*** 25/02/2011 EXTENSION! *** DEAL OF CENTURY: Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB Graphics Card with 2 FREE

[[TW]Fox]

It'll also age better if you're a moderate gamer on a moderate resolution because in a few years time it'll still be able to do the job - at low/medium detail.

And a 480 won't? Why not? What does the 480 lack that the 560 has?

 

[The Halk]

The extra memory may come into it. As you correctly pointed out it may not.

But 3 or 4 years down the line, the difference in performance will be less stark between them, and the extra memory will still be there.

 

[MikeHiow]

The trouble with benchmarks is that they are giving you a range of framerates in a very specific set of circumstances. These circumstances cannot possibly account for every situation that occurs whilst actually playing the game.

There is always the 5950 flashed to 5970 which is 10dB quieter and uses significantly less power, or if you're dead set on Nvidia then you always have the option of adding a cooler to solve your issues later - there is no cheap option to solve the issue of lacking v-ram.

Don't forget there is more performance to be had from the 480 once it is overclocked, too.

 

[RavenXXX2]

And a 480 won't? Why not? What does the 480 lack that the 560 has?

It lacks nothing, you need a 560 at 1000 core to even compete with a stock 480, you're more future proof with a 480.

 

[[TW]Fox]

The extra memory may come into it. As you correctly pointed out it may not.

But 3 or 4 years down the line, the difference in performance will be less stark between them, and the extra memory will still be there.

But you just said the 560 would age better. Why? What about the 560 would make it age better than the 480?

 

[Aedus]

a GTX 480 should be somewhere around 4x faster then your 8800gtx

Only you can answer if you need or want to buy now or wait..

Yeah I know the performance increase will be godly, but is there something else in the works that say for example, in 3 months time I could pick up for around this kind of price and get the same performance or better?

Not asking you to predict the future, but is it likely this will be the case, or are the chances high that this will be a 1 off kinda buy for the performance/price.

Also looking at the new 560 Ti as a potential candidate.

 

[[TW]Fox]

The trouble with benchmarks is that they are giving you a range of framerates in a very specific set of circumstances. These circumstances cannot possibly account for every situation that occurs whilst actually playing the game.

There is no other way - anything else is pure conjecture.

There is always the 5950 flashed to 5970 which is 10dB quieter and uses significantly less power, or if you're dead set on Nvidia then you always have the option of adding a cooler to solve your issues later - there is no cheap option to solve the issue of lacking v-ram.

There is nothing to suggest lacking v-ram is an issue though, is there?

 

[The Halk]

But you just said the 560 would age better. Why? What about the 560 would make it age better than the 480?

There's no way to tell. I'm guessing that in a few years time when both cards would struggle with medium/high detail on 1680 resolutions, the extra memory may be a consideration.

 

[MikeHiow]

Conjecture maybe, but it is no worse than relying on a test that will not necessarily properly factor all variables, there for not really indicative of real world performance.

As for V-ram, as stated, it all depends on where you look.

 

[[TW]Fox]

There's no way to tell. I'm guessing that in a few years time when both cards would struggle with medium/high detail on 1680 resolutions, the extra memory may be a consideration.

But you specifically said the 560 would age BETTER - was that a typo then?

Conjecture maybe, but it is no worse than relying on a test that will not necessarily properly factor all variables, there for not really indicative of real world performance.

As for V-ram, as stated, it all depends on where you look.

Can you show me where to look?

btw: I'm not being awkward or defending the 560. Infact, the 480 is my favourite so far. I just need to get this right.

 

[bhavv]

I'm not sure I agree. See my comments earlier - by the time 1Gb is a big problem the card is junk anyway.

I wish this was simpler and easier. The 560 Ti SOC seems the better choice but the 480 just seems more.. heavy duty, which is also appealing

This is exactly my point as well.

By the time 1.5 - 2 Gb Vram will be a requirement for games at 1920x1200, both the GTX 560 and GTX 480 will be completely obsolete junk.

There is no justification or any kind of reason to currently go over 1 Gb Vram if you are only playing at 1920x1200, at least not for another couple of gens. I dont plan on replacing my Acer G24 until the thing goes bust.

If you play at 1920x1200, the only reason why this GTX 480 makes an attractive buy is is because of its current price. The performance difference between it, and a 1 Gb GTX 560 SOC is going to be completely unnoticeable to you until both those cards are long obsolete. The noise and temperature differences however are going to be very noticeable as soon as you install a GTX 480 and start playing games.

I think buying a 1GB card now saying "Yeah well, I just won't play with a decent amount of AA" or "I have no idea what will happen with games coming out, but I'm guessing they won't use over 1GB" is slightly moronic.

It isnt moronic. A very very small number of gamers currently use graphics cards with more that 1 Gb of Vram. It would however be moronic for game developers to start making games that require 1.5 Gb+ of Vram at 1080p when the vast majority of gamers still only have 1 Gb cards at this res.

When a 2 Gb card is available for <£150 with far greater performance than both the GTX 560 and GTX 480, is when more and more developers will begin basing their games aroung that much Vram. Right now no one is going to produce a game that requires 2 Gb of Vram at 1080p until that much ram on a graphics card is the mainstream amount.

Right now, 1.5 - 2 Gb cards are purely aimed at 2560x1600, or eyefinity gaming. That is reason for why they only exist in the high end, and not in the midrange. Even in 2560x1600, the number of games that >1.5Gb Vram makes a difference can be counted on just one hand, and even in those games the difference is only significant with 8x AA or greater.

 

[The Halk]

But you specifically said the 560 would age BETTER - was that a typo then?

No, because I think it will..... I don't know how else to explain it. I think in 3-4 years memory demands on graphics cards will be higher than they are now. 3-4 years ago memory demands were less than they are now. I think that'll be a bigger consideration than the slight difference in FPS scores the two cards get.

 

[Robert]

Strange question but how does the 480 perform in WoW?

I know when it first came out that it has some serious issues with WoW.

 

[bhavv]

No, because I think it will..... I don't know how else to explain it. I think in 3-4 years memory demands on graphics cards will be higher than they are now.

They will be. And a GTX 480 will also be just as obsolete as a GTX 560 by then. The extra Vram wont matter when games are dipping to unplayable framerates on a GTX 480.

 

[MonkeykingZX]

No, because I think it will..... I don't know how else to explain it. I think in 3-4 years memory demands on graphics cards will be higher than they are now. 3-4 years ago memory demands were less than they are now. I think that'll be a bigger consideration than the slight difference in FPS scores the two cards get.

But the 480 has more memory than the 560 unless you're talking about the gainward phantom which has 2gb but is also £50 more than the gtx480 on offer.

I know people who are happily playing on 8800gts/gtx cards, considering how old those cards are I think it's gonna be a while before the 480 is truly obsolete.

 

[Type_R]

Guys the more this thread goes on the more confused I get. I can appreciate that video cards are now entering an age where there are many different resolutions they need to deliver at (? but I believe in the ~20 yrs I have been into Computers this has always been the case); but in my previous purchase of a 4870x2 there was never any argument over what it was competing against.

So far the GTX 480 (which I have pre-ordered) has been pitched against the 560 OC, the 570, the 6950, the 6970. Now I understand that at 1080p it might be competing against one product and at higher resolutions another, but surely Nvidia and Ati pitch their products against one another. Clearly the true 'competitor' to the GTX 480 was the 5870, with the 6970 being the replacement (slightly faster? much faster at higher than 1080p!).

Are some people in this thread deluded that their 6950 or 560 OC (that they paid more for) is a match for the 480. For price/performance the 480 is a no brainer.

The only issue is power consumption and heat. Coming from a 4870x2 I think both of these will be an improvement

 

[bhavv]

Are some people in this thread deluded that their 6950 or 560 OC (that they paid more for) is a match for the 480.

Nah, its a delusion to think that a reference cooled GTX 480 is that much better than a GTX 560 OC based on every review of that card I've seen so far.

The price difference is £3 against a GTX 560 OC edition. You get an extra 1-3 FPS at the most for around an extra 40 degrees, and a load more noise with the GTX 480, and that is a proven fact.

I've used a 4870 crossfire before, and based on how bad those turned out to be I would never choose to buy a GTX 480 even at this price over a GTX 560 for a few quid more.

I dont mind what other people choose to buy, and the GTX 480 at £195 is a great price for a lot of people. But most of the information being posted about how much better it is than a GTX 560 or ATI 6950 is complete nonsense.

I definitely could not recommend using more than one GTX 480 on the stock cooler alone in any SLI configuration. If you dont know why that is then google some reviews on the GTX 480 SLI.

 

[NinetyOne]

Would this card run fine with my rig? (see sig) bare in mind i only have a 650w psu.

 

[bhavv]

It says it only needs a 600 watt PSU so you should be fine with one.

 

[Buckster]

such a quandry - 480, 560 or stick with my 4890

the more I think about it - I've bought lots of games on the PC recently - but haven't really played many of them (!! lol) - most games I plough decent amount of hours into are on the 360 for the community experience