NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Fermi

[entropy13]

But in other reviews, the GTX470 only equals the 5850.....

 

[pantherx12]

Yes, read the review MrMilli posted. In the end, the GTX470 was equal with the HD5870, sometimes slightly behind sometimes slightly ahead, really ahead in DX11. The HD5870 goes for $400+, the GTX470 is supposed to retail for $349(I would expect $400 pricing in the first few weeks though).

uh so the gtx470 is better than the HD5870 and its cheaper. REALLY.

Just a small correction, not in directx 11.


Have you misread the data somewhere?

Sure it wins in metro 2033 ( which is an nvidia optimised game) but it is not "really ahead" on dirt 2 is it?

And those are the only 2 direct x 11 benchmarks that both ati cards and nv cards done

 

[EchoMan]

470 fails more than anything on all fronts

 

[MilkyWay]

Man i think reviews are really erratic in their findings, they never find the same FPS for the same card on the same game.

The fact there is only 2 direct x 11 compatible games really makes it unclear as to what it will be like in the future.

 

[pantherx12]

Man i think reviews are really erratic in their findings, they never find the same FPS for the same card on the same game.

The fact there is only 2 direct x 11 compatible games really makes it unclear as to what it will be like in the future.

Only 2?

There's 5 so far : ]

 

[OnBoard]

Nice, It's got the performance crown, I want one!

EDIT: Ok, taking a slightly longer look at it, I think I'd rather wait for the improved "GTX485" variant which will come with a die shrink and all 512 shaders enabled (hopefully). The GTX480 runs far too hot and noisy for my liking.

As far as I know also the next generation cards will be 40nm, so there won't be any die shrink. They can do a 4870->4890 thing only with this gen. GTX 485 could come if they figure out how to keep power draw down (A4 silicon?). Don't think there is much point in releasing the full 512 shaders cards at the moment, even though they already have those. It would make the card even more power hungry and noisier.

Save some 512 shader chips for ASUS GTX 495 Mars? Let them worry how to cool that monster

My 5870 is 0.95V idle and 1.15V under load which is .2V drop. My CPU does that same drop so why can't the GTX480 do that?

I can see that is a BIOS problem though rather than driver issue. I suppose some clever bugger could use NiBiTor to edit the BIOS to bring that down a bit.

That they will do once there is support for the new cards and the controller chip. But doubt even dropping the load voltage will help this one to go under 300W. Rather it seems they have already dropped it, to keep it cooler, if ATI has it 1.15V with 40nm.

 

[TheMailMan78]

9.12 drivers vs immature drivers is pretty damn equal. In the BEST case 10.3 adds UP TO 15% better performance. As you can see its not a big deal. For fuck sake do you want me to do the math for you?

Yes, read the review MrMilli posted. In the end, the GTX470 was equal with the HD5870, sometimes slightly behind sometimes slightly ahead, really ahead in DX11. The HD5870 goes for $400+, the GTX470 is supposed to retail for $349(I would expect $400 pricing in the first few weeks though).

uh so the gtx470 is better than the HD5870 and its cheaper. REALLY.

The HD5870 wins with power consumption for sure though, but really I don't care. If I cared about power consumption, I wouldn't have an HD4890 or GTX285.

I really hope you don't trust those over W1zz.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

But in other reviews, the GTX470 only equals the 5850.....

That's what I was seeing too, which means it's pointless to get a 470 GTX because of the price. Hell in games like crysis an overclocked 5850 can beat a stock 480 GTX with the latest drivers. If you were lucky enough to grab one at the $260 launch price you got the best card deal in recent history, possibly ever.

 

[btarunr]

+1 These are still beta drivers, so maybe after Nvidia releases some more sable drivers, we could have a re-review?

um, who cares bout nvidia's "beta" drivers. 9.12 for ATI? hello wtf lol

Why didn't people like you (with the same opinion) complain when we first reviewed HD 5870, HD 5970, etc? You think ATI gave reviewers stable, released, WHQL-signed drivers?

And this won't be our last GTX 480 review, so don't worry.

 

[araditus]

9.12 drivers vs immature drivers is pretty damn equal. In the BEST case 10.3 adds UP TO 15% better performance. As you can see its not a big deal. For fuck sake do you want me to do the math for you?

