Friday, April 9th 2010

My production Fermi arrived!

by
W1zzard
 Discuss (134 Comments)
This morning the first of the long awaited retail GeForce GTX 480 cards arrived. The card came from Zotac and photos are below. It is from the same shipment that will be sold on store shelves in the next days. At first glance the card looks completely identical to the NVIDIA press sample, with the exception of some black foam on the back of the card. Another diffence is the BIOS which I put up for download here.

I am told that the reason for the black foam is to ensure some spacing between the cards when running in SLI mode, so that they can breathe. It also acts as safeguard against short circuits which could happen when the metal cooler surface of one card touches the back of the other card.

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134 Comments on My production Fermi arrived!

#26
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
tricksonWhat I want to know is why they just put a ghetto piece of foam ? when they could have used some kind of cool cover .
if they used a backplate the card would be larger, and there'd be no room for air intake in SLI.
Posted on Reply
#28
steelkane
cool if they had add-on heat pipes that connected to the other cards for sli or quad setup
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#29
Unregistered
Thanks W1zzard,it did kinda look like the sticker was on the screw.The piece of foam is,but i guess thats not a problem when replacing the cooler.
#30
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
Musselsif they used a backplate the card would be larger, and there'd be no room for air intake in SLI.
Yeah well the foam is so ghetto . Looks like some just said here this should do they will buy it up any ways . IDK maybe it is just me but some thing that runs so screaming hot shouldn't be using foam to keep it from contacting the other , But hey who am I to say other wise ?

I bet one thing is going to happen your power bill is going up , Man like running Chernobyl . What kind of cooling are you getting for your room / office ?
Posted on Reply
#31
W1zzard
tricksonWhat kind of cooling are you getting for your room / office ?
feels like a mid-summer day here
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#33
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
tiggerDoes running them in sli noticably warm the room up?
Man you bet it does ! I bet at 90*c that room right now is at 29*-30*c ! LOL LIKE an Easy Bake Oven Just put in the loaf and bake ! :laugh:
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#34
HalfAHertz
The black foam is a last moment cheapo solution - totally ghetto modded :D
Posted on Reply
#35
W1zzard
lol can you say epic fail .. i ran single card all day .. for some reason sli was not enabled in the nvidia control panel t.t
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#36
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
W1zzardlol can you say epic fail .. i ran single card all day .. for some reason sli was not enabled in the nvidia control panel t.t
but at least the second card was keeping you warm, eh?
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#37
DOM
W1zzardfeels like a mid-summer day here
the foam is covering a screw that needs to be taken off to put in an after market cool right
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#38
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
HalfAHertzThe black foam is a last moment cheapo solution - totally ghetto modded :D
Like some engineer came running down the production line saying STOP :twitch: !!! You need to put this on ! some dude in the back of the production line is all pissed off he is having to put this POS foam on all the boards coming off the line . :mad:
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#39
MilkyWay
Musselsactually i take that back, might be his kitchen FLOOR - you can see where floor meets wall in the first pic, lol.
Unless its like a bench built into the wall, thats possible too i guess.

anyway, back on topic. burning flaming powerful fermi SLI.
I think that is a kitchen counter/worktop meeting the wall, like a granite counter or one of those fake granite ones that's like wood just with a pattern on top.

Could be floors but there is no skirting board in that picture.

So there is no difference in the cards? Just re badged?
Posted on Reply
#40
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
W1zzardlol can you say epic fail .. i ran single card all day .. for some reason sli was not enabled in the nvidia control panel t.t
You can fix this MAN this aint nothing you can't handle . :rolleyes:
Posted on Reply
#42
DonInKansas
W1zzardlol can you say epic fail .. i ran single card all day .. for some reason sli was not enabled in the nvidia control panel t.t
W1zzard's like "these cards have the worst scaling ever!"

Then comes the check and epic facepalm.

:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#43
OUTSIDE
Mine arrive too! This morning!

Here you have a pic:



Direct form manufacturer for review it

ByE!
Posted on Reply
#44
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
WE want to see some action ! I want to see what they look like all nice and tucked in there home .
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#45
95Viper
DynoDude there are MULTIPLY benchmarks on the internet for the GTX 480/470 since a week ago. Where have you been?
But, they are only the one's that count and they are the W1zzard's :respect: benches, tests and reviews!
tricksonWhy didn't they just put a back cover over it ??
tricksonWhat I want to know is why they just put a ghetto piece of foam ? when they could have used some kind of cool cover .
Probably, lowest cost and easier. Plus a rear cover would reduce air flow and limit access; would involve more expense to develop it.

Foam can be removed/replaced easier and it probably was in the product bin at the time.:)
Posted on Reply
#46
erocker
*
..and foam is cheap. These cards are already priced sort of high, no need to add anything fancy to drive the prices up more. Today I saw a few retailers jack up their prices. Buy one now before prices go up further, if you can find one... If you even want to bother.
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#48
Black Panther
W1zzardlol can you say epic fail .. i ran single card all day .. for some reason sli was not enabled in the nvidia control panel t.t
I honestly can't understand why the moment a new driver is loaded and you have 2 cards, the Nvidia CP sets default to single card. :wtf:

It happened to me a couple of times on the laptop, I'd update the drivers then go straight to benchmark or game, and start thinking that my cards are on the good road to become obsolete.
Then I'd have a fffuuu moment:ohwell: when I remember that the driver had disabled my SLI and I was running on one card :shadedshu
Posted on Reply
#49
blkhogan
So, when does your home version "nuke power plant" show up to power it? W1zz will soon be adding to the global warming problem. Bad W1zz. Killing kittens and puppies to run his new fermi. :shadedshu :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#50
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
Rock on W1zzard, enjoy your new toy. :rockout: < qubit is green with envy > I wish there was a smiley for that. ;)

BTW my GTX 285 is a Zotac, too.
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