Nvidia GeForce GTX480

[metalmusic89]

I've been searching around lately for a better video card. Right now I have the ATI Radeon HD 5670 and looking to upgrade. I happened to stumble across this website http://graphics-cards-review.toptenreviews.com/ and noticed the gtx 480 is the 6th best one and cheapest on the list. The reviews I've read state that the card runs hot and loud, but other reviews say this isnt a problem at all. I have the Cooler Master HAF 922 so heat shouldnt be too much of a problem and loudness really doesn't bother me. I understand this is an older card, but all in all this should be a great card for the price compared to other high end cards, the rest of the cards are twice as much and not much of a difference right? Has anyone owned this card and tried it out with any of today's games? Really thinking about buying this card

 

[willard]

I've been searching around lately for a better video card. Right now I have the ATI Radeon HD 5670 and looking to upgrade. I happened to stumble across this website http://graphics-cards-review.toptenreviews.com/ and noticed the gtx 480 is the 6th best one and cheapest on the list.

That site is not remotely credible, and they make laughably incorrect statements like "The amount of memory is also crucial because it is the GPU’s own RAM. Like your CPU needs RAM, the GPU needs its own video memory to reach higher speeds." Amount of video memory is almost irrelevant. They've got no idea what they're talking about.

They also don't bother to actually benchmark any of the cards, and instead draw conclusions based solely on their specs (which are not comparable across generations, much less comparing AMD vs. Nvidia) and other things not remotely related to performance like the number of display connectors or power plugs required.

Also, the GTX 480 isn't anywhere close to being the 6th best card.

The reviews I've read state that the card runs hot and loud, but other reviews say this isnt a problem at all.

You can safely say that whoever said the card didn't run hot is not worth listening to. The card is notorious for being one of the hottest ever made.

As far as noise, I doubt you know what you're getting into. The noise level of your computer now might not bother you, but these things are a lot louder than just about anything else out there (to deal with the huge amount of heat they produce).

the rest of the cards are twice as much and not much of a difference right?

Wrong. The newer cards that cost twice as much as a 480 will be much, much faster. The 480 is matched by the 560 Ti 448 core, and beaten by anything more powerful than that.

Go look at actual benchmarks and reviews done by people who have half a clue what you're doing. That site is garbage.

 

[metalmusic89]

Well I'm glad I came here, Before I came across that site I was planning on a gtx 560 ti or gtx 570. I work at a computer repair shop and a customer came in with 2 gtx 570's and i noticed the inded rating was a 7.9 and have been seeing the gtx 590 on sites being a really good card, so i assumed the gtx 570 is a beast aswell. I first noticed the gtx 560ti in bestbuy and after that i started to look into it. I have a similar build to some on youtube, here are my specs maybe you guys can recommend me some nice video cards at a reasonable price:

Gigabyte z68x-ud3h-b3 motherboard
Intel I5 2500k cpu
8gb gskill ripjaw 1600mhz ram memory
corsair h60 liquid cpu cooler
ati radeon hd 5670 atm
450watt diablotek power supply----soon to change when i order new video card
64gb patriot torx 2 SSD
cooler master haf 922 case

 

[willard]

I actually just noticed that the GTX 480 is very heavily discounted on Newegg right now ($220), which actually isn't a bad deal. You should just be aware that it's going to be louder and hotter than anything you've seen before.

Other good options around the $200 price point are the HD 6950 (also discounted on Newegg right now), the 560 Ti (slower than the 480, but uses a lot less power and runs a lot cooler/quieter), the 560 Ti 448 core (as fast as the 480 while being cooler/quieter/more efficient, but more expensive than the one on sale at Newegg).

If it weren't for the heavily discounted $220 price tag, I'd say that the 480 isn't worth buying. But it really is a nice deal, as the card is quite powerful. It's just inefficient.

 

[metalmusic89]

Yea that is mainly the reason it drew me in. I know a lot of the newer video cards are beast but expensive, and the gtx 480 is more of an older card but the performance seems to be really good and price drop seems nice, so all in all if I decide to go with the radeon hd 6950 or gtx 560 ti, will it be worth the trade off in performance from the gtx 480, how much of a difference is there?

 

[willard]

The 6950 is very close, around 3-10 FPS difference depending on the game and settings. The 560 Ti is a larger difference, and will definitely be noticeable. The 560 Ti 448 core edition is almost identical, within 1% of its performance.

 

[metalmusic89]

Not sure if i want to go the extra price for the 448 core edition, lets say i go with the 384 like this one here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363 am i going to lose a lot of performance to the gtx 480 or is there not enough to tell?

 

[willard]

It's definitely enough to tell.

560 Ti vs GTX 480
560 Ti 448 core vs GTX 480
HD 6950 vs GTX 480

When you're looking at noise comparison, keep in mind that an increase of 10 dB is not a small increase, since it's a logarithmic scale. Each 10 dB is a factor of 10 increase, so 50 dB is ten times louder than 40 dB, which is ten times louder than 30 dB, and so on and so forth.

30 dB is about as loud as somebody whispering to you, and 60 dB is an average conversation, and 65 is a loud one.

 

[metalmusic89]

So I'm thinking all in all the 6950 is the better card, am I wrong?, the gtx 480 is out of the picture

 

[willard]

I've got the 6950 myself and love it. Overclocks really well (950 MHz core from 800 MHz), and I've never had any issues running games on max. I even go into Catalyst Control Center and crank up all the settings in there (can't max them out on modern games, but I can definitely bump them up).

Gets a minimum of 50 FPS on SWTOR at 1080p, average is closer to 100. It's also whisper quiet, but I paid extra for MSI's Twin Frozr III edition, which has a huge amount of extra cooling power.

 

[metalmusic89]

Yea i was looking at it and seen it had a 1gb and 2gb version, i think i might just save up and go with the 2gb version i also hear u can unlock it to the 6970, is that worth doing?

 

[willard]

Unlocking rarely works, and doesn't carry the benefit you'd expect (~5%). If you get a card with a dual BIOS switch, it's worth trying, but don't count on the unlock. They started laser cutting the chips rather than disabling them in the BIOS once people figured out they could unlock them.

As far as 1GB vs 2GB, the 1GB card is actually very slightly faster for many games, with the 2GB card only having the advantage in very demanding games when you crank up AA/AF (which demands a lot of memory). Well worth the extra if you ever think you might do that, especially considering the 1GB card is less than 1% faster than the 2GB.

 

[ilysaml]

All reference designed cards of HD 6950s are unlockable without any risk, risk is taken into account only when you purchase a non reference design card, some partners made it easy to unlock the core & memory speeds of HD 6970, but still the No. of shaders are the main problem.

Right now the best bang for buck is HD 7850, it's just almost as powerful as GTX 570/480, GTX 570 is 1% faster than GTX 480, still the 448 core a little slower than GTX 480. As stated above by Willard the GTX 480 runs as hot as hell and like a vacuum machine when you crank up fan speed, HD 7850 consumes less the power, runs 30C cooler while in full load, has better Dx11, tessellation support & bla bla bla ;p. The difference between the GTX 570 and HD 7850 can be covered by a little Overclock.

 

[mad2]

Ya the 7850 is pretty awesome. I bought a 570 for $250 recently and I have overclocked it a bit and its amazing. I would like to see an oc'd 570 vs and oc'd 7850. I bet its close

 

[metalmusic89]

so now the hd 7850 is a recommendation, is it better than the hd 6950? i dont have a problem paying $200-$300 for a card i just want the best card possible in that range

 

[willard]

It's better, but not by much. I'd consider the cards more or less equal. There won't be nearly enough of a difference for a game to be smooth on one card and not on the other. We're talking about a few frames difference, at most.

Biggest reason to go with a newer generation is efficiency, all other things equal. Newer cards frequently use less power to perform the same task, which results in less heat to dissipate, and lower fan noise. Not to mention you save a bit of money on your power bill.

 

[metalmusic89]

so the 7850 is best in that price range? if there is anything better id love to know, $200-$300 range, thanks for all the replies so far, i just dont want to spend my money on a card and know that i could have something better for around the same price, i want top of the line card in this price range

 

[ilysaml]

Well for your price range yea the HD 7850 cut it off, if you add extra 50-60 you get Hd 7870 which is almost the same performance of GTX 580. You add another $100 you get GTX 670 which is the best bang for buck ever made
Chart showing HD 7870/50 GTX 570/80, HD 6970/50

 

[metalmusic89]

Alright so i think ill go with the radeon hd 7850, i think it will hold me over for a long time, thanks for all the help an information

 

[mad2]

Alright so i think ill go with the radeon hd 7850, i think it will hold me over for a long time, thanks for all the help an information

You will be very happy with that choice. It's a great card.