Just upgraded to an EVGA GTX 480

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

sinclair-zx81

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
205
I've been messing with my video card setup for a few months now. I started with a 6970, stopped playing PC games for a bit and downgraded to a 6870. Next I got a refurbished 560Ti from Micro Center for a good deal when I started playing Bioshock Infinite. Micro Center got me again when I saw they had an open box EVGA 480 for about $115. I knew it would use more power than the 560Ti, but I had to check it out for that price, it looked brand new. When I first installed it, it was peaking at stock clocks at 88C, which I thought was pretty hot. I pulled it out was going to take it back. I ran a few more benchmarks with the 560ti and decided to check the 480 again. When I put it back in, I loaded EVGA Precision X and slightly ramped the manual fan curve, I mean slightly, to start at about 45% and only messed with the lower levels. Now the card was not even hitting 75C on a Heaven 4.0 benchmark at 1920 x 1200. I tried to OC it a bit and am currently running at 765 Core and 2002 Mem, and the temp never breaks 78C. Now I'm happy with this card. Not sure why it was getting so hot in the beginning, unless the fan was running slower than measured on Auto. So now this should be faster than a stock 570 with a bit more memory. I can run Bioshock with the alternate textures now, where there was stuttering with the 560ti. Welcome me to gaming circa 2010 :)
 
So how would you rate the 480 to the 6970 you started out with?
Trying to make some sense from this story :D
 
I can't find any of my Heaven 3.0 benchmarks from the 6970. I do know the 480 seems quieter than the 6970. As far as trying to make sense of the post, I guess the moral of the story is Micro Center has pretty good deals. Also, I was happy to get a "cheap" card that runs Bioshock so well.
 
damn, $115 isn't bad considering they still sell used on EVGA marketplace for $180 or so

Only problem I ever saw was heat
 
CAxVIPER said:
damn, $115 isn't bad considering they still sell used on EVGA marketplace for $180 or so

Only problem I ever saw was heat
Click to expand...

That is a great price, I might pick up another some day to SLI my wife's rig (she gets all my hand-me-down parts).

As far as heat goes, I installed an Accelero Extreme and couldn't be happier with the $60 + 2 hours installation investment. The case fans are louder than the 480 now... ;)
 
The high flow bracket helps with temps a bit. Dropped mine about 5c. New paste dropped it another 5c. My temps are still higher then yours, but I'm at 865mhz on the core with a touch more voltage to do it.
 
mavrocket said:
That is a great price, I might pick up another some day to SLI my wife's rig (she gets all my hand-me-down parts).

As far as heat goes, I installed an Accelero Extreme and couldn't be happier with the $60 + 2 hours installation investment. The case fans are louder than the 480 now... ;)
Click to expand...

The GTX 660 has been down to $170 or so as of late with the two fan coolers. Same price when you factor in your cooler costs, but they are probably a bit faster (about as fast as a GTX 580), use less power and put out less heat. But, you can't go back now. :p
 
I have a SLi of them for some years now.

The only minus is the heat, the energy bill and the casual fires in my room :D

Im waiting for a trully new gen to get a new vga.
 
sinclair-zx81 said:
I can't find any of my Heaven 3.0 benchmarks from the 6970. I do know the 480 seems quieter than the 6970. As far as trying to make sense of the post, I guess the moral of the story is Micro Center has pretty good deals. Also, I was happy to get a "cheap" card that runs Bioshock so well.
Click to expand...

Ah, understood. Bioshock Infinite is an amazing game IMO. I really got immersed in the story. I think this weekend I'm going to buy Bioshock 1 and give it a whirl. Never played it before.

If I had a microcenter close by, I'd probably be living in a cardboard box.......with a bunch of fancy computers to play. lol.
 
DraginDime said:
Ah, understood. Bioshock Infinite is an amazing game IMO. I really got immersed in the story. I think this weekend I'm going to buy Bioshock 1 and give it a whirl. Never played it before.

If I had a microcenter close by, I'd probably be living in a cardboard box.......with a bunch of fancy computers to play. lol.
Click to expand...

I have TWO semi nearby:eek:..It makes it hard to go in there, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE their cpu+MB bundles soo much:D
 
i just purchased a 480 from a member on here, cant wait to get it. whats the consensus on what version drivers to run for this card?
 
lol why are you people buying used loud, hot, and power hungry cards when you can have a brand new efficient card with warranty for not too much more money? my gosh even a $135 2gb gtx650ti boost will nearly match a gtx480 while using a whopping 150 watts less and being quiet.
 
