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Is it worth upgrading from 2xGTX280 to GTX480?

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Is it worth it for me to upgrade from my 2x GTX280 to a GTX480 going on all the reviews and the price? im thing about this because i need to upgrade my cooling on my 2 card and its around $200 aus to do so, any input would be great thanks
 

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are you trolling? need to upgrade your cooling to 480 wtf
 

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simply no..... get some cooling and last it out til the next gen
 
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aCid888*

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Is it worth it for me to upgrade from my 2x GTX280 to a GTX480 going on all the reviews and the price? im thing about this because i need to upgrade my cooling on my 2 card and its around $200 aus to do so, any input would be great thanks

I'd love to know why you think the 280's aren't enough at your res...I'm sure you can pile on the graphical-gravy-goodness with a pair in SLI and not even have to worry about low frame rates.


My advice is keep what you have and wait until the end of the year, revisions of new stuff is always good. :)


Edit: The 280's aren't comparable to the 4870's I had* and I know for a fact that a pair of 4870's will do the job perfectly well @ 1920x1080 without any issue with low frame rates so I know you don't have any problem because you have better cards.

* My 4870's were 1GB models @ 850/1200, highly clocked for that card so they would of been less of a gap from your cards to mine. :toast:
 
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In short no, not even worth the upgrade, id hold off till next gen.

Are you getting below 60FPS in most games? id say not so there is no need.

Edit: if its just the cooling your worried about, they would both still run cooler then one GTX480 anyway lol
 
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I'd love to know why you think the 260's aren't enough at your res...I'm sure you can pile on the graphical-gravy-goodness with a pair in SLI and not even have to worry about low frame rates.


My advice is keep what you have and wait until the end of the year, revisions of new stuff is always good. :)

he said he had to update the cooling, not the cards. he's questioning whether it's worth it to do that or to get a 480 instead,

which is silly. i'd choose a harsher word but i don't want to be rude. get the cooler, pass on Nvidia for another generation/revision ... do not get a 480
 

aCid888*

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I had to edit my first post, I cant read. :roll:
 
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When selling your 280's it should give you close to enough to do the upgrade. I would say yes as another Fermi later is an upgrade path. Also DX11 support. Upgrade path is essential. I would think your PSU could handle two of them too unless you would rape it with Furmark.
 

aCid888*

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he said he had to update the cooling, not the cards. he's questioning whether it's worth it to do that or to get a 480 instead,

which is silly. i'd choose a harsher word but i don't want to be rude. get the cooler, pass on Nvidia for another generation/revision ... do not get a 480

He asked if he should update his cooling or get a 480, I know this.....however, I think its a stupid idea even considering either idea to be honest.


Why?? Because the stock coolers on those cards are damn good and with a slight bump in fan speed he wont even need any extra cooling giving by good after-market air.

He should save his $200, save another $400 over the next 7 months and spend it all ($600) along with what he makes off his cards when he sells them (at least another $350 surely?) and buy two bigger, better revision cards (ATI OR nVidia) later on. :)
 
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Upgrade to a 5970
 

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overlooking all of those stupid suggestions im going to ask a simple question! why do you need to upgrade the cooling on those 280s?
 
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overlooking all of those stupid suggestions im going to ask a simple question! why do you need to upgrade the cooling on those 280s?

wow, you're right man - that was genius! ;)
 
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overlooking all of those stupid suggestions im going to ask a simple question! why do you need to upgrade the cooling on those 280s?

He could replace stock TIM on the core with MX-3 and turn up the fan profile. I just think switching over and getting the most for a set of GTX 280's would be great for the future's sake. Either way it is hard to go wrong with so many good options out there.
 
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He asked if he should update his cooling or get a 480, I know this.....however, I think its a stupid idea even considering either idea to be honest.


Why?? Because the stock coolers on those cards are damn good and with a slight bump in fan speed he wont even need any extra cooling giving by good after-market air.

