NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470: 6 Months Late, Was It Worth the Wait?
by Ryan Smith on March 26, 2010 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test
With the launch of the GTX 400 series, we have gone ahead and completely rebuilt our benchmark suite. This includes rotating out several games for several new games, giving us a nice mix of DX9/10 and DX11 games. Everything else has been rebenchmarked using the latest drivers, and our power data has changed as we installed an Antec 1200W PSUin order to keep up with the potential power demands of a pair of GTX 480s in SLI.
For the AMD cards, we used AMD’s Catalyst 10.3a drivers along with the latest driver profile update. For NVIDIA’s cards NVIDIA supplied us with their Forceware 197.17 drivers, which only work for the GTX 400 series. For the rest of the NVIDIA cards we used the 197.13 drivers.
| CPU: | Intel Core i7-920 @ 3.33GHz |
| Motherboard: | Intel DX58SO (Intel X58) |
| Chipset Drivers: | Intel 9.1.1.1015 (Intel) |
| Hard Disk: | OCZ Summit (120GB) |
| Memory: | Patriot Viper DDR3-1333 3 x 2GB (7-7-7-20) |
| Video Cards: |
AMD Radeon HD 5970 AMD Radeon HD 5870 AMD Radeon HD 5850 AMD Radeon HD 5830 AMD Radeon HD 5770 AMD Radeon HD 5750 AMD Radeon HD 4890 AMD Radeon HD 4870 1GB AMD Radeon HD 4850 AMD Radeon HD 3870 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT |
| Video Drivers: |
NVIDIA ForceWare 197.13 NVIDIA ForceWare 197.17 AMD Catalyst 10.3a |
| OS: | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
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mcnabney - Friday, March 26, 2010 - link
You make the most valid point.As long as the consoles are in the driver's seat (this isn't going to change) DX11 and the features it provides won't be widely found in games until the next generation of consoles - in 2-3 years.
So really, without growth in the PC gaming market these is no need to upgrade from the last generation. Too bad really.
GourdFreeMan - Friday, March 26, 2010 - link
Thank you for listening to our feedback on improving your test suite of games, Ryan. I think your current list much better represents our interests (fewer console ports, a selection of games that better represent the game engines being used in current and future titles, fewer titles with GPU vendor bias, inclusion of popular titles that have staying power like BF:BC2, etc.) than the one you used to review the 58xx's when they were released. The only title that I feel that is missing from our suggestions is Metro 2033. Kudos!yacoub - Friday, March 26, 2010 - link
Good review. The grammar errors are prolific, but I guess this was rushed to release or something.So it's a hot, power-hungry card with a high pricetag. Not too surprising.
Would have liked to see a $150-range Fermi-based card sometime this year so I can ditch my 5770 and get back to NVidia, but the high temps and prices on these cards are not a good sign, especially comparing the performance against the 5800-series.
AznBoi36 - Saturday, March 27, 2010 - link
Fanboy much?yacoub - Saturday, March 27, 2010 - link
Fanboy of what?The ATI card I have now that I can't wait to get rid of?
The desire for NVidia to release something competitive so I can get back to a stabler driverset and remove all traces of ATI from this PC?
mcnabney - Saturday, March 27, 2010 - link
Ah yes, get back to Nvidia whose last trick was releasing a driver that turned off GPU fans causing instant-card-death.With 480, turning off the fan might actually start a fire.
Headfoot - Monday, March 29, 2010 - link
I bet you experienced that fan error IRL right?Just like how everyone who owned a Phemon got a TLB error 100% of the time right?
numberoneoppa - Friday, March 26, 2010 - link
You know you have the best tech site around when a product review makes it seem like a ddos is in progress.As far as the review itself, it's very comprehensive, so thanks Ryan! The new NVIDIA cards seem to be just where most people thought they would be. It really makes me anticipate the next HD58xx card and the AMD price cuts on the current line up that will come with it.
Devo2007 - Friday, March 26, 2010 - link
Great review, although you may want to edit this sentence:"NVIDIA meanwhile had to deal with the fact that they were trying to produce a very large chip on a low-yielding process, a combination for disaster given that size is the enemy of high yields."
Shouldn't it be "large size is the enemy of low yields?" Either way, that end point seems a bit redundant.
SlyNine - Saturday, March 27, 2010 - link
No, Large size would be a friend of low yeilds. low yeilds are our enemy.