Four Overclocked GeForce GTX 580 Cards, Rounded Up

Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks

Although performance is important, power usage, thermal measurements, and acoustic output are perhaps even more critical when it comes time to decide on an overclocked graphics card. Let’s consider power usage first:

Results are similar across the board, but Sparkle’s card uses a little less power when it's overclocked (the dark grey result), while Gigabyte’s Super Overclocked card uses more under load at the factory settings (the green result). The Gigabyte board also uses more, strangely, at idle.

When it comes to thermal performance, we quickly see that Sparkle’s decision to use the reference cooler might not have been optimal. All of the other options perform admirably, especially the Zalman VF3000 on Zotac's AMP²! card.

Once again, the Calibre X580 Captain and its reference cooler fall behind, generating more noise than the competition. Zotac’s cooler is the quietest at factory settings (the green result), but Gigabyte’s card does exceptionally well when it's pushed to 100% (the dark grey result).

TOPICS
  • Hupiscratch
    Great article. Some ASUS boards would be nice on a next round up. And also that MARS card, with two GTX 580 in one board.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    +1 to include a ASUS DCII card.
    reason for MSI's faster performance : faster memory?
    Reply
  • whysobluepandabear
    The Zotac AMP card looks like it was designed with 1939 Germany in mind.



    Reply
  • asmodyus
    What I don't understand is why you did not use the MSI lighting Extreme with an 832 core clock it would be a better contender in your shoot out here than the twin razor since your using the Zotac 3GB version. Does not really make since when you think of overclocked GTX 580 to leave that card out.
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    Two GTX570s cost only $580. It is a way better option than an overclocked GTX580 imo.
    Reply
  • more memory is very handy for gpu based renderer like Mentalray's iray of Chaos group vray RT and it may be better chose over many nvidia quadro card.
    Reply
  • kikireeki
    Conclusion: A high-end overclocked gpu is a waste of money.
    Reply
  • verbalizer
    +2 for the ASUS DC cards, they should have had one of those models in the line-up.
    though there is a triple slot 580 from ASUS that should also be included.
    with all the talk on how the 590 is the 'flagship' card or the 'meat and potatoes',
    it's the 580 that really brings home the bacon..
    Reply
  • christop
    Nice review..
    Reply
  • TyphX
    what do they do with the sample cards after this?
    Reply