• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

*****The Worlds Fastest and most Overclockable GTX 480 Exclusively Available from OcUK - MSI GTX 480

RavenXXX2 said:
It's a digital connection, the signal either gets through or it does not. ;)
Click to expand...

Rather naive simplistic reasoning there! As my digital signals prof used to say at uni, there's no such thing as a digital signal :) :) (oh what stunned shock we all feigned the first time, and oh how we rolled our eyes/groaned/lol'd every time afterwards). A digital signal is a very analogue voltage waveform rising and falling as the characteristics of its medium dictate. Signal degradation resulting in errors/artifacting is part and parcel of a digital data connection just as much as an analogue signal. The symptoms are just different. It certainly isn't a case of all or nothing just because a connection is digital. I mostly lol when bs-talking audio/videophile types talk about a super expensive HDMI cable or something else digital, but describe improvements that are purely in the realm of analogue signals - a clearer picture, more vivid colours, etc etc:rolleyes:

Anyway - that said, the gold plating on these connections is doing pretty much nowt. Whilst gold/silver does indeed have greater conductivity than copper/steel/whatever, the difference a microns-thick layer of gold has on the conductivity of the whole signal path is immeasurable. Good conductivity is not why precious metals get put on connectors of 'high-end' video/audio equipment. It's purely as Gamer4Life pointed out - inert metals dont oxidise. Because whilst there is nothing wrong with the conductivity of copper/steel/aluminium, there is a lot wrong with the conductivity of their oxides if enough is allowed to build up.

Really really not a major problem for a PC graphics card given its environment and expected service life. The real reason this card has gold plated connectors is simply marketing BS. Consumers have been conditioned to expect precious metal coatings on the connectors of their high end audio/video electronic equipment, even if they dont understand why it should be there, and that is the reason it's there :).

[/OT waffle]
 
Last edited:
Problem with the price is that for the same money you can buy two gtx470's and two 2nd hand waterblocks.
 
Last edited:
reiyushin said:
Comparing it to water cooled gear makes no sense, yes it would out perform it but you need have have a waterloop to begin with...
Click to expand...

But surly if you going to spend £470 on a video card you should allready have watercooled you're computer and have the CPU totally maxed out. :D
 
jorzeh said:
But surly if you going to spend £470 on a video card you should allready have watercooled you're computer and have the CPU totally maxed out. :D
Click to expand...

Tell that to anyone who bought a 5970 :P

Watercooling is a tiny percentage of the population, this card will give similar clocks without any watercooling issues or requirements.

The 480 is a BMW M3, pricey but high performance.
The Lightning is an M3, with bling alloys, gadgetry and a improved tuning which nets more slightly performance but at a much higher price.
Watercooling is a kit car, will blow the M3 out of the water on the track but requires time, effort and knowledge to be built and maintained.

It's something special, innovative tech and all that jazz, imo it's a little OTT in the pricing but it's an awesome card.
 
reiyushin said:
Tell that to anyone who bought a 5970 :P

Watercooling is a tiny percentage of the population, this card will give similar clocks without any watercooling issues or requirements.

The 480 is a BMW M3, pricey but high performance.
The Lightning is an M3, with bling alloys, gadgetry and a improved tuning which nets more slightly performance but at a much higher price.
Watercooling is a kit car, will blow the M3 out of the water on the track but requires time, effort and knowledge to be built and maintained.

It's something special, innovative tech and all that jazz, imo it's a little OTT in the pricing but it's an awesome card.
Click to expand...

I was replying to NathWraith's post earlier when he said that this card would be awesome water-cooled (core only block) as it has the military grade components.

Also, £140 premium over a normal card? You are getting on for a complete GPU loop's worth of money there...
 
Marvin said:
I was replying to NathWraith's post earlier when he said that this card would be awesome water-cooled (core only block) as it has the military grade components.

Also, £140 premium over a normal card? You are getting on for a complete GPU loop's worth of money there...
Click to expand...

You want the best, you pay for the best.
The fact is that this IS the worlds fastest and most overclockable GTX 480, it doesn't mean it has to be such by a large margain, it's all a marketing gimmick :)
 
bJN said:
You want the best, you pay for the best.
The fact is that this IS the worlds fastest and most overclockable GTX 480, it doesn't mean it has to be such by a large margain, it's all a marketing gimmick :)
Click to expand...

How much further does it overclock on air or water though, thats what I'm not convinced by, going 25-50Mhz further, a whole 2-4%, on LN2, thats simply not sustainable and I think its fair to say, only 0.000001% of all 480gtx's made will even end up in the same building as any LN2, doesn't cut it for me.

I haven't seen any(nor not seen any, ) proof it will actually overclock better than another 3rd party cooled 480gtx, and if it does, is it the cooler(£20) or the better components (£20) or the marketing guys putting go faster stripes on the box (£120)?

People just state it, as fact, it overclocks further than any other card, strictly speaking true, but people are then taking that and translating it to, it will also overclock further on air, and water, but thats not necessarily true.

I doubt it runs cooler than other 480gtx's under LN2, its likely increased power supply when on the very limit, that isn't actually going to improve clocks except after other cards have run out of power, which we've seen is above 1100Mhz under LN2.
 
drunkenmaster said:
How much further does it overclock on air or water though, thats what I'm not convinced by, going 25-50Mhz further, a whole 2-4%, on LN2, thats simply not sustainable and I think its fair to say, only 0.000001% of all 480gtx's made will even end up in the same building as any LN2, doesn't cut it for me.

I haven't seen any(nor not seen any, ) proof it will actually overclock better than another 3rd party cooled 480gtx, and if it does, is it the cooler(£20) or the better components (£20) or the marketing guys putting go faster stripes on the box (£120)?

People just state it, as fact, it overclocks further than any other card, strictly speaking true, but people are then taking that and translating it to, it will also overclock further on air, and water, but thats not necessarily true.

I doubt it runs cooler than other 480gtx's under LN2, its likely increased power supply when on the very limit, that isn't actually going to improve clocks except after other cards have run out of power, which we've seen is above 1100Mhz under LN2.
Click to expand...

You're missing the point I was trying to make, even if you got a 1Mhz increase across all points of overclocking over any other GTX 480, it would still be classed as the "World's Fastest and most Overclockable" simply because there is nothing that beats it. As I said, it could be 1Ghz above, or 1Mhz above, it's still the fastest regardless - i.e. it's a marketing gimmick ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom