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

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We reviewed Nvidia's GeForce GTX 480 one month ago. We're back today with three GTX 480s and two Radeon HD 5870s for SLI/CrossFire scaling analysis, case and motherboard recommendations to help you minimize noise, and an update on availability/pricing.

Benchmark Results: Crysis

We’re using Very High DirectX 10 settings here, yet, at 1680x1050, a pair of Radeon HD 5870s performs comparably to two or three GeForce GTX 480s. Clearly, there’s a platform bottleneck in play.

Similarly, 1900x1200 shows the same performance ceiling in place. The single Radeon HD 5870 and GeForce GTX 480 boards lose a bit of frame rate, but are still on par with each other.

Finally, at 2560x1600, there’s enough graphics load to differentiate every configuration. Going from one to two to three GeForce GTX 480s buys a sizable gain each step of the way, though scaling from one to two is most impressive. In comparison, the jump from one to two Radeon HD 5870s is nice if you’re not using AA. Turn it on and you’ll incur a huge performance hit—something we’ve seen several times in the last two years.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
144 Comments Comment from the forums
  • anonymous x
    Why don't you overclock that cpu higher? Only 3.3 Ghz? The 3rd GTX 480 looks like it's being bottlenecked. You can see the scaling is excellent at high resolutions with AA (from 1 to 2 to 3 cards), but at lower resolutions without AA there's no gain.
    Reply
  • lashton
    and why not check it against the 5890, the 480GTX is nvidia fastest card, put it against ATI Fastest Card
    Reply
  • cangelini
    There's a good chance that more CPU would def. help at the lower resolutions--one of the reasons I chose 2560 for the comparisons at the end ;-) For one reason or another, wasn't having much luck getting the retail i7-930/Eclipse Plus combo to overclock very well.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    lashtonand why not check it against the 5890, the 480GTX is nvidia fastest card, put it against ATI Fastest Card
    A pair of 5870s is actually going to be faster. Should I swing a second 5970, though, I do think a pair of 5970s vs. the three GTX 480s would be a good comparison!
    Reply
  • cruiseoveride
    Crappy ATi drivers.
    Reply
  • lunyone
    Did I miss something, but there is NO mention of the power consumption of the 3 x 480's??
    Reply
  • I have no clue where you people are getting this "5890" Statement from... They have the 5870, and then the next step up is the 5970... Is that what you're trying to say?
    Reply
  • cangelini
    stuk1intI have no clue where you people are getting this "5890" Statement from... They have the 5870, and then the next step up is the 5970... Is that what you're trying to say?
    Bleh, it's late and it has been a long weekend. Edited :)
    Reply
  • SpadeM
    Quad fire with 5850 would have been nice (thinking back to a builder marathon with quad fire) to see if ati's quad cards made any improovement over last years ones. Also i agree with lunyone, I for one would have been interested to see the numbers on load for the 3 nvidia cards with the 800W gold power supply (and maybe a comment from you cris about what power supply u think is best for the job. Either go lower wattage but a high efficiency psu or higher wattage but lower efficiency)

    Anyways, it was a informative article, looking forward to a full 512 sp card from nvidia and the second revision to the fermi core.
    Reply
  • JeanLuc
    stuk1intI have no clue where you people are getting this "5890" Statement from... They have the 5870, and then the next step up is the 5970... Is that what you're trying to say?
    The only place where the "5890" exists is in ATI's folder under 'What to do if Fermi is good".

    And yes where is the tri-sli power consumption numbers, there's no mention of it's omittance in the analysis.
    Reply