Thursday, March 18th 2010

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Reference Design Card Final Design Pictured

by
btarunr
 Discuss (137 Comments)
Many would be familiar with these pictures of a generic graphics card based on NVIDIA's GF100 GPU which was spotted at this year's CES. A company slide sourced by DonanimHaber reveals the final iteration of NVIDIA's reference design GeForce GTX 480 graphics accelerator, and what it looks like from the outside. A set of slightly more recent pictures showed its cooling assembly from inside. The protruding heat pipes intrigued us as they were inconsistent with the cooling assembly on the card NVIDIA showed off at CES, which we then believed to be the top-end GTX 480 part. The company slide confirms what the cooling assembly looks like when it's all put together.

The cooler is highly ventilated, with vents all over the cooler's shroud. There are vents on the top, on the sides, apart from the usual obverse fan air intake. To increase its intake, the PCB is further cut to help draw air from the reverse-side of the PCB. The cooler's four large (we reckon 8 mm thick) heat pipes protrude about a centimeter out of the card's periphery, increasing its height by that much. The cooler itself respects the 2-slot thickness limit which is most conventional. A table in the slide also confirms some details we already know: the card has 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit wide interface. It has a TDP of under 300W, which a recent report reveals to be a hairbreadth under 300W, at 296W. Power is drawn in from an 8-pin and a 6-pin PCI-E power connector. The card is 10.5 inches long, the same length as its reference-design GeForce GTX 280. The card supports 3-way SLI. It will be unveiled on the 26th of March.
Source: DonanimHaber

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137 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Reference Design Card Final Design Pictured

#51
pjladyfox
Musselsreally? 5970 was that high?

edit: yep you're right. so as far as power and heat go, nvidia has to match the 5970 to make this card worthwhile.
*whistle* Holy....

I knew that these cards would be hot but I had no idea a single one would be as hot, or hotter, than a 5970. Goddess, I hope whoever plans to run a pair of these has LOTS of cooling and a high tolerance for heat, watercooling, or a good a/c unit since that thing will be brutal to run during the summer under load. :eek:

I do have to admit however that I'm pretty impressed with the HSF for the card if that is the final design. Would be nice if similar ones came out for use on cards like the 8800/9800 GT series since I have a MSI one that I really need to replace the HSF on. Heck, I'd even be curious to see how well that cooler does fitted to a 5870.
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#52
Fourstaff
Use 5870 during summer, then GTX480 during winter. I dont understand why they are releasing GTX480 when summer is coming though.
Posted on Reply
#53
freaksavior
To infinity ... and beyond!
Woot! We got another 2900XT on our hands! Hot and underpowered!

still waiting on benchies though.. this really looks like ^ though
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#54
HalfAHertz
You silly fanboys! the W in there doesn't stand for watts. No siree, it stands for Wombats! See Nvidia decided their card is just too awesome for its power to be measured in watts, so they invented a new unit called the Wombat.

And btw one [1] Wombat is over 9000!!!11
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#56
Fourstaff
I fail to see how they can cram almost 300 wombats into that chip of theirs. Maybe PhysX did it?
Posted on Reply
#57
afw
HalfAHertzYou silly fanboys! the W in there doesn't stand for watts. No siree, it stands for Wombats! See Nvidia decided their card is just too awesome for its power to be measured in watts, so they invented a new unit called the Wombat.

And btw one [1] Wombat is over 9000!!!11
WrigleyvillainSweeeeet! MOAR WOMBAT POWAHHH!
FourstaffI fail to see how they can cram almost 300 wombats into that chip of theirs. Maybe PhysX did it?
:roll: .... :roll: ....:roll:
Posted on Reply
#58
dir_d
I really dont think there will be a dual GPU until they can do another two revisions of fermi or until 32mn is tapped out.
Posted on Reply
#59
freaksavior
To infinity ... and beyond!
HalfAHertzYou silly fanboys! the W in there doesn't stand for watts. No siree, it stands for Wombats! See Nvidia decided their card is just too awesome for its power to be measured in watts, so they invented a new unit called the Wombat.

And btw one [1] Wombat is over 9000!!!11
Where's the "w"?
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#60
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Added a bigger pic.
Posted on Reply
#61
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
Yellow&Nerdy?Actually, it's very terrible. And btw, the 5870 has a TDP of 188W, not 212. That would be 108W bigger TDP. But what's more worrying is, that Nvidias single-GPU card produces as much heat as ATIs dual-GPU card. The dual Fermi better have one magical cooler or otherwise it will melt...
No, ATi advertises the HD5870 as having a TDP of 188w, in reality it pulls ~212w under load, if you don't believe me go look at some reviews.

I'm assuming max power draw possible here with the GTX480 of 300w to get an 88w difference, however the article and leaked information actually put it in the 395w range. And 212w is just the reference design, we have already seen partners release HD5870s that are pulling over 230w.