Last edited:
OK.. That didn't last long. I started noticing wild temp changes on the 480. On one reboot it would never go over 77c, on another it pushed past 90c, reboot again and back to the 70s. I even returned to normal clocks, reinstalled drivers (clean), and removed all OC utils. I figured it was either a fan control issue, or temp monitoring issue... Either way, I only had the card for a week and did not want to risk long term usage, so I scanned Micro Center for a viable replacement and I found a 2GB EVGA 660 (non-Ti) for $160 as an open box and promptly did an exchange. Now I see what all the hoopla is about. This 660 with a single 6 pin power connector, running almost completely silent, is giving better benchmarks than the 480. I'm sold on the new tech.
 
480's really do a lot better when water blocked - especially if they are SLI'ed and overclocked. Takes care of all of the noise/heat issues. Power isn't a problem for me. I still haven't upgraded mine as they drive a single 30" monitor (2560x1600) just fine. This is by far the longest I've ever gone without upgrading GPU tech - well over 3 years now! While I am tempted to drop in a single Titan, I just can't justify dropping a grand for a performance boost that I feel won't be all that noticeable in a rig with just a single monitor...
 
My GTX480 served me well (still plays most games just fine maxed out settings or turning a few options down). I got it about a month after release, only complaint is heat and noise and people here are already giving you a bit of advice on how to address that. Crossing my fingers, hoping to upgrade to a Titan (or 700 series, lets see what exactly nvidia is offering).
 
He found a refurbished GTX 480 at Frys and he is enjoying it after some tweaking.
 
^ Don't forget to update your sig. ;)

Yeah, the GTX480 is a good card, but with a 250 watt TDP, it gets incredibly hot, even with a custom cooler.
Mine on an average 80F day, idles around 74C, and that's with a custom cooler.

When folding, I've seen it get up to 104C, but without the custom cooler, it would go to 110C easy and shut down.
I've never seen anything other than dual-GPU cards get anywhere near as hot as this thing.

Still works great, but I will be looking to upgrade with the 700 series around the corner, if anything just for the reduced heat output.
 
Wow these are hot hot cards. Tech needs to get better. TDP is too high, double of a good CPU.
 
serverguy19 said:
Wow these are hot hot cards. Tech needs to get better. TDP is too high, double of a good CPU.
Click to expand...

Well, the good news for you is, the tech did indeed get better! ;)
These cards are from 2010, and the 600 series has much improved on everything that was wrong with the 400 series.

The only reason many of us have stuck it out with the GTX480 is because it will run most games on max settings on a single 1080p monitor, save for PhysX.
It's hard to justify springing to a new GPU when the GTX480 can already do everything we need to do, with the only improvement being reduced heat and power requirements on a new GPU at 1080p.
 
serverguy19 said:
Wow these are hot hot cards. Tech needs to get better. TDP is too high, double of a good CPU.
Click to expand...

No doubt. The 480GTX definitely is older tech, but it is still quite capable/relevant and once water-blocked, heat becomes a non-issue. As I've mentioned previously, I have a pair of 480 GTX's SLI'ed and they drive a 30" display just fine, even with demanding games. The tech has gotten better and continues to do so, but what I have still does the job. When it comes to top end hardware that is driven for max performance, removing waste heat will remain an issue for the foreseeable future (unless some pretty revolutionary changes in tech arrive), as will feeding it enough juice.
 
Last edited:
Supercharged_Z06 said:
No doubt. The 480GTX definitely is older tech, but it is still quite capable/relevant and once water-blocked, heat becomes a non-issue. As I've mentioned previously, I have a pair of 480 GTX's SLI'ed and they drive a 30" display just fine, even with demanding games. The tech has gotten better and continues to do so, but what I have still does the job. When it comes to top end hardware that is driven for max performance, removing waste heat will remain an issue for the foreseeable future (unless some pretty revolutionary changes in tech arrive), as will feeding it enough juice.
Click to expand...
well water cooling only changes the temp on the core but the card is still making the same amount of heat so it has to go somewhere. its silly to think a plain stock 660 can match the stock 480 while using an unbelievable 150 watts less on average and well over 200 watts less peak. oc that 480 and power usage goes to laughable levels. that is a lot more heat being dumped in your room.
 
cannondale06 said:
well water cooling only changes the temp on the core but the card is still making the same amount of heat so it has to go somewhere. its silly to think a plain stock 660 can match the stock 480 while using an unbelievable 150 watts less on average and well over 200 watts less peak. oc that 480 and power usage goes to laughable levels. that is a lot more heat being dumped in your room.
Click to expand...