The current Nvidia drivers for the 480 are very mature by the way, lets look at a timeline
5month ago, (a few weeks after the great successful 5870 release, although short in units) Nvidia release a public statement stating that they were done with the Fermi project and had "foundry issues" for producing large volume, this was a corporate lie/cover up. Im telling you right now (and there will be no source to back this up bc its speculation although I am experienced in business) that the issue was the foundry made their card and they got it, tested it and it SUCKED, they then spent the next 5 months working on the software side and thermodynamics of things (this card looks a hell of a lot different that initial photos of the card. ) They couldnt re-engineer a new architecture or adjust their own becuase nvidia is cheap, and signed a contract with their chip maker (who made dies already) that the dies would be used for x amount of cards.

So, in my opinion this card is the final mature, "the best we could manage" from the green camp, so really these drivers vs. the same amount of time ATI had to "mature" theirs is extremely equal.

Fermi has been done for a long time, the release only came when their accountants said, do it now or lose more money. Honestly, you get DX11, and Tesselation, gogo! As one other thing (I do not know all the differences at all) has the quaddro version of fermi been out for a while anyways? similar basic architecture right?

 

[TheMailMan78]

The current Nvidia drivers for the 480 are very mature by the way, lets look at a timeline
5month ago, (a few weeks after the great successful 5870 release, although short in units) Nvidia release a public statement stating that they were done with the Fermi project and had "foundry issues" for producing large volume, this was a corporate lie/cover up. Im telling you right now (and there will be no source to back this up bc its speculation although I am experienced in business) that the issue was the foundry made their card and they got it, tested it and it SUCKED, they then spent the next 5 months working on the software side and thermodynamics of things (this card looks a hell of a lot different that initial photos of the card. ) They couldnt re-engineer a new architecture or adjust their own becuase nvidia is cheap, and signed a contract with their chip maker (who made dies already) that the dies would be used for x amount of cards.

So, in my opinion this card is the final mature, "the best we could manage" from the green camp, so really these drivers vs. the same amount of time ATI had to "mature" theirs is extremely equal.

I'm not talking about the card. I am talking about the drivers. ATI has had MONTHS of MILLIONS of people testing the 5xxx series. Nvidia has had ZERO wild testing.

 

[Bundy]

Many thanks for the review Wiz

As a suggestion, I'd prefer to see less comparisons in games that pump over 100fps, only because the usefulness of such info is limited. I'd also like to see minimum fps comparisons because thats what really matters to gamers.

I also agree with the driver choice. It makes your review better because we see more closely what the hardware differences are, rather than distorting the figures with different maturity drivers.

lol my main issue it that the review has not made it any earier to pick what card I want next. Pros and cons, pros and cons. I wanted a clear winner one way or the other, ah well.

Anyway, well done mate.

 

[eidairaman1]

Explain why several users are having issues with 197 drivers then?

The current Nvidia drivers for the 480 are very mature by the way, lets look at a timeline
5month ago, (a few weeks after the great successful 5870 release, although short in units) Nvidia release a public statement stating that they were done with the Fermi project and had "foundry issues" for producing large volume, this was a corporate lie/cover up. Im telling you right now (and there will be no source to back this up bc its speculation although I am experienced in business) that the issue was the foundry made their card and they got it, tested it and it SUCKED, they then spent the next 5 months working on the software side and thermodynamics of things (this card looks a hell of a lot different that initial photos of the card. ) They couldnt re-engineer a new architecture or adjust their own becuase nvidia is cheap, and signed a contract with their chip maker (who made dies already) that the dies would be used for x amount of cards.

So, in my opinion this card is the final mature, "the best we could manage" from the green camp, so really these drivers vs. the same amount of time ATI had to "mature" theirs is extremely equal.

 

[araditus]

I'm not talking about the card. I am talking about the drivers. ATI has had MONTHS of MILLIONS of people testing the 5xxx series. Nvidia has had ZERO wild testing.

They had 5 months of in house testing, its their only focus (other than next gen) trust me alot of man hours went into those drivers.

 

[btarunr]

This is an "important" review, it should of been done right.

It was done right. All test results were double checked. You sit and do 96 tests on dozens of ATI cards each time a new driver comes out. Then you'll know.

