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

[MikeHiow]

Perhaps I misunderstood you, but it appeared that you were advocating that extra vram is pointless (as have so many others in this thread).

I'm still stuck between the 480 and 6950 (flashed). If I don't make my mind up by tomorrow (Well, tonight!) I guess it'll be made for me.

 

[ToxicTBag]

Morning all quick question would appreciate your input. I have had gtx 480 on air before and it was fine, only the power consumption was a concern. If i were to watercool them would there be much if any power saving in doing so?
Much appreciated

 

[bhavv]

Perhaps I misunderstood you, but it appeared that you were advocating that extra vram is pointless (as have so many others in this thread).

I was pointing out how useless the extra Vram is at 1920x1200. If someone is gaming at 2560x1600 and doesnt already have a card as powerful as the GTX 480, it makes a solid buy at this price.

Even if someone is gaming at 1920x1200 and doesnt already have a card this powerful, the GTX 480 makes a solid buy at this price.

For a person who just bought a pair of GTX 560s for gaming at 1920x1200, the GTX 480 is pretty meh . The extra Vram doesnt mean a thing.

 

[MikeHiow]

Oh course, I wouldn't be upgrading from a 560, but coming from a 4890 into this price point, it seems silly to go anywhere other than the 480 with 1.5GB or the 6950 with 2GB.

 

[bhavv]

Oh course, I wouldn't be upgrading from a 560, but coming from a 4890 into this price point, it seems silly to go anywhere other than the 480 with 1.5GB or the 6950 with 2GB.

Well duh?

Order a GTX 480 now!

 

[Aedus]

Well I've still got my 8800GTX, I'm looking at upgrading at some point this year for other games since my good old card can't really keep up anymore.

Thing is, I don't need the card right now, maybe in a few months time, so would it be worth waiting to see what comes out later this year, or is it good to grab a deal like this?
The card does seem very cheap for the performance increase it will give me, not sure if I should wait and see maybe to get a mid tier card of the next gen, or something like this instead.

Advise me, oh great GPU guru's!

 

[GTA767]

buy or not

200 pounda plus 70 on waterblock do i need sli at all

 

[Paul11]

Well I've still got my 8800GTX, I'm looking at upgrading at some point this year for other games since my good old card can't really keep up anymore.

Thing is, I don't need the card right now, maybe in a few months time, so would it be worth waiting to see what comes out later this year, or is it good to grab a deal like this?
The card does seem very cheap for the performance increase it will give me, not sure if I should wait and see maybe to get a mid tier card of the next gen, or something like this instead.

Advise me, oh great GPU guru's!

Im in exactly the same position

have a gtx8800.. dont really need a new card urgently, just at some point

 

[Vertigo]

At 2560x1600 resolution it is yes.

Which isn't the question of course

I play at 1920x1200 and dont mind only using 4x AA if I have to.

I never, ever use more than 4xAA as, beyond that, it makes virtually no difference at all unless you're pixel-peeping screenshots.

Thats also what I've asked here, to show me where more than 1 Gb Vram makes a significant difference at 1920x1200.

He can't, because it doesn't.

All he has are theories on "glitching" and some tenuous test of NFS:HP at 32xAA. There are no actual figures to back up his claims because they're nonsense. If you read the reviews of the Gigabyte 560Ti SOC, it beats the 480 in the vast majority of tests at 1920x1200 with up to 4xAA, with no mention of "glitching" or any other problems.

 

[chaparral]

Advise me, oh great GPU guru's!

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..

 

[mmj_uk]

Having double the Vram really makes a huge difference:

....

A whole extra 0.5 FPS!

Isn't that using the blurrovision AA which has an extremely low memory footprint? I could be wrong I'm not sure what analytical AA is.

 

[555BUK]

And I'm making the point that your not going to be exceeding 1 Gb Vram by enough to notice significant slowdown or crash any game at 1920x1200, at least not for another couple of years.

This is true. The only games I have used that require more than 1GB VRAM @ 1920x1200 are Metro 2033 and F1 2010 (rather strangely). Afterburner shows both on these eating >1.2GB when max settings and AA are applied.

The simple solution is to turn down AA by a notch or two for cards with only 1GB.

 

[HangTime]

Im in exactly the same position

have a gtx8800.. dont really need a new card urgently, just at some point

Well it's going to be over a week before you get this card anyway, and that's assuming it arrives on time (I think we all know "arriving late next week" means it'll probably be delayed until the middle of the following week, then with a backlog of orders to fulfill we could be sat here in a fortnight still on our existing cards).

 

[[TW]Fox]

Oh course, I wouldn't be upgrading from a 560, but coming from a 4890 into this price point, it seems silly to go anywhere other than the 480 with 1.5GB or the 6950 with 2GB.

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

 

[Buckster]

yea I 'm similar to yourself - the 560Ti I just relooked at reviews and it does seem indeed at 1900 - even with AA its not far behind the 480 - and a lot cooler

that said I like the idea of the sheer grunt of the 480 ... even though it gets hotter

 

[[TW]Fox]

It's a shame there isnt more info to seperate them really, RavenXXXX's posts seem more like purchase justification than technical advice to me.

 

[MikeHiow]

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

There seems to be two sides of the fence here;

Side A. Say 1.5 - 2GB can/will be useful within the card's life span, with examples of games that can already utilise over 1GB.

Side B. Say "that's rubbish" and there is no further argument or example.

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.

If you buy a 1.5-2GB card and you're wrong, you've lost nothing.

If you buy a 1GB card and you're wrong, you are at a loss.

Personally, I'd want every ounce of performance I could get for my money.

 

[Andrei23]

This is true. The only games I have used that require more than 1GB VRAM @ 1920x1200 are Metro 2033 and F1 2010 (rather strangely). Afterburner shows both on these eating >1.2GB when max settings and AA are applied.

The simple solution is to turn down AA by a notch or two for cards with only 1GB.

How do you get Afterburner to show you how much vram you are using?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Side A. Say 1.5 - 2GB can/will be useful within the card's life span, with examples of games that can already utilise over 1GB.

I'm not sure thats true. I've seen claims of games that already use it but these are never backed up in benchmarks - people have yet to post a single chart that demonstrates it, meaning all we are left with is subjective user opinion which in this particular forum is dangerous because each graphics card appears to come with a contract stating you must support it, until the death, over the internet.

Side B. Say "that's rubbish" and there is no further argument or example.

I don't knw if its rubbish, which is why I'm trying and failing to clarify things. What I do know is that on the several occasions I've gone for the bigger memory card the card itself was obselete long before the memory was acknowledged to be insufficient.

If you buy a 1.5-2GB card and you're wrong, you've lost nothing.

If you buy a 1GB card and you're wrong, you are at a loss.

If you buy a 1.5Gb 480 and you are wrong, you have a very hot, noisy and power hungry card delivering the same performance as a far more efficient, cooler and quieter card in the shape of the 560 Ti SOC.

At least thats where my head is right now.

The other thing in the 560's favour is that in a years time you can pick up another one for not much money and double your performance (And get you 2gb of VRAM) by using SLI.

Unless your PC is powered by Sizewell B, this is probably not an option for the 480.

 

[The Halk]

The 560 is a tenner more, and doesn't come with a free game. Additionally the 480 is just simply faster for anything you'll use it for. In a couple of years time when you're ready to chuck it, you'll maybe want the higher amount of memory.

On the other hand the 560 is quieter and more power effcient, so will dump less heat into the room. 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.

There's pretty clear choices there.