He should save his $200, save another $400 over the next 7 months and spend it all ($600) along with what he makes off his cards when he sells them (at least another $350 surely?) and buy two bigger, better revision cards (ATI OR nVidia) later on. :)

overlooking all of those stupid suggestions im going to ask a simple question! why do you need to upgrade the cooling on those 280s?

i need to upgrade the coolers one way or the another, im running a single card atm and it hits 94c on load, when i use sli they go above 105c which isnt good, i've reset them both it didnt help, when gaming from more than a hour on a normal day my PSU with over heat from my 2nd card, there for i need to upgrade the cooling that why im thinking going for a new card these 2 have had a hard life and have done well. PS I RUN THEM ON MAX FAN SPEED
 
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i need to upgrade the coolers one way or the another, im running a single card atm and it hits 94c on load, when i use sli they go above 105c which isnt good, i've reset them both it didnt help, when gaming from more than a hour on a normal day my PSU with over heat from my 2nd card, there for i need to upgrade the cooling that why im thinking going for a new card these 2 have had a hard life and have done well. PS I RUN THEM ON MAX FAN SPEED

You must run them in the hot open air of the Australian outback. :laugh:

My GTX 280's ran at 65 degrees mildly OC'ed running furmark with 80% fan. I was using MX-3 TIM though. I had a Soprano RS which isn't as good cooling as the 922 I now have.

Maybe I just had some great 280's or something. Are you OC'ing them?
 
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i dont know i've tried a few thermal pastes and even changed the pads didnt help, they use to run cool never hit over 70c on load but now they sit around 100c were they shouldnt so best thing for me to do is to get 2x Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GTX Pro's
 
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I was going to say upgrade your case instead, but seeing how you have a 922...

Have you added the bottom and side fan? That should really lower ambient case temp.
 

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Clean them out with compressed air, 70'C sounds right but 100'C doesn't...dirty heatsink anyone???
 
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they both have been blown out with compreesed air at the servo haha, and theres no room for a bottom fan but i have a 20cm side fan

here a run a test with FurMark this is with a single card
 

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May be its a driver issue causing the fan to run slower ... or may be the the fans are dying ... :confused: ... did you check the RPMs ... ??? ... try another old driver and see it solves the prob ...

If nothing works for you ... sell both of em ... and grab a 5870 or a 5970 ... ;) ...
 
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wahdangun

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buy 5970, it's more powerful, less heat, and use less power
 

aCid888*

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I love how all you guys tell him to buy a new card, he purely DOES NOT NEED ONE, it will be expensive for very little....do you tell him to upgrade because you wish you could or just so he can be sUpa-dupa-pr0-1337 with the biggest and best for no reason other than having it??


His 280 SLI setup would do the job very well @ 1920x1200 (his res) so he has no reason at all to upgrade yet.

He can afford to wait for the revisions of current cards, like everyone should of done back in the G80 days when DX10 was new and the cards got blown away by revisions coming out a year later that handled the newer games better.


Wait until the end of the year, take a look at why your cards are getting hot (drivers, fan speed etc) and enjoy your setup...you will thank me for the advice in a few months time when you have the choice of better cards than are out now due to revised editions always being better. :)

You could also try RMAing the cards...maybe they are defective and you would get something nice in return??


For the record, his 280's in SLI are about as fast as the 5970, that means the only real upgrade is 5870 Crossfire or the expensive 5970...the 5850 Crossfire setup would only give about 15 - 20% gain over his current stuff, not worth the effort or price...yet.
 

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i dont know i've tried a few thermal pastes and even changed the pads didnt help, they use to run cool never hit over 70c on load but now they sit around 100c were they shouldnt so best thing for me to do is to get 2x Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GTX Pro's

Yeah, these cards are indeed having a hard life, poor bastards. Are you running them with driver 196.75 by any chance? This is the one that was recalled for the exact type of overheating problem you're talking about and it was reported all over the internet. It made the fan run too slowly. If you're running it, then upgrade to the latest one and I bet your problem goes away. ;)

Here's the TechPowerUp article about it.
 

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I think most of you are missing the point. He can't use the cards as they overheat in SLI and we've been over them in another thread.

So either it's Acceleros, but with Australia ambients VRM temps would be high or get new card/cards.

Money saved on cooling + cards sold = GTX 480. But that will run as hot as you current cards and has the same 105C throttle limit.

2x5850 would be an option, maybe one first and second when prices drop?

(I'm going for 1x280 to 1x5770 :p more/better later)
 
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