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

Would be between this and the 6950 if you flash it to a 6970. A 6950 flashed and clocked will be very close to a clocked GTX480. Both will comfortably beat a 560Ti.

It may be that the 6950(70) would last a bit longer, especially at higher resolutions and with AA on, due to its greater VRAM. On the other hand by the time that really matters a great deal, you'll probably be looking for a new card anyway. 6950/70 will use less power than a 480 and likely be a bit cooler as well and quieter under load.

With the GTX480 you get PhysX and CUDA, which many people never want/use anyway. PhysX is nice imho in the games where it's implemented, but these are few in number. Also you don't need to go through the hassle of flashing and have the (unlikely) possibility it won't flash successfully.

Not a lot to choose between a flashed 6950 and the 480, tbh.
 
strumpusplunket said:
Would be between this and the 6950 if you flash it to a 6970. A 6950 flashed and clocked will be very close to a clocked GTX480. Both will comfortably beat a 560Ti.

It may be that the 6950(70) would last a bit longer, especially at higher resolutions and with AA on, due to its greater VRAM. On the other hand by the time that really matters a great deal, you'll probably be looking for a new card anyway. 6950/70 will use less power than a 480 and likely be a bit cooler as well and quieter under load.

With the GTX480 you get PhysX and CUDA, which many people never want/use anyway. PhysX is nice imho in the games where it's implemented, but these are few in number. Also you don't need to go through the hassle of flashing and have the (unlikely) possibility it won't flash successfully.

Not a lot to choose between a flashed 6950 and the 480, tbh.
Click to expand...

I would have thought the 480 overclocked would beat the flashed 6950 fairly comfortably, seeing as the 480 and 6970 are pretty evenly matched at stock, but overclocks of 20%+ seem normal for the 480 whereas the 6950 struggles to overclock more than 10% past 6970 speeds.
 
Yeah, it's swings and roundabouts when you take overclocking into account. It's true that most 480s will clock further without issue, but there are no guarantees with overclocking - especially if you're in a cramped case and heat becomes an issue for the 480.

My 480 is clocked to speeds that will comfortably beat a flashed and clocked 6950, and still has room to manoeuvre. For other people, I guess noise and heat might be an issue putting them off those clocks (not an issue at all for me in a HAF932).

I'd personally go for the 480, but I know others who've had issues with heat and noise, so I was trying to be balanced.

They're both excellent cards for the money right now, and the decision will probably be based on a variety of factors - overclocking, flashing, heat, noise, PhysX, CUDA, relative performance in preferred games, etc...
 
On air. It's neither heat nor voltage tbh. It's just this is the sweet spot before each further increment needs increasingly more voltage to be stable. I've had 860MHz stable, but it took another 2 voltage bumps to get there. It's still perfectly okay in terms of heat/noise, but as I'm on a Q6600 and gaming at 1680x1050 it's not a trade-off I really gain anything from, hence preferring this clock to 860 (or more) with higher volts.

When I get a new rig in a few months I will push on and up towards the maximum that I can get with acceptable heat generated. For now, this seems the best option.

Edit: BTW, just recognised your name. Really enjoyed your build log!
 
Cheers buddy. That's why I asked about whether it was heat limiting the overclock - going to be under water passive! :D

I'm gaming at 1680x1050 atm as well but might use my 1080p tv instead and use my current screen as as second desktop.

Decided to take the plunge and get a 480GTX. Quite excited - should be a good step up from my ageing 4850!
 
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ok I had my gtx 480 839 core 4000mem at default voltage 1.012(as seen in smart doctor).. I was playing crysis warhead everything fine, at some point I got a screen lock up.. with very mild artifacting, misplaced dots I think around a tree.. must have been around 20 dots not something insane.. but screen remained locked for like 6-7 secs music still playing.. I hit the reset button.. Does this sound like mem or core I should lower?
 
@ thanos
How did you get to those overclocks?
Did you stress test your overclocks at every incrementle increase?
Did you just whack em up and hope for the best?

perhaps you should reset one or the other and re-test.
 
namorismo said:
@ thanos
How did you get to those overclocks?
Did you stress test your overclocks at every incrementle increase?
Did you just whack em up and hope for the best?

perhaps you should reset one or the other and re-test.
Click to expand...

I whacked em up and hoped for the best!! lol
no I am kidding..
I did a bit of rthdribl testing, about 5 minutes and then crysis gaming for about 15 mins..
What is the best way(I mean fail really fast if unstable) to stability check my card?
pls do not recommend occt or furmark, they put far too much stress on the card.. I am worried of blowing up the vrms due to extreme power consumption
 
Thanos123k said:
ok I had my gtx 480 839 core 4000mem at default voltage 1.012(as seen in smart doctor).. I was playing crysis warhead everything fine, at some point I got a screen lock up.. with very mild artifacting, misplaced dots I think around a tree.. must have been around 20 dots not something insane.. but screen remained locked for like 6-7 secs music still playing.. I hit the reset button.. Does this sound like mem or core I should lower?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about overclocking memory, it makes knack all difference. Heaven looping is a good stability test, and a good measure of real world stability. (Give it an hour or so.)
 
kitch9 said:
I wouldn't worry about overclocking memory, it makes knack all difference. Heaven looping is a good stability test, and a good measure of real world stability. (Give it an hour or so.)
Click to expand...

you mean this Unigine Heaven DirectX 11 benchmark 2.1??
1 hour eh? nice lol.. Should I reset both clocks and start again? or gradually decrease from current position?
 
Thanos123k said:
you mean this Unigine Heaven DirectX 11 benchmark 2.1??
1 hour eh? nice lol.. Should I reset both clocks and start again? or gradually decrease from current position?
Click to expand...

To be fair I haven't touched my memory, I just whacked Voltage to max allowable and set 850mhz on gpu and left it at that.

Temps around 80 with about 60% fan set to a manual auto profile in Afterburner.

Runs like a champ.

I did try knocking voltage down but started to notice the odd artifact so I left it at max. The GPU only pulls 1090mv in GPU-z though at that so its all good.
 
I gave up today was hoping for a redrop in price but decided to go for an oc'd Gtx570

Once id factored in cost of 6 to 8 pin adapter price diff was 40 or so

Thought that extra was worth it in long run for lower temps, noise etc

Time will tell
 
Ok I seem to be having an issue with the card. I keep getting flashing blue lines up and down the screen intermittently. What is going wrong? Memory overheating?
 
bilston said:
Ok I seem to be having an issue with the card. I keep getting flashing blue lines up and down the screen intermittently. What is going wrong? Memory overheating?
Click to expand...

Random artifacts tend to be GPU issues. Artifacts that follow a pattern such as checkerboard, or fixed lines tend to be memory issues.
 
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