw the price, but cautious since I couldn't find any info on it. I guess its down to the 7850 vs 480 now.

Thats a great price for the 480, thats so cheap!

you can pick up a used evga 580 gtx for 340 on amazon. Only problem buying used is you will only have a 1 year warranty on your card.

I'll take 2 of these 480's thanks  

Can't beat that GTX 480 deal.

The 580 is going to be a little quieter, and is faster. I have owned both and I didn't hesitate to upgrade to the 580 for the noise issue alone. Overclocking the 480 to match the speed of the 580 will only make it that much louder. The 580 is actually pretty quiet. PNY is a good brand and better yet, they're an American company.

It's hard to beat the price of the 480, though. If you are an enthusiast, like recon, who knows how to set up your case with good airflow directed at the video card, then the 480 is worth it. It's basically the equivalent of a GTX 570, but with more memory.

In fact, you could consider a GTX 570 at about $280:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Unfortunately, I haven't seen my desktop in almost a year and don't really remember the construction of it; as a matter of fact, my dad built it for me a few years back and it runs a 9600GSO. I don't think I could get quite as good airflow as Recon is haha, but the price is quite tempting.

I have never had a PNY branded GPU so just check on their warranty policy and RMA info. But at 339.00 plus free shipping! You are not going to find that good of a deal anywhere else besides Ebay.

Just last week I purchased a new (open box, but new) EVGA GTX580 Superclocked for a total of $330. Still has about 900 days left on the warranty , make sure you check before you buy.

If I had to buy a new GTX480, 580, or 680, I would go with the 480 the performance difference between the three is marginal IMO. The GTX480 is a steal these days. If you can still find an EVGA with lifetime warranty snatch it.

Ive had one for three years now. With F@H the GPU stays at 91c and 71%fan usage no matter how long i leave it on.

I really don't get all the fuss about power consumption of a gpu. Since when did gaming become economical. If you are dropping hundreds of dollars on gaming equipment, a bunch of money on the actual games, do you really care if your card is using 100 more watts than another one. And that is probably at max usuage which accounts for how many hours in your billing cycle. Its pretty small. I've done all this testing using a kill-a-watt meter at the wall for my entire system, multiple monitors, and trust me it wasn't even close to breaking the bank. Most power companies don't charge based on linear usage anyhow. Look into this more before you get so obsessed about how many watts this or that gpu uses.

PNY has a lifetime warranty, but I'm not sure that applies to a refurbished model.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm seriously considering the 480 right now, but I'll wait and see what nVidia has in stored with their announcement before placing my order.

@ryu Too bad this card's only a 3-year warranty   but it's still pretty long

Edit:

@matto I think this one's only a 90-day warranty, according to Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

$209 you cannot beat that!!!!

Excellent price considering the performance, still $200 though.

Best answer selected by Hongg.