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ZOTAC GTX480 Review

Intro and Tech Specs

Published: 15th April 2010 | Source: Zotac | Price: £441.76 | Author: Tom Logan

Introduction

Has anything ever needed less of an introduction than the GTX480, the Fermi, the latest generation of cards from nVidia? For a long while nVidia held the crown as pretty much the only card anyone would choose. The 8800GTX was so outstanding that it was still munching through games long after nVidia had moved onto the GTX280.

The GTX280 was a very powerful card, but the move of nVidia to CUDA and PhysX integration also meant it was very pricey and this enabled ATI to beat them with a card that concentrated solely on being blindingly fast in games at an affordable price point.

Last year ATI released their 58xx series of graphics cards that not only provided full DirectX 11 functionality, but were insanely fast. Since then everyone has been waiting for the response from nVidia.

Just in case you've been living under a rock there is a hell of a lot of information to get through about the rather tortuous development path this has gone through. It's been delayed. It's had demos that weren't actually the card running. There have been genuine demos of the card that were rumoured to be water-cooled.

However, thanks to ZOTAC we've finally got our hands on one to test and can see not only which of the early reports are accurate, but also whether nVidias decision to concentrate firmly on the "extras" of CUDA, PhysX and such-like have made this a jack of all trades, or truly a gaming maestro.

Technical Specifications

Lets head over the page for our first look.

Most Recent Comments

14-04-2010, 05:38:05

tinytomlogan

Finally OC3D gets its hands on a GTX480, get a brew and sit down to see why its good and bad news.

Continue ReadingQuote

14-04-2010, 06:07:06

clone38

Aye its a bit of a let down by NV this time as i was really looking forward to the new cards.Quote

14-04-2010, 07:08:26

tinytomlogan

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='clone38' Aye its a bit of a let down by NV this time as i was really looking forward to the new cards.

I was aswell if Im honest, just have to hope they get it all sorted with the cash injection from the sales of these cards.Quote

14-04-2010, 09:50:39

Diablo

Quite dissapointing really. 5870 is really the one to go for, or 5970, which is faster in some and clocks very well. Perhaps Fermi could be better used as a grill?

I hope the next generation brings something better to the show, because these are too hot for what they give, and when a 5970 is only £50 more, they represent very poor value.Quote

14-04-2010, 13:25:23

lasher

Me wants one, watercooled ofc!

My 280ocx is dammed loud on air but having heard these I couldn't put up with the noise.Quote

14-04-2010, 17:28:29

ppuff

Judging by the color of the cooler it seems that NVIDIA can use it to light their own victory cigar. Quote

14-04-2010, 18:54:46

Socks

hmmmz..I do and dont like. I just wish the price was more reasonable.Quote

15-04-2010, 09:44:44

thewoolard

Only if it was the price or a 5870(or even a little more) i would snap one up.Quote

15-04-2010, 14:29:20

zillion

Cant remember, but how does the 5870 and 5890 in oc trim fit the numbers?

Coz i imagine if u would oc a nuclear-reactor u wouldnt think twice before u would oc the ATI cards Quote

15-04-2010, 14:53:15

Diablo

The 5970s and 5870s overclock very well, with some 5870s pushing the GHz barrier on overclock. I reckon this would edge them very near the 480.

My 5970s overclock to 900MHz core very happily (haven't really pushed them much) so I reckon the 480s would have to fight pretty hard to keep up. Also, can you imagine SLI 480s overclocked...I mean hell would look like a fridge comparatively.Quote

16-04-2010, 09:28:40

Rastalovich

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Diablo' Also, can you imagine SLI 480s overclocked....

Here's a pretty good review:

*removed*Quote

19-04-2010, 15:04:43

zillion

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='ppuff' Judging by the color of the cooler it seems that NVIDIA can use it to light their own victory cigar.

Well i doubt Nvidia is celebrating anything these days, ATI shipped more then 1 million units the first 6 months of the 5xxx series and represented a 88% grow in graphics chips in 1 year while sametime provided AMD with a second consecutive quater result on the bright side, after 12 consecutive quaters of red numbers.Quote

20-04-2010, 16:06:34

osshead

thanks for your time of testing this one for us tom. with a watercooler the noise and the temperature are points to forget about, but there is still the price and the powerconsumption.

i will stick to my 5870 and rather buy me a second one than one of the 480th.Quote

20-04-2010, 16:08:28

osshead

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Diablo' I mean hell would look like a fridge comparatively.

haha, your so damn right diablo.Quote

20-04-2010, 18:00:25

Diablo

Two 5870s seem to be a good way forward, as does overclocking a 5970 to 5870 speeds with afterburner, although I'm struggling to get much more than 900MHz on 1.16V.

The Fermis apparently scale OK, but not as well as the 5870s. The fermi's are fast, but I'd be a little bit worried aout sticking them in a case with my other kit. I mean its fine for them to run hot apparently, but my processor and RAID controller are a little bit less happy with 90C+Quote

21-04-2010, 07:35:05

Rastalovich

The SLI scaling isn't as good as it can be atm. The beta drivers are showing better results, along with profiling ofc.

Correctly installed/setup, the 480 with a voltage tweak and running at 850+ on stock cooling is breaking into 90 degrees

5870 in xfire is outstanding btw.Quote

21-04-2010, 12:26:39

AMDFTW

will there be a review of the gtx470? this thing is mad hot,if you do a review of the gtx 470 could it be the gainward one?Quote

27-04-2010, 21:24:32

rrjwilson

Yet again nVidia take a giant dump on ATi's face but unfortunately charge us with their cab fare. I have been waiting for these for SO long. ATi is flashy numbers not substance and my watercooling is banging. SLi 480s will be awesomeQuote

28-04-2010, 05:09:53

Diablo

How are ATi's numbers flashy, and why do they not have substance? As far as I can tell, their frame rates are above those for the 480s with the 5970 and represent better value with the 5870s.

No matter how good the nvidia cards are, I would still worry about sticking that runs so hot into my case, where all the other components will get hot. Same applies with watercooling unless you have a couple of triple or quads to cool the cards.Quote

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