Saturday, September 11th 2010
MSI Readies N480GTX Lightning Graphics Card
Here is MSI's latest creation, the N480GTX Lightning. This GeForce GTX 480 based monstrosity is geared for extreme overclocking, and caters to the highest-end consumer segments, but at a surprisingly modest price (relatively) of $550. It features a factory-overclocked GTX 480 GPU clocked at 750/1500/1000(4000) MHz, with standard memory amount of 1.5 GB across a 384-bit wide memory interface, 480 CUDA cores, and 4-way SLI support. Where the fun kicks in is its design. The card uses a beastly-looking dual-fan double-slot air cooler that makes use of dense aluminum fin arrays, and distributed heat zones.
Under the hood, is a powerful power circuit that makes use of a 17-phase VRM, with four super ML Proadlizer capacitors for power conditioning, and high-C flatbed capacitors overall. There are noiseless solid-state chokes and high-grade direct FETs Power is drawn in from two 8-pin and one 6-pin power connectors. Apart from consolidated voltage measure points, DIP switches provide a certain amount of control over some settings. Overclocker-friendly feature include dual BIOS. Display outputs include dual DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. MSI did not reveal exactly when this card will make it to the market, or whether it's a Limited Edition product.
More pictures follow.
Source:
TechConnect Magazine
Under the hood, is a powerful power circuit that makes use of a 17-phase VRM, with four super ML Proadlizer capacitors for power conditioning, and high-C flatbed capacitors overall. There are noiseless solid-state chokes and high-grade direct FETs Power is drawn in from two 8-pin and one 6-pin power connectors. Apart from consolidated voltage measure points, DIP switches provide a certain amount of control over some settings. Overclocker-friendly feature include dual BIOS. Display outputs include dual DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. MSI did not reveal exactly when this card will make it to the market, or whether it's a Limited Edition product.
63 Comments on MSI Readies N480GTX Lightning Graphics Card
lol, we were talking about cards with backplates what does a debate about performance have to do with anything?
FYI, i've had my card for over a year and it still runs the newest games on the highest settings. It is also virtually silent and temps are cool.
The 480 is cheap now because no one was buying them so they needed to lower the price. The 5870 will still be solid card for another year at least but personally i will be upgrading to a 6870 when they come out in a few weeks. Why would anyone in their right mind want to buy a 480 now? Not me.
Performance per watt, the 5 series still win. Any clown can design a power mad card - why do you thnk the GF104's are so popular? Good fps per watt. The gf 104 is why the 470's and 480's are cheaper now (they have poor fps per watt).
Sure, i could buy a 480 for cheap but it's still going to consume a ton of power and bake me a cake in the process. GF100 is dead in the water. GF 104 is the way forward for NV and then AMD's 6 series are due soon too.
The 5 series is definitely an efficient line of card. But i really think that that whole heat issue BS is very overhyped to no end, and again, the power consumption isn't that bad either. As i have said over and over, if you're going to be spending almost $500 on a video card, shouldn't you have enough to power the damn thing?. If your case can't handle the heat and your power supply can't handle the power, don't buy the damn card.
A LOT of AMD/ATI fanboys roam TPU much more then Nvidia ones, so i'm pretty sure someones gonna tell me i'm wrong anyways.:(
Which brings me to my second point, not every has money, some people may save just for an epic graphics card etc.
For example that's what I have to do for upgrades :laugh:
In regards to heat though, I remember my 4890 used to be really warm above the card ( the air) and it affected my northbridge temps a whole bunch!
(Even with my set-up which is currently all stock speeds but undervolted ambient case temperatures are 6 degrees above ambient whilst idle, I have plenty of case airflow)
You are right though, 480 is an enthusiast card for the most part the people buying it will already have a decent case or be willing to upgrade cooling.
I guess I'm more worried for the poor people that are nv only purchasers just out of habit who will grab the card expecting something else.
Where as the the plate on the reference design gets to 60-65c! D: Hot! Might surprise them :laugh:
I guess it really comes down to who's buying the card and how deep there pockets are. lol
I think for someone that what's to keep temps down to a better degree as well as don't mind the slight hit in performance. The 5 series is the way to go in those aspects.
The one that travels the top side of the card is as wide as my pinky.
Most impressive card I have ever had privilege to hold in my hands
I want your job.:D
not to mention is very easy these days to either boost the fan speed to keep temps down, or drop some dosh on an aftermarket cooler, which isn't a huge ask on a $450+ USD card. same goes for a PSU, if you buy the 480, you should be ready for it, or be prepared to spend cash making your rig ready for it.
this is a bleeding edge card folks, no other single GPU can touch it yet, IMO Nv will only be in real trouble with the 470/480 if ATi can best it with a single GPU. IMO Nv doesn't give two craps about the 5970 beating it aside from choosing their price point. the 5970 was out first, and was still the fastest single card when the 480 was released, and guess what, lots of people still bought the 470/480.A hec of a lot more. I can't believe the enormous rage and fanboy talk about a CPU architecture that won't be out for a year yet.... Intel has plenty of time to pull a rabbit out of their hat between now and then. All I believe in is the real numbers, so like always I say, Let's wait and see.
this GTX480 Lightning looks absolutely frikken' pimp, I can see a few records being broken with 1-4 of these cards before the 6000 series lands.
Other than that the 5 Series is not perfect anyway, my standard 5970 couldn't even pass 80 degrees celcius without crashing because the VRMs would overheat pass a certain level of overclock which is commonly around 900/1200 and up @ 1162 volts.
I know there are some people who are lucky enough to clock at lower voltages and have temps <80 with 900/1200 but yeah not everyone is that lucky.
I can't wait to see the temps on these cards :rockout:
Totally built for benching though.....for a normal user probably not a noticable difference.
:laugh: