MSI GeForce GTX 480 Lightning 1536 MB

[Bahmanvidia]

relying on games to be low load so the card stays cool and then overheats in crysis 2 and framerate drops to gtx 460 levels is not the way to go

i don't think any game can even remotely stress the card like msi kombuster or furmark. so there's no need to only rely on them for testing stablity. i always test the stablity of a gpu oc by running like 50-100 loops of crysis or crysis warhead benchmark. or just playing them for like more than an hour or so or running unigine heaven dx11 on max settings for same amount of time. (and ofcourse vertical sync off to ensure constant maximum load on gpu) because i think cry engine 2 is one of the most demanding game engines along with unigine engine. honestly if your oc can pass hours of playing crysis warhead without a problem i really doubt it becomes unstable in any other GAMING scenario. because as i learnt by now crysis is very sensitive to any kind of oc (cpu-ram-gpu...) and i doubt crysis 2 will be much different.

 

[crow1001]

Benching Dirt2 in DX9 is just so lazy, sorry but if you buy a DX11 card you will play the game in DX11 and it does look better than DX9. The fact that DX11 performance is much better under Nvidia than AMD in Dirt 2 makes the benchmarking in DX9 even more preposterous.

 

[W1zzard]

Benching Dirt2 in DX9 is just so lazy, sorry but if you buy a DX11 card you will play the game in DX11 and it does look better than DX9. The fact that DX11 performance is much better under Nvidia than AMD in Dirt 2 makes the benchmarking in DX9 even more preposterous.

go and find out what "looks better" in dirt 2 in dx11, you'll understand

 

[wolf]

This card can achieve GPU clock of 1400MHz (under LN2) and that's 100% overclock!
Here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=4551763#post4551763

holy schmidt thats a fast running GTX480, single GPU heaven right there.

go and find out what "looks better" in dirt 2 in dx11, you'll understand

so very true, Dirt2 DX11 is not worth the performance hit for what you get visually, not by a longshot. sure tack it on if you have GPU power to spare I guess.

 

[claylomax]

whyyyy???

my stock cooled evga gtx 480 could easily reach 850 mhz core with 1.137 volt limit on the bios. fully stable!! and with unlocked bios and 1.183 volt it was reaching 880 mhz core again fully stable but with 100% fan. why on earth this card could 'nt pass 810 mhz?? do you test stablity with furmark? i think the reason of throttling is that furmark pushes card's temperature way beyound the necessary level( i mean way beyound any game can push). and the cooler can't manage it. have you tested stablity with higher clocks (but with crysis warhead or other games, not furmark) to see how it manages the temperature?

Most reference GTX480 can reach 810-840mhz on stock voltage, with 1.138 they go past 900mhz; what's more if you use stock clocks you can undervolt it and reduce the power draw and load temps a bit.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Yeah.. was expecting highger overclocks as well for the premium price

 

[the54thvoid]

Meh...

Call me captain sensible but I'm still under the impression that although the power draw is better-ish than a stock 480, it's still a big power consumer for a single card. Of course it's bloody fast. It uses 168% the power (average consumption) of a 5870. It better be 168% faster (quick check - best scenario at 2560x1600 its 125% faster than a 5870).

So to the NV camp - yay, another comparatively high consuming behemoth that trashes AMD's single chip champ. To the AMD camp, another NV behemoth that really should be better for all the power it sucks (but still doesnt beat the 5970).

Show me the GTX 580. By End November. Otherwise my cash is probably going to AMD again.

 

[crow1001]

go and find out what "looks better" in dirt 2 in dx11, you'll understand

It looks better than DX9 that's a fact, performance hit with Nvida cards going from DX9 to DX11 is minimal, same can't be said of AMD cards that get owned big time in DX11 Dirt 2, so you benchmark in DX9 as it gives great performance figure for AMD cards or is it just easier to bench in DX9 because of the DX10 cards you're benching?

IMO a reviewer should be setting the games to maximum IQ and give the results, not to edit config files to run a game off its default DX path. The card you reviewed today, you think someone is going to buy it and then run Dirt 2 in DX9??? it's crazy.

And yeah going by the below comparison there is a good difference.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...mpared-Top-article-of-December-2009/Practice/

 

[Bahmanvidia]

Most reference GTX480 can reach 810-840mhz on stock voltage, with 1.138 they go past 900mhz; what's more if you use stock clocks you can undervolt it and reduce the power draw and load temps a bit.

