OEM GTX 480 for $150

[LordJummy]

I found a deal on an unused OEM GTX 480 that came in a guy's Alienware PC. He replaced it with a GTX 590 right after he bought it, and I'm going to check it out on Friday.

He listed for $200 but he's going to take $150. I'm definitely going to buy it, just don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. I found another GTX 480 on craigslist for around $200-250. Seems worth it to me also.

I'm considering selling my reference Diamond HD 6950 2GB's that are unlocked and getting another GTX 480 and running SLI. I might actually come out with a little bit of profit. Do you think it's worth the effort to switch? I love the 6950's, but I have been thinking about doing a watercooled SLI setup instead. The other option is to build a cheap 2500k build and put the 480's in that instead. Anyone wanna talk me into replacing the 6950's with the 480's? If I put them on water they could beat the 6950's in overall performance once OC'd right? I know they have similar performance.

One other issue is I play in eyefinity 5760x1080 sometimes. I'm thinking the 2GB AMD cards might be best to keep for that. Maybe I will go with the second option and build another cheap rig to SLI with, then get a 27" high resolution screen or something. I've been looking at this panel lately: DELL Ultrasharp U2711 27-inch 2560 x 1440

Tough decision here...

 

[yogurt_21]

for eyefinity the 6950's unlocked are best. which leads to the other issue. a 6950 unlocked runs at 6970 speeds, a gtx480 runs neck and neck with a 6970.

so in this case you're going to do a lateral move that loses eyefinity, increases case heat, increases power usage, and increases noise levels.


I just don't see a point. you're already at the gtx480 sli performance level, no need to get a couple just to prove it.

 

[LordJummy]

for eyefinity the 6950's unlocked are best. which leads to the other issue. a 6950 unlocked runs at 6970 speeds, a gtx480 runs neck and neck with a 6970.

so in this case you're going to do a lateral move that loses eyefinity, increases case heat, increases power usage, and increases noise levels.


I just don't see a point. you're already at the gtx480 sli performance level, no need to get a couple just to prove it.

I agree on the eyefinity loss and all of that. I think that I'm going to keep my current main workstation the way it is.

However, I'm going to pick these up because $350 for two 480's is a ridiculous steal. I'm thinking about building a SB system and putting the 480's in there with a single 27" high res screen. Either that or selling them and making a healthy profit.

 

[Stevicus]

I think if you are investing in 2 x 480 they need to be water-cooled in fact a Hardware mag that i read has classified them as water cooling cards after running it through their lab tests because nearly all its problems disappear with water. There is no headroom for overclocking a 480 on air but some can be wangled out with water so i would agree with grabbing em while you can at that price but give serious consideration to what 2 do with them.

 

[yogurt_21]

I think if you are investing in 2 x 480 they need to be water-cooled in fact a Hardware mag that i read has classified them as water cooling cards after running it through their lab tests because nearly all its problems disappear with water. There is no headroom for overclocking a 480 on air but some can be wangled out with water so i would agree with grabbing em while you can at that price but give serious consideration to what 2 do with them.

wow, that was useless

< my 480's, on air, hit 900core while maxing out at 93C overclocked load temp.

no need to water cool them for temp reasons, if you want it to be quieter, the sure.

I don't call a 200MHZ boost in clock speed "no room". My cards are also directly on top of each other so as I've posted many times, they represent a worst case scenario.

I swear this is the 2900XT all over again. Just because someone read a bad review somewhere they become experts on what they've never owned.

 

[LordJummy]

wow, that was useless

< my 480's, on air, hit 900core while maxing out at 93C overclocked load temp.

no need to water cool them for temp reasons, if you want it to be quieter, the sure.

I don't call a 200MHZ boost in clock speed "no room". My cards are also directly on top of each other so as I've posted many times, they represent a worst case scenario.

I swear this is the 2900XT all over again. Just because someone read a bad review somewhere they become experts on what they've never owned.

I have to agree with this. I am probably going to water cool them regardless, but I have an Asus Rampage 3 Formula board just sitting in its' box unused. I can set them up with room in the middle regardless of air or water. I also own a GTX 470 (heavily OC'd) and I know the kind of heat this series put out. I have no problem with it. I don't need to keep my cards at 30c all the time. These 400 series fermis can take the heat. But again, I'm probably going to water cool them if I use them.

 

[Pestilence]

My lightning maxes out at 900c with water and air. Only difference is the temps. 88c loads on air ans 48c on water

 

[bbmarley]

buy it if not to use sell and make some xtra $ $150 is very good deal

 

[yogurt_21]

I have to agree with this. I am probably going to water cool them regardless, but I have an Asus Rampage 3 Formula board just sitting in its' box unused. I can set them up with room in the middle regardless of air or water. I also own a GTX 470 (heavily OC'd) and I know the kind of heat this series put out. I have no problem with it. I don't need to keep my cards at 30c all the time. These 400 series fermis can take the heat. But again, I'm probably going to water cool them if I use them.

well yeah pestilence's temp differences are hard to ignore.

 

[Stevicus]

wow, that was useless

< my 480's, on air, hit 900core while maxing out at 93C overclocked load temp.

no need to water cool them for temp reasons, if you want it to be quieter, the sure.

I don't call a 200MHZ boost in clock speed "no room". My cards are also directly on top of each other so as I've posted many times, they represent a worst case scenario.

I swear this is the 2900XT all over again. Just because someone read a bad review somewhere they become experts on what they've never owned.

Yeah your prolly right i shudda qualified it a bit more since it was the early reference models that were near universally berated, but even so you are gambling on weather or not you can pick up one of the later tweaked models or one that is gonna be a bag of problems.
For me the important issue is longevity so noise and heat have to be controlled efficiently or the mechanical failure threshold is passed prematurely so it seems to me that GTX 480 is a prime candidate for this. I have never owned a 480 but i know ppl who have & ive owned plenty of Nv cards to know they have a low life expectancy if you like to game hard and long.
I dont recall one bad review it was about evens with the ones showing a positive light and recently in the previous yrs best & worst hardware in review the 480 was there occupying a high position in the worst category.

This might go some way as to explaining why some ppl had bad experiences with their 480`s and others were happy http://semiaccurate.com/2010/07/12/nvidia-backpedals-gf100gtx480-underfill/

Because they have generated so much negative reviews i would just be sure that i could get my money back if things dint turn out as i expected.

 

[Pestilence]

I just have to ask.

Who actually replaces a 480 with a 590 when 480 SLI will beat a 590 across the board?

 

[LordJummy]

Yeah your prolly right i shudda qualified it a bit more since it was the early reference models that were near universally berated, but even so you are gambling on weather or not you can pick up one of the later tweaked models or one that is gonna be a bag of problems.
For me the important issue is longevity so noise and heat have to be controlled efficiently or the mechanical failure threshold is passed prematurely so it seems to me that GTX 480 is a prime candidate for this. I have never owned a 480 but i know ppl who have & ive owned plenty of Nv cards to know they have a low life expectancy if you like to game hard and long.
I dont recall one bad review it was about evens with the ones showing a positive light and recently in the previous yrs best & worst hardware in review the 480 was there occupying a high position in the worst category.

This might go some way as to explaining why some ppl had bad experiences with their 480`s and others were happy http://semiaccurate.com/2010/07/12/nvidia-backpedals-gf100gtx480-underfill/

Because they have generated so much negative reviews i would just be sure that i could get my money back if things dint turn out as i expected.

I'm not worried about the money or the "longevity". I've run nvidia cards in the past at super high temps for years and they still work fine to this day. If I actually use it/them for something I'm sure they will last long enough on water. I don't expect them to last more than 2-3 years.

There's a very high likelihood that I will just flip them for cash and use it for something else. The businessman inside me finds it hard to pass that up. I've found a lot of severely under priced stuff on craigslist lately. It's like people are just taking whatever they can get in this horrible economy. I feel bad for taking advantage of it, but I can't help myself.

I just have to ask.

Who actually replaces a 480 with a 590 when 480 SLI will beat a 590 across the board?

Well he bought an Alienware computer so that pretty much answers your question.

 

[Pestilence]

Well he bought an Alienware computer so that pretty much answers your question.

That does explain a lot