# GIGABYTE GTX 480 GV-N480SO-15I Super Overclock



## W1zzard (Nov 18, 2010)

Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 480 Super Overclock sets out to deliver affordable high-end overclocking for NVIDIA users. The card features dual voltage software control, voltage measurement points, a powerful but quiet triple fan cooler and Gigabyte's OC Guru overclocking software. Best of all, it comes at a reasonable $469 which is not much more than the reference design. But is that enough to hold off the GeForce GTX 580 ?

*Show full review*


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## mtosev (Nov 18, 2010)

Who buys a GTX480 now is a noob


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## the54thvoid (Nov 18, 2010)

Dear Mr W1zz,

The tweaktown review for this card made out it was the noisiest on the block.  I tend to trust your reviews, can you confirm it is quieter than a GTX 580?  And quieter than the Lightning?

I am the type of noob that might buy a 480 - a quieter than GTX 580 version.

Cheers mate.


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## Blacklash (Nov 19, 2010)

IMO if you've already got a 480 that OCs well there's no reason to dump it. 

My friend's vanilla EVGA does 850 on the core without voltage boosting, and will do 900 with voltage increases.


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## HillBeast (Nov 19, 2010)

Hmm. Would have been good about a month ago, but now it feels outdated. A GF110 on the board would have been good. I wonder if they both have the same pin out so partners can use the old PCBs and just dump a GF110 on a GF100 PCB.


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## HXL492 (Nov 19, 2010)

This product is aimed for hard core over clockers not for the public


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## mlee49 (Nov 19, 2010)

Any screen shots of the OC Guru worth mentioning?


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## Zubasa (Nov 19, 2010)

the54thvoid said:


> Dear Mr W1zz,
> 
> The tweaktown review for this card made out it was the noisiest on the block.  I tend to trust your reviews, can you confirm it is quieter than a GTX 580?  And quieter than the Lightning?
> 
> ...


Just wait for a GTX 580 with custom cooling.



HXL492 said:


> This product is aimed for hard core over clockers not for the public


What kind of "hardcore" OCer buys this over a GTX 580 that should OC better?
More so, a hardcore OCer will just buy a reference GTX 480 put it under water and kick the balls out of this thing.


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## W1zzard (Nov 19, 2010)

the54thvoid said:


> Dear Mr W1zz,
> 
> The tweaktown review for this card made out it was the noisiest on the block.  I tend to trust your reviews, can you confirm it is quieter than a GTX 580?  And quieter than the Lightning?
> 
> ...



i see no reason to doubt my testing. any idea how tweaktown tests?


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## the54thvoid (Nov 19, 2010)

W1zzard said:


> i see no reason to doubt my testing. any idea how tweaktown tests?



Badly, probably.  I couldn't believe the score they got for noise output considering how effective the same cooler is on the GTX 470.

Test Set Up
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3652/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_480_soc_1536_mb_video_card/index2.html

Noise Output
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3652/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_480_soc_1536_mb_video_card/index16.html 

I know Gigabyte will make a SOC for the GTX 580, i'm just so bloody impatient.  Maybe i should spend some of my money on a Silvertsone Fortress FT02 to take away my cravings....


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## Xaser04 (Nov 19, 2010)

Zubasa said:


> Just wait for a GTX 580 with custom cooling.
> 
> 
> What kind of "hardcore" OCer buys this over a GTX 580 that should OC better?
> More so, a hardcore OCer will just buy a reference GTX 480 put it under water and kick the balls out of this thing.



By Hardcore OCer I think he means like the people who took the Lightning up to 1.4ghz on the core (using LN2), not just putting it under water. 

This is a slight moot put though as we don't know how well the 580 does when under extreme cooling / overclocking.


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## Zubasa (Nov 19, 2010)

Xaser04 said:


> By Hardcore OCer I think he means like the people who took the Lightning up to 1.4ghz on the core (using LN2), not just putting it under water.
> 
> This is a slight moot put though as we don't know how well the 580 does when under extreme cooling / overclocking.


That was an OCer sponsored to promote the Lightning for MSI.
He didn't need to pay anthing for that. 

Even if the 580 does not overclock further under LN2, the 580 > 480 under the same clock speed period.
This card barely touch the 580 even with the factory OC.


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## the54thvoid (Nov 19, 2010)

Zubasa said:


> ...This card barely touch the 580 even with the factory OC.



What prey tell is your definition of 'barely touch'?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_480_SOC/27.html

All resolution performance summary - GTX 480 SOC 100%
                                                  GTX 580        103%

That's pretty close. The bonus to it is that it is quieter than the GTX 580 and there are a lot of people that want high performance quiet systems (why i just spent £200 on a silverstone fortress FT02 case.)

If this comes in at £350 - I'll buy it.  GTX 580 performance, better than 480 power and better than 580 noise. It's a win to me.
Then again, if it's £400 I'll wait for the 6970's and if they fail, a SOC 580


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## Zubasa (Nov 19, 2010)

the54thvoid said:


> What prey tell is your definition of 'barely touch'?
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_480_SOC/27.html
> 
> ...


By all definitions this is barely touching.
The card is clocked almost as high as it can ever do on air and it is still behind a stock GTX 580.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_480_SOC/30.html
Even under max OC it barely overtakes the reference GTX 580 which is only slightly more expensive.
Even if the GTX 580 barely OCs at all, the 580 is still going to be a better buy.

Given how price goes in the EU, this thing is most likely closer to 470 Euros.


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## LiveOrDie (Nov 19, 2010)

the card can overclock higher with voltage increases i've pushed mine to 980mhz with the cooler i have, i cant even hear my GPU cooler so i wouldn't think this one would be much different.


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## the54thvoid (Nov 19, 2010)

Zubasa said:


> By all definitions this is barely touching.
> The card is clocked almost as high as it can ever do on air and it is still *(1)[just]* behind a stock GTX 580.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_480_SOC/30.html
> Even under max OC it barely overtakes *(2)[which means it does]* the reference GTX 580 which is only slightly more expensive.
> ...



(1) I think you mean it's barely touching literally, in which case yes, you're right - it's almost as good, within 3-5% margins of a 580.
(2) So it does over take it at max OC.  Yes, i know the 580 can then be overclocked.
(3) It is quieter.  To me that is worth a little (3-5%) performance sacrifice for noise (why i got 5850's back in 09 and not 5870's)
(4) The MSI Lightning is $539(£337) at newegg and £398 at OcUK.  Thats a price increase factor of 1.2 (roughly).  The 480 SOC is $469(£293), if that gets the same price hike of 1.2x it makes it £350(409euro).  Thats £50 less than a GTX 580.  I think that would be well worth the smaller performance with better acoustics.

But despite all our discussions, it really all comes down to subjective qualities.  I rate the SOC highly for it's sound characteristics for such a high end card (it is even betterthan the 580).  But others will still say - it's still not as good as a 580 performnce wise - and i wont argue.

I like this card, I have since i first saw it.  Why couldn't NVidia have done this in April?  Hell, wish they'd done it back in 2009 when they were meant to.


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## Oxford (Nov 22, 2010)

Again, the review doesn't take into account minimum frame rate.



http://techgage.com/reviews/nvidia/geforce_gtx_580/unigine_heaven_1680x1050.png
http://techgage.com/reviews/nvidia/geforce_gtx_580/unigine_heaven_1920x1080.png 

By the way, Anandtech had the 480 SLI beating 580 SLI in Crysis minimum frame rate, too. But no site so far has done a thorough minimum frame rate comparison.


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## Lunky(straydog) (Dec 22, 2010)

*Just bought it*

I ordered this 2days ago from newegg for $399 thats $130 cheaper than a 580 seems like a good buy for maybe 2fps slower. I'll post how it runs at home.

Thanks for this realy good review  , best ones around in my opinion like all the graphs for oc and what not. Min fps would be nice to your riviews though.


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## emoreas (Dec 28, 2010)

*experiences with 480 soc?*

Hi guys,

is there anybody out there  who has experiences with the gigabyte 480 so?
I can have a deal on one here in Belgium making it 150 usd cheaper than a standard gtx 580 and i especially like the fact that it is more quiet, thanks, Bram


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## HillBeast (Dec 28, 2010)

emoreas said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> is there anybody out there  who has experiences with the gigabyte 480 so?
> I can have a deal on one here in Belgium making it 150 usd cheaper than a standard gtx 580 and i especially like the fact that it is more quiet, thanks, Bram



I'd say work a little harder, earn the extra $150 and buy the GTX580. More performance for the same power consumption seems like a better deal to me.


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## DonInKansas (Dec 28, 2010)

HillBeast said:


> I'd say work a little harder, earn the extra $150 and buy the GTX580. More performance for the same power consumption seems like a better deal to me.



Plus by that time, there will probably be a 580 with the same cooler.


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## emoreas (Dec 29, 2010)

Hi guys,

thanks for the replies. I will work my way to the top, gtx 580, then and in the meanwhile...
Regards
Bram


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## Lunky(straydog) (Jan 4, 2011)

*fast quite cool*

I've been running my 480 SoC in an open case mid tower, that i got from gateway fx (standerd pos) with poor airflow, hence the open box. 
Even with no fans in my box except a house fan sitting outside, I've got temps at idle from 30c to 35c, 40c with my wife browsing the web. Playing BFBC2 @1650x1080 maxed out settings 16QAA temps around 66c-74c. I'm in south Texas so don't give me that its cold line, im running the central air at 78f. 

  The auto fan speeds are quite, can't hearm when im playing , but then i can't hear the 95% with headphones on. Thing is the fan makes a lower pitch sound than a high wine, so the sounds don't carry, guess sticking 3 on there makes a difference. 

  I got it to OC to 875 with volt adj, and the vram 1080 with volt adj. , i think i can push more out of the vram , i aint played with it enough though. Using a fan setting of 95% i like the noise it makes =D, course i own a v8 gt mustang, and that sounds good too. Tbh i could lower it but i won't , yes it will kill the fans faster.  

 The only things i notice when I'm fragging is cool temps, high min fps, and  no noise over headphones, I own a 460 hawk (samsung vram) that sounds tbh louder on the higher fan settings. runs about the same temps.


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