900 MHz with 1.138v on air?? don'think so. on water pretty sure, but not on air. because high temp makes them artifact. so you shoud either lower the temp(water or something like kfa2 480!!) or raise the voltage(on stock cooler). anyway my point was something else. why gtx 480 lightning can't even oc like a normal stock cooled 480??? (according to this review) something must be wrong!! and another thing is why does it throttle at 90 degrees? gf100s temp limit is set at 105degrees by nvidia!! why should it throttle so soon?

 

[W1zzard]

It looks better than DX9 that's a fact, performance hit with Nvida cards going from DX9 to DX11 is minimal, same can't be said of AMD cards that get owned big time in DX11 Dirt 2, so you benchmark in DX9 as it gives great performance figure for AMD cards or is it just easier to bench in DX9 because of the DX10 cards you're benching?

IMO a reviewer should be setting the games to maximum IQ and give the results, not to edit config files to run a game off its default DX path. The card you reviewed today, you think someone is going to buy it and then run Dirt 2 in DX9??? it's crazy.

And yeah going by the below comparison there is a good difference.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...mpared-Top-article-of-December-2009/Practice/

thank you for your suggestion, the next time i rebench all cards with new drivers i will rebench dirt 2 in directx 11

 

[Bahmanvidia]

thank you for your suggestion, the next time i rebench all cards with new drivers i will rebench dirt 2 in directx 11

thanks a lot man

 

[TheLostSwede]

This card can achieve GPU clock of 1400MHz (under LN2) and that's 100% overclock!
Here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=4551763#post4551763

Yeah, Elmor proved that at MSI MOA in Taipei a few weeks back, although he was one of the few that got the card running at those kind of speeds. The trick is that you need to make sure that the prodalizers don't get too cold or the card isn't going to be all that happy.

 

[claylomax]

900 MHz with 1.138v on air?? don'think so. on water pretty sure, but not on air. because high temp makes them artifact. so you shoud either lower the temp(water or something like kfa2 480!!) or raise the voltage(on stock cooler). anyway my point was something else. why gtx 480 lightning can't even oc like a normal stock cooled 480??? (according to this review) something must be wrong!! and another thing is why does it throttle at 90 degrees? gf100s temp limit is set at 105degrees by nvidia!! why should it throttle so soon?

Actually mine does 913mhz with 1.125; the fan is obviously at 100% and temps reach 84c. If I apply 1.138 my computer shuts down. Needless to say this setting is only for benchmarking, Vantage runs, Heaven, etc ... I'm still third here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=110050

 

[Bahmanvidia]

Actually mine does 913mhz with 1.125; http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=110050[/URL]

then you must be terribly lucky

 

[claylomax]

then you must be terribly lucky

That's what I thought considering that I got the card at the end of April, as they say that GPU chips get better as the production matures; it does stock clocks with 0.962v, this cuts power by some 30 watts and load temps reach 83c

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Most reference GTX480 can reach 810-840mhz on stock voltage, with 1.138 they go past 900mhz; what's more if you use stock clocks you can undervolt it and reduce the power draw and load temps a bit.

900 mhz on air is a lie! hehe. I can only get to 800 mhz max on stock volts. Not unless its a binned GTX480, Its pretty hard to believe 900mhz on stock air is possible..

 

[newtekie1]

It looks better than DX9 that's a fact, performance hit with Nvida cards going from DX9 to DX11 is minimal, same can't be said of AMD cards that get owned big time in DX11 Dirt 2, so you benchmark in DX9 as it gives great performance figure for AMD cards or is it just easier to bench in DX9 because of the DX10 cards you're benching?

IMO a reviewer should be setting the games to maximum IQ and give the results, not to edit config files to run a game off its default DX path. The card you reviewed today, you think someone is going to buy it and then run Dirt 2 in DX9??? it's crazy.

And yeah going by the below comparison there is a good difference.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...mpared-Top-article-of-December-2009/Practice/

Looks better? I'm with W1z here, it really doesn't. In fact I had to pause the game and spend a good 10 minutes trying to figure out what actually looked different, and I couldn't find it, it was like a where's waldo search. When you are racing around you will certainly never see the difference.

So, yes, I bought several DX11 cards, and I run Dirt2 in DX9 on all of them because there is no difference IQ that matters or is worth the performance hit. And yes, there is a performance hit with nVidia as well.

 

[YautjaLord]

By the end of this year. Hope that : a)HAF932 will be sufficient to cool it down (along with HX1000W to power it); b)January 10 - i'll have enough ca$h for this beast. Looks beastily !!!!!!!!! I'm ready for dual-fan Twin-Frozin' DX11-PhysX love from MSI. lol The only thing that i still feel is f***ed is 8-pin RAM connector - WTF ? Other than that - one heckuva purchase this will be. Stay tuned.