KFA2 GeForce GTX 480 Vs Gigabyte 480 gtx SE

MumboJumbo · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:12

Hello there, I own a 480 GTX SE and get reasonable temperatures but I just happened to check out a review of the KFA2 and here you can see a 470 SOC is significantly hotter than the the KFA2 480. The 470 SOC also drains 100w less power than the KFA2 so clearly it should be a lot cooler if the cooling solutions were similar?

Irritatingly the KFA2 can also be found quite a bit cheaper than the SE at sub £200. So tell me, what are your thoughts on which is the best? The KFA2 only has a 2 year warranty also. Anyone else feel like they got snapped up by the deals without really checking what else was around?

http://www.*****.net/content/item.php?item=26757&page=8

MumboJumbo · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:16

:EDIT:

oh for pity sake, blocking that website is just stupid. I'm sure most of you can work it out anyway but for those that can't here are the figures roughly:

idle temps: 4 degree difference KFA2 cooler

Load temp crysis: 20 degree diff (KFA2 hits only 59 degrees) KFA2 cooler

Load temp furmark: 15 degree diff KFA2 cooler

idle power: 153 KFA2 vs 139 470 SOC

load power crysis: 385 KFA2 vs 326 470SOC

Load furmark: 462 KFA2 vs 370 SOC.

Ch3m1c4L · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:20

they are a competitor so the name is blacklisted.

MumboJumbo · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:22

They are a review site and happen to have adverts sometimes for other shops. Shock horror that other shops exist. Oh well, I posted the general results.

Predicament · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:22

Your not allowed to post competitor links!!!!!!

hehe, just reupload the pictures on ImageShack.us or TinyPic.com

Rroff · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:23

Wouldn't touch KFA2 with a bargepole myself due to the BFG connection.

Speed · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:25

Rroff said:
Wouldn't touch KFA2 with a bargepole myself due to the BFG connection.

What BFG connection? They are Galaxy under a different name for the EU market.

MumboJumbo · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:26

True, I got caught with my pants down by BFG unfortunetly. They were the best company around, they went bust because of some nvidia/intel backstab apparently.

Predicament said:
Your not allowed to post competitor links!!!!!!

hehe, just reupload the pictures on ImageShack.us or TinyPic.com

They have the logo, I wouldn't want to offend anyone. They aren't a competitor, they are a review site. A well known one. No different to bit-tech and bit-tech pretty much sponsor another shop but we are allowed to post their reviews. In fact bit-tech are worse than they are.

A tech forum where you can't post tech review links. Wonder how long it will be till bit-tech is scored off. I don't even remember that stealthy one popping in, people used to post reviews to them way back when.

MumboJumbo · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:26

Speed said:
What BFG connection? They are Galaxy under a different name for the EU market.

Last I heard they were BFG.

Rroff · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:27

They are backed by Galaxy but they've taken over a lot of BFG's infrastructure in the UK (buildings, staff, suppliers, etc.)... and given the high failure rate (even taking into account people abusing the warranty) I wouldn't touch them just incase they have the same issues as BFG.

Speed · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:36

8igdave said:
Last I heard they were BFG.

They are not.

Rroff said:
They are backed by Galaxy but they've taken over a lot of BFG's infrastructure in the UK (buildings, staff, suppliers, etc.)... and given the high failure rate (even taking into account people abusing the warranty) I wouldn't touch them just incase they have the same issues as BFG.

I can't see that being a problem, but each to their own. They are still two different companies with different leadership, even if they do now use some of the same suppliers, buildings and staff as BFG that does not mean they are going to go under.

MumboJumbo · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:38

I doubt KFA2 will go under. More to the point, do you guys feel the KFA2 is the better call? While there isn't a direct comparison, the 470 SOC must run cooler than the 480 SOC and yet the KFA2 completely trashes it. Maybe the KFA2 is very loud instead.

Rroff · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:44

I'm not worried about them going under, I'm worried about them suffering from similiar failure issues as BFG.

razerbwfc · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:50

I've just bought the KFA2 Anarchy after my local shop dropped the price to £196.

I can confirm it runs very cool indeed. Idles at 32 degrees and haven't seen it go over 54 whilst gaming, that's at 30% fan speed. I've messed about a bit with overclocking and it doesn't make a huge difference to the temperatures. Certainly not compared to some of the temps people are reporting with the gigabyte SOC's...

Loving it so far

Buckster · 24 Apr 2011 at 13:57

54 seems ridiculously low for a 480 under load - do you live in a fridge ?

seriously I've seen higher watercooled !

razerbwfc · 24 Apr 2011 at 14:03

Buckster said:
54 seems ridiculously low for a 480 under load - do you live in a fridge ?

seriously I've seen higher watercooled !

Been monitoring it all day today with an OSD and it still hasn't been over 54. That's playing homefront, gta4 and crysis 2.

Speed · 24 Apr 2011 at 14:18

Yes but what is the room temperature? It has a big impact on temperatures, yours seems very low, so much so that I'd guess you have Air Con or something!

MumboJumbo · 24 Apr 2011 at 15:19

The review I posted before saw 54 in crysis. They seem to be extremely cool running.

Speed · 24 Apr 2011 at 15:56

Hmm, I guess with a non-reference PCB and cooler they can tune things much better than nVidia could with the reference design.

razerbwfc · 24 Apr 2011 at 16:14

Speed said:
Yes but what is the room temperature? It has a big impact on temperatures, yours seems very low, so much so that I'd guess you have Air Con or something!

No air con and our house is always very warm. Sun is out and it's a very hot day, but still low temps. My case is nice and big with 2 big fans on the side and decent airflow, which probably has something to do with it.

I'm genuinely surprised at how cool it runs.