ASUS GTX580 SLI Exclusive Review
Conclusion
Published: 12th November 2010 | Source: Asus | Price: £404 - £808 |
Conclusion
Writing a summary of something like this is harder than writing one for something that is awful.
If a product sucks, you can point out all the places for improvement. But when, like the ASUS GTX580, it's stunning in every department it does tend to leave us a bit short of different ways to say "buy it now".
Starting off with the ASUS in single card formation, we're are left with the over-riding impression that the Zotac was, almost unbelievably, an unlucky chip in the silicon lottery. When we tested that we were astounded by its performance and how relatively cool and quiet it is.
The ASUS on the other hand is faster still, even quieter, even cooler. One of the down-sides to any new batch of chips is that sometimes you get a good one and sometimes you don't. This is a corker.
It comes out the box with an extra few MHz up its kilt, and is eager to push on further even leaving the voltage at stock. With a judicious tweak of the voltage thanks to the superb ASUS Voltage Tweak BIOS we hit the giddy heights of 950MHz. Let there be no doubt at all that once the "Ultra" editions of this card come out, 1GHz Core Speed should be easily achieved. You could do it on this if you've got a waterblock to hand.
If single-card is great, SLI leaves us completely breathless.
Futureproofing as much as possible is always the goal we strive for when upgrading our PC. How ironic it is then that one of the most futureproof setups you can have is an evolutionary step coming hot on the heels of one of the shortest-lived catastrophes around.
We've had a great think around the office about what could possibly bring this card down in the near future, and we can't think of anything. Unless Crytek completely mess up and Crysis 2 ends up being a bigger performance hog than Metro 2033, which is unlikely given the console roots of it, then you can buy a couple of these and be safe for as far as we can see into the future.
Of course the downside is the amount of green you'll need to put down to get a couple of these. £800+ should be a minimum if you've got the PSU and CPU to give it the backup it needs.
As a single card the improvements mean this is a winner of the OC3D Gold Award. For once the performance in SLI is enough that we'll overlook the wallet emptying price and give the SLI a OC3D Gold Award alongside our OC3D Performance Award.
Thanks to ASUS for providing the cards for todays review. Discuss in our forums.
Most Recent Comments
It is a shame that I bought 2x460 SLI - I should wait and buy 1x580 from Asus.
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Originally Posted by Black
WOW I want them It is a shame that I bought 2x460 SLI - I should wait and buy 1x580 from Asus. |
Did the performance dip down at all when you had it clocked up to 950MHz on the core at all?? If it didn't then the issue of the card throttling before any decent overclocking can be done is blown out the windows.
Does look like you had a poo poo Zotac though.
Oh yeah and the SLI scaling in Metro is pretty decent.
Reason I ask is because in the video for the Zotac it was disabled.
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Originally Posted by AlienALX
Did you turn Physx on in Batman this time? Reason I ask is because in the video for the Zotac it was disabled. |
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Originally Posted by Bungral
Tooooooooooom. How about the throttling fella. Notice any while fully overclocked at 950mhz odd? |
It's all getting rather confusing ay.
I know the card throttles if you use furmark or occt from logic in the card somewhere but I'm not sure what other throttling it'll do. Perhaps the furmark and occt are done on TDP while the rest of the throttling will come in to effect when the card gets too hot.
That would make sense as Nvidia did say that the throttling wouldn't effect gaming in the way it does the torture tests.
I don't bloody know, just theorising.
Anyway, it does show that a nice aftermarket cooler should allow some nice beefy overclocks that definitely have a decent effect on frame rates.
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Originally Posted by thestepster
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Here it is for the forum go-ers anyways
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJsdeD4m-M
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
No it wasnt everything is on max and all enabled dude. |
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...buron/oc3d.jpg
Which is this
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../physxOFF1.jpg
Physx off. Physx on?
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...n/physxON1.jpg
The rolling benchmark looks completely different with Physx enabled mush.
Found another comparisson shot. Off
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../PhysxOFF2.jpg
On
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...n/PhysxON2.jpg
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Originally Posted by AlienALX
In V1.0 of Batman you could enable everything but it didn't work. Your video of it running looks like this. |
Doesn't matter really, but man, this game with Physx on is a sight to behold tbh. In the benchmark it's literally smoke and cobwebs. In the game? tiles smash, scenery breaks. Absolutely amazing stuff.
Ed. What I mean by doesn't matter.. In a benchmark as long as it's the same across the different hardware you are generating a comparisson. Those cards will absolutely eat Physx up any way
Edit. Again where are my manners. Thanks for the review chaps. Gives a man a chance to see how the rich and filthy live
Haha it's a good thing for you guys really. You have all the top end expensive stuff which makes me not want it as badly
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Originally Posted by thestepster
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but yeah nice cards, only if i had the money
though i still love my 460s
But that's just rumours really.
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Originally Posted by hmmblah
Any word on GTX570's yet? |
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Originally Posted by rhomp2002
How does this compare to the AMD 5970? |
.you need to get 2
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Originally Posted by Pullen
Just ordered one of these Asus 580s today . |
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Originally Posted by Mr. Strawberry
only one? you need to get 2 |
lol
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Originally Posted by Mr. Strawberry
you disapoint me lol |
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Originally Posted by Pullen
You disappoint society . |
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Originally Posted by AMDFTW
dont forget to bench and fold |
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