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: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat

More so than Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a graphics beast. This is a great title for demonstrating multi-card scaling. We’re using Extreme detail settings, DirectX 11 rendering, high-quality HDAO, and tessellation. At 1680x1050, that’s enough to show off a literal doubling of performance with 4xAA turned on going from one GeForce GTX 480 to two. The third card adds performance, but it’s not as pronounced of a gain. Interestingly, while we’d otherwise assume the GTX 480 would outperform AMD’s Radeon HD 5870, single- and dual-card comparisons at this lower resolution show both architectures neck in neck.

AMD starts pulling ahead ever so slightly at 1920x1200, but the story is largely the same. There’s amazing scaling going from one of either card to two, and a third GeForce GTX 480 has an especially impressive effect on the anti-aliasing-enhanced results.

Card versus card, the Radeon HD 5870 and GeForce GTX 480 are fairly even at 2560x1600. Adding the second board lets Nvidia flex its rendering muscle, though, and the SLIed pair pulls ahead, again doubling the performance of a single GTX 480. With three cards installed, you’re looking at enough performance to play this game with AA turned on.

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