On The Bench: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock

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Gigabyte recently sent us an altered GeForce GTX 470 with the highest factory overclock that we’ve seen. Is the custom-cooled card worth an extra $70 bucks? We test the GV-N470SO-13I, comparing it to Nvidia’s reference GTX 470, in order to find out.

Conclusion

Gigabyte’s GV-N470SO-13I Super Overclock edition card performs very well compared to Nvidia’s reference GeForce GTX 470. The ~100 MHz core clock and ~200 MHz shader clock rate advantage result in tangible speed-ups in a number of games. More importantly, the Gigabyte card manages to pull off better performance while using less power than the reference card, sustaining cooler GPU temperatures, and generating less noise in the process.

The only detractor from this card is its price. Weighed down by a $370 MSRP, you’re paying a large premium for the aftermarket cooler and specially-binned GPU (reference GTX 470s are currently selling for roughly $300).

But when you consider performance, power usage, overclockability, and reasonable noise output, the Gigabyte card isn’t easily dismissed. Further overclocking brings it close to GeForce GTX 480-class speed, but with a price tag that is at least $80 less. This makes the Gigabyte GV-N470SO-13I Super Overclock edition card easier to recommend than the flagship variant.  When you compare the noise levels of GeForce GTX 470 and 480 boards, this solution is a lot easier to live with, too.

Gigabyte’s Super Overclock card has to be the most impressive GeForce GTX 470 we’ve seen yet. If you value low noise and high performance, and don’t mind paying a pretty penny for an already-overclocked board, the GV-N470SO-13I Super Overclocked edition card should be on your short list.

Don Woligroski
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • magicandy
    Doesn't 3GB of ram seem kind of low for a modern i7 gaming rig?
    Reply
  • Would have been nice to see a gtx 480 benchmark in there.
    It matters to compare value.

    Kudos to them for dropping the power / heal / noise though. VERY attractive card.
    Reply
  • magicandy
    nilllWould have been nice to see a gtx 480 benchmark in there.It matters to compare value.Kudos to them for dropping the power / heal / noise though. VERY attractive card.
    In the section entitled "Overclocked Performance" there is a link given at the end to some factory OC'd GTX 480 benchmarks. This card, when manually overclocked further, is just about as good as a GTX 480 and even comes close to the Factory OC'd 480.

    I was planning to do a whole GTX 470 SLI rig with water cooling so I could get a nice OC like this, but I think I might forgo the water cooling and get these for my Xclio Windtunnel w/side fan blowers.
    Reply
  • retardedspleen
    magicandyDoesn't 3GB of ram seem kind of low for a modern i7 gaming rig?
    Yeah, 3gb is kinda low.. I wasnt even aware they made 3gb tri-channel kits for the x58
    Reply
  • AMW1011
    With the GPU voltage increased from 0.996 V to 1.167 V, we raise the Gigabyte GV-N470SO-13I’s core clock to 800 MHz and the shader clock to 1600 MHz. The result is a stable overclock. And, from what we’ve seen in the past, this is more than you can usually expect out of a reference GeForce GTX 470.

    So... you didn't bother trying to push it any farther? Plus, 800 MHz on the core is pretty common for a GTX 470. This lazy overclocking section ruined it for me, and I'm in the market for a GTX 470.

    Can you please give us the max overclock Don? That would be awesome.

    Also, what fan speed is the Gigabyte and reference GTX 470s at during the temp analysis?
    Reply
  • chefboyeb
    magicandy :

    Doesn't 3GB of ram seem kind of low for a modern i7 gaming rig?





    Yeah, 3gb is kinda low.. I wasnt even aware they made 3gb tri-channel kits for the x58

    3 gigs of ram is not close to even being bad for an Intel X58 rig. I have 3 1gig supertalent ddr1800 on an Evga X58 SLI LE MOBO paired with an I7 920 overclocked to 4.1 (1.23 VCore), and 2 9800GTX+ Superclocked Sli-ed, and the entire setup flies... Even WEI score is a 7.4... It handles Crysis with buttery smoothness... Think about it, how much of your 6gigs of ram, does your system really ever use at any instance? Before 6 became affordable, 3 was the way to go, unless you just starting building computers that is...
    Reply
  • TheRockMonsi
    I think as of this point in time, I'm starting to fall in love with the GTX 470 and it's price/performance ratio in general.
    Reply
  • ricardok
    How this 470 fares if compared to the 460?
    Does the 460 have a better OC'ing capability?
    Reply
  • skora
    For the ram, do this, load up your most resource hungry game. Tab out of it and into task manager. See how much ram you're really using. Unless you've left Photo shop and CAD and ripping some video and ..... you won't be near that 3gb level. Win 7 uses just under a gig and even something as poorly optimized as GTA IV only uses 1.5 gigs. And that's VERY high for a game. Fallout 3 came in at 550k. So for gaming, 3gbs is plenty. Only reason 4 is the standard is the dual channel platforms and from when DDR2 w as $25 for 4 gigs. Didn't make sense to go lower then. But for budget rigs, 2gbs is fine and 3 more than enough for an x58 gaming platform.
    Reply
  • epileptic
    3DMark Vantage shows us a 9% performance advantage in favor of the Gigabyte GV-N470SO-13I Super Overclock, compared to the reference GeForce GTX 470 card. This isn’t quite as high as Gigabyte’s claimed 12% performance increase, but it’s definitely in the ballpark.

    Can someone please explain how they got that 9%? (20252-18070)/18070 yields the claimed 12% increase. Am I really that bad at math?
    Reply