 

[Steevo]

Yes, read the review MrMilli posted. In the end, the GTX470 was equal with the HD5870, sometimes slightly behind sometimes slightly ahead, really ahead in DX11. The HD5870 goes for $400+, the GTX470 is supposed to retail for $349(I would expect $400 pricing in the first few weeks though).

uh so the gtx470 is better than the HD5870 and its cheaper. REALLY.

The HD5870 wins with power consumption for sure though, but really I don't care. If I cared about power consumption, I wouldn't have an HD4890 or GTX285.

They do perform better, at 1280 X 1024 but at 1920X1200 and higher the edge drops to zero, so the difference is playing a game at 1280X1024 200FPS or 220FPS, whoopeee.


At 1920X1200 I beat or match the 480 due to the overclocking headroom of this card, and THAT is something a enthusiast cares about. My little overclock already rapes the shit out of the 480 at heaven, something Nvidia brags about in PR spin videos.

 

[TheMailMan78]

They had 5 months of in house testing, its their only focus (other than next gen) trust me alot of man hours went into those drivers.

Dude no house in the world can test as well as drivers in the wild. Sorry but your argument is fail.

 

[Steevo]

Dude no house in the world can test as well as drivers in the wild. Sorry but your argument is fail.

If that is the case than he idea that Nvidia released better drivers is shit, and I never want to hear it again.

 

[araditus]

Dude no house in the world can test as well as drivers in the wild. Sorry but your argument is fail.

I'm sure you are a driver developer by profession? (thought not) but 5 nerds in a room with alot of mountain dew and 1 task for 5 months, they go insane or do the best they can, and the millions you talk about about 1% will actually give feedback (there arent 1m 5xxx in existence btw)

 

[TheMailMan78]

I'm sure you are a driver developer by profession? (thought not) but 5 nerds in a room with alot of mountain dew and 1 task for 5 months, they go insane or do the best they can

5 nerds vs MILLIONS of nerds? Hmmmmmm

 

[20mmrain]

Let's see here.....It's six months late. It doesn't have that impressive performance increases. The card while it dose out perform the (6 month older) 5870 sometimes......in some games and resolutions it gets beat by a 5870.
It costs more than a 5870 buy quite a decent amount in this economy. It is very power hungry which really makes it hard for a SLI system on a power supply any less than 800 watts.

Plus the thing runs at 94c under load.........This card is a huge Disappointment!!!! Nvidia should be ashamed on bringing this out!!!

Well there is still one good news about it...... It still has this feature!!!

This is Nvidia's 2900XT!

And Why buy it ???? By the time they bring out the full line and all the specialty versions of this cards start releasing.... the ATI refresh or 6800 series will be released! There is no reason to by this card.
Except for maybe just benching and then selling.

Nvidia------->

There goes my hopes in Any ATI price drops any time soon! Damn it I was really hoping for this card to be better than it is.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Many thanks for the review Wiz

As a suggestion, I'd prefer to see less comparisons in games that pump over 100fps, only because the usefulness of such info is limited.

Since most games are console ports and consoles are standing still while graphics cards continue to advance there are very few games that tax modern graphics cards. That's why you see so many reviews now at 2560x1600, only way to get really taxing. Except this really bugs me since so few will use such a display. I wouldn't even use one if a I had a $50,000 budget for my pc setup.

Explain why several users are having issues with 197 drivers then?

People always have problems with drivers, both sides, all the time. Every time there's a new driver release thread someone talks about random problems.

 

[araditus]

5 nerds vs MILLIONS of nerds? Hmmmmmm

dont post so fast read the edits

 

[TheMailMan78]

I'm sure you are a driver developer by profession? (thought not) but 5 nerds in a room with alot of mountain dew and 1 task for 5 months, they go insane or do the best they can, and the millions you talk about about 1% will actually give feedback (there arent 1m 5xxx in existence btw)

And 1% of 10,000 people on different hardware is STILL more than 5 guys in a room. Dude wild testing will ALWAYS trump a lab.

 

[araditus]

And 1% of 10,000 people on different hardware is STILL more than 5 guys in a room. Dude wild testing will ALWAYS trump a lab.

Hate to sound immature but prove it, how is a bunch of jackoffs dropping these reactors into their moms dell (WHICH is the MAJORITY of the consumer market) is going to help?