For those of you that don't like to be bothered to read real reviews:
Posted on Reply
#62
AddSub
As they say: if you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen. After all, we are all PC hardware enthusiasts for the most part, aren't we? Things like power draw and such shouldn't really bother anyone, not on this site of all places. If it does, then alternative hobbies like knitting and such might be more fitting for such folks.
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#63
Howard
Fastest Gpu To Blow Up In This Year !!!
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#64
Yellow&Nerdy?
newtekie1No, ATi advertises the HD5870 as having a TDP of 188w, in reality it pulls ~212w under load, if you don't believe me go look at some reviews.

I'm assuming max power draw possible here with the GTX480 of 300w to get an 88w difference, however the article and leaked information actually put it in the 395w range.
I was comparing the numbers ATI and Nvidia are giving. Due to that the GTX 480 hasn't been released and reviewed yet, we can't compare the actual power draw, so the only numbers that we actually can compare, is the numbers that ATI and Nvidia are giving and that is: 5870 = 188W and GTX 480 = 290-300W.
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#65
erocker
*
newtekie1No, ATi advertises the HD5870 as having a TDP of 188w, in reality it pulls ~212w under load, if you don't believe me go look at some reviews.

I'm assuming max power draw possible here with the GTX480 of 300w to get an 88w difference, however the article and leaked information actually put it in the 395w range.
Indeed. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't pull even more power as drivers improve and it can get more power out of the card.
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#66
cadaveca
My name is Dave
yeah, but maybe that driver that boosts performance in Fermi is the same driver that caused overheating in other cards....Too many possibilities to speculate at this point.
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#67
ivicagmc
who put's few of these beasts in computer will need better cooling in the room...:DDD
Posted on Reply
#68
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
Yellow&Nerdy?I was comparing the numbers ATI and Nvidia are giving. Due to that the GTX 480 hasn't been released and reviewed yet, we can't compare the actual power draw, so the only numbers that we actually can compare, is the numbers that ATI and Nvidia are giving and that is: 5870 = 188W and GTX 480 = 290-300W.
Not so, we don't have to go by what numbers ATi gives us, as their cards have actually been release and reviewed. So screw what ATi marketting said, I'm using the real numbers because they are available.

We don't know nVidia's true numbers yet which is why I use the 300w number because that is the max possible with the power setup the GTX480 has. 8-pin+6-Pin+PCI-e Connector=150w+75w+75w=300w.
erockerIndeed. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't pull even more power as drivers improve and it can get more power out of the card.
cadavecayeah, but maybe that driver that boosts performance in Fermi is the same driver that caused overheating in other cards....Too many possibilities to speculate at this point.
I don't think new drivers, with optimizations really increase power usage, just makes the GPU do tasks more efficiently.

And I don't worry about drivers overheating cards, it was a very rare instant that nVidia f'ed with the fan profiles.
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#69
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Then I'm less inclined to go by the numbers NVIDIA gives me. It could well be 330W in actual testing.
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#70
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
btarunrThen I'm less inclined to go by the numbers NVIDIA gives me. It could well be 330W in actual testing.
It could be, but that would serioulsy over stress the PCI-e power specs. Maybe 305w, but I would say that would be the very maximimum, any higher and they would have put two 8-pin connectors on the card.
Posted on Reply
#71
HalfAHertz
newtekie1No, ATi advertises the HD5870 as having a TDP of 188w, in reality it pulls ~212w under load, if you don't believe me go look at some reviews.

I'm assuming max power draw possible here with the GTX480 of 300w to get an 88w difference, however the article and leaked information actually put it in the 395w range. And 212w is just the reference design, we have already seen partners release HD5870s that are pulling over 230w.

For those of you that don't like to be bothered to read real reviews:
tpucdn.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_5750_Go_Green/images/power_maximum.gif
If W1z is measuring the power usage at the PSU rails, I think those numbers include the PSU's inefficiency. A good psu is rated at 85-86% eff. So if we take the base power usage of 188W and add 15%, we get ~216watts used power.

On a more serious matter they're really not telling us anything here it could be anything between 1 and 300. People are only speculating when they think the card will be between 290 and 300.

My best bet is that the card will end up somewhere in the 250W range.
Posted on Reply
#72
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
HalfAHertzIf W1z is measuring the power usage at the PSU rails, I think those numbers include the PSU's inefficiency. A good psu is rated at 85-86% eff. So if we take the base power usage of 188W and add 15%, we get ~216watts used power.

On a more serious matter they're really not telling us anything here it could be anything between 1 and 300. People are only speculating when they think the card will be between 290 and 300.

My best bet is that the card will end up somewhere in the 250W range.
W1z's reviews do no include the PSU's inefficiency. The only time the power supplies inefficiency is considered is when looking at power draw from the wall. W1z's numbers are actual card power draw.
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#74
jasper1605
Musselscoming soon: "fermi recalled due to being sued over using HDT/vapor-X technology"
coming even sooner: "fermi recalled due to causing massive power spikes in local nuclear powerplant leading to meltdown"
Posted on Reply
#75
Animalpak
dir_dI really dont think there will be a dual GPU until they can do another two revisions of fermi or until 32mn is tapped out.
Nahh ! Im sure the dual GPU version will be announced soon and out end of summer, they absolutley need to beat the 5970, and i need my new Dx11 dual GPU too !!
That will be a GTX 460 Dual at best
Maybe you right, only asus can do the crazy shit ( mars, ares )
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