Man, I notice that all you do in EVERY post is argue or set out to prove to ANYONE that has a different opinon wrong..Here are some FACTS for you:

I run a heavily o/c'd 3770K @ 4.8Ghz and my 480 (full cover GPU block) clocked @ 850mhz core with a single 360mm rad Folds 24/7 @ a whopping 53~55C..Oh the loads of heat being dumped in my room? The ambient temperature hasn't increased .5F:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
ccityinstaller said:
Man, I notice that all you do in EVERY post is argue or set out to prove to ANYONE that has a different opinon wrong..Here are some FACTS for you:

I run a heavily o/c'd 3770K @ 4.8Ghz and my 480 (full cover GPU block) clocked @ 850mhz core with a single 360mm rad Folds 24/7 @ a whopping 53~55C..Oh the loads of heat being dumped in my room? The ambient temperature hasn't increased .5F:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Click to expand...
opinion? he was making it sound like heat is not an issue with water cooling which is wrong because the card still produces same amount heat. you seem to be saying the same thing so perhaps you should learn the basics before trying to give any "facts". whether or not you think its a lot of heat getting dumped in the room is NOT the point. the point was the same amount of heat is getting dumped in the room with watercooling or not. now go back to your little hole. :rolleyes:
 
cannondale06 said:
opinion? he was making it sound like heat is not an issue with water cooling which is wrong because the card still produces same amount heat. you seem to be saying the same thing so perhaps you should learn the basics before trying to give any "facts". whether or not you think its a lot of heat getting dumped in the room is NOT the point. the point was the same amount of heat is getting dumped in the room with watercooling or not. now go back to your little hole. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have a degree in EET, and working on my full EE, so I have "some" knowledge of electrical and thermodynamics, but I won't indulge your obsession for arguing with everyone..That's what the ignore button is for;)..
 
ccityinstaller said:
I have a degree in EET, and working on my full EE, so I have "some" knowledge of electrical and thermodynamics, but I won't indulge your obsession for arguing with everyone..That's what the ignore button is for;)..
Click to expand...
well based on the fact that you think less heat gets dumped in your room with water cooling because the core is cooler shows you have not learned a thing. I truly feel sorry for anyone that hires you.
 
cannondale06 said:
opinion? he was making it sound like heat is not an issue with water cooling which is wrong because the card still produces same amount heat. you seem to be saying the same thing so perhaps you should learn the basics before trying to give any "facts". whether or not you think its a lot of heat getting dumped in the room is NOT the point. the point was the same amount of heat is getting dumped in the room with watercooling or not. now go back to your little hole. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Heat becomes a non-issue for the card and the system it resides in when it is removed from that system using water cooling. Waste heat dumped in my PC room (a large finished basement) is a non-issue for me. Don't be a troll.
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
Heat becomes a non-issue for the card and the system it resides in when it is removed from that system using water cooling. Don't be a troll.
Click to expand...
the discussion was about power consumption and heat resulting from it. water cooling does NOT change the resulting heat going in to the room.
 
cannondale06 said:
the discussion was about power consumption and heat resulting from it. water cooling does NOT change the resulting heat going in to the room.
Click to expand...

I could give a rat's ass about heat going into a room. What I care about is keeping my hardware performing and running cool. Welcome to ignore!
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
I could give a rat's ass about heat going into a room. What I care about is keeping my hardware performing and running cool. Welcome to ignore!
Click to expand...
I did not ask you to be concerned. I was simply making it clear for others that saw your post that water cooling does not change the actual heat being produced.
 
sinclair-zx81 said:
I can't find any of my Heaven 3.0 benchmarks from the 6970. I do know the 480 seems quieter than the 6970. As far as trying to make sense of the post, I guess the moral of the story is Micro Center has pretty good deals. Also, I was happy to get a "cheap" card that runs Bioshock so well.
Click to expand...

Not exactly news - MicroCenter (either Rockville, MD or Fairfax, VA) has been getting my new-parts business for years. Three weeks ago, I bought a refurbished GTX 550 Ti at Rockville (open-box; I went to Rockville due to Fairfax being out of stock) and it has performed absolutely swimmingly, and in everything. Four OSes (Windows 8.1, Server 2012R2, OS X ML, OS X Mavericks), and nary a quibble performance-wise. The jaw-dropper is that it wasn't even $64 - including tax. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more of these for "cheapie" upgrades as they only require a single 6-pin power plug - as long as the PSU can feed it enough power, even supposedly *wimpy* chipsets (such as the CSM stumblebum that is Intel G41) don't exactly hobble it performance-wise.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top