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Eyefinity gets owned by NVIDIA Surround

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Round 1. Fight!

If another walrus comes out of the surf does that make it CrossFire?

On another tangent... I'm hugely pleased to see a multi-screen offering from nVidia at last, but does anyone know if it can be hacked to work with older cards (specifically 8800GTX in SLi)?
 
When I first came into this thread, I thought it was going to be a bit of a mess. Fortunately though, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I have removed several posts and edited a couple so the discussion remains somewhat civil.

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Round 1. Fight!

LoL, you got them the wrong way, Nvidia is the fat, sweaty and hot walrus, ATI the lean, cool polar bear.:D

Very good. :D

Lets try and keep this thread relatively constructive though and without insulting one another, which for the most part, is the way the thread has turned out. If I have missed any posts that you feel need to be dealt with, please report them and I shall take a look.

Thank you. :)
 
:D or as strange as your comment!!

If not pretending to be an expert about an GPU ive never seen or used is flawed logic then fine, you'll notice i haven't critized ATI, because i've never owned one, so i can't make a sensible, intelligent opinion about them, unlike some!! ;)

Your comment was flawed because it would be silly for someone to buy 480 if they personally did not like the issue of extra heat,noise & power draw so of course your going to get more comments from ATI users about it because it may of been the extra heat,noise that made them buy the ATI card over the 480.
So in your eyes because they went & bought the ATI because of those issues they have no right to bring them up on the 480.
 
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Your comment was flawed because it would be silly for someone to buy 480 if they personally did not like the issue of extra heat,noise & power draw so of course your going to get more comments from ATI users about it because it may of been the extra heat,noise that made them buy the ATI card over the 480.
So in your eyes because they went & bought the ATI because of those issues they have no right to bring them up on the 480.

your comment is flawed because it is based on the ati users using secondary experience for their choice which everyone over the age of 12 knows is always inaccurate to you, although inaccuracy varies from a single word to the whole article, either way they can still make a huge difference

if you have no primary experience with something then you should not bring up that something without expressing that you are using secondary sources.
 
your comment is flawed because it is based on the ati users using secondary experience for their choice which everyone over the age of 12 knows is always inaccurate to you, although inaccuracy varies from a single word to the whole article, either way they can still make a huge difference

if you have no primary experience with something then you should not bring up that something without expressing that you are using secondary sources.

You don't need first hand experience of everything when it based on a basic understanding as something as common as hearing, heat & power.

If the majority of people who tested both product perceive a product to sound louder than another hotter & more power thirsty then others will also & plus all the issues can be electronically measured.

Most of the people here bought on what others & review sites have said including the 480 owners.
 
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An interesting article about Fermi and heat.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1888&pageID=9227


That's pretty much it for our thermal study on the GTX-480. We saw temperatures range from around 59°C to upwards of 90°C in the most grueling conditions we could think of. The GTX-480 isn't the coolest running GPU we've ever seen but initial reports of 96°C stemming from Furmark got it a lot of attention. If we had to place an average temperature on the GTX-480 we would say between 75 - 85°C with about 20°C of overhead left until it would throttle.

There's the cut and dried of it. Early reports were done in Furmark with no thought of actual real life performance and in Furmark the difference between the GTX-480 and the HD 5870 was a mere 4°C.

When the GTX-295 came out it was heralded as a breakthrough dual core GPU and it didn't receive any of the harping that the GTX-480 got. Yet stuff 3 Billion transistors on a single core GPU that has more power than the GTX-295 and suddenly it's unacceptable.

What we find unacceptable is the unfair treatment it got. When sites threw up the 96°C the GTX-480 runs at they failed to mention the slight difference between it and the other top end cards out there.

We hope this study sheds a little more realistic light on the thermal properties of the GTX-480 and puts an end to the mountain of GTX-480 E-Mail we've gotten about it's thermal properties. What it comes down to is it's designed to operate at those temperatures and as long as that doesn't affect longevity we are good with it.

When core refinements come down the pipeline chances are the GTX-480 will run a little cooler but the simple fact is pack 3 Billion transistors in that small a Die and you will get some heat. You also get a GPU that will run anything out there without compromising visual quality.

E-mails about the thermal qualities of the GTX-480 to date more than 4000. E-Mail reply's to date Zero. We did find them a little funny so we saved them for when we need a chuckle.

Although I run my cards on water I have run a few 480's on air and it has behaved no different in terms of heat to all my other top end cards which I have bought over the years.

I have also noticed that there are some 5800 owners that seem to bash the 480 about heat and power usage. Even though these same people overclock their 5800 series cards to get more performance from their cards. Overclocking these cards increase power and heat straight away. A volt mod and overclock can put a good 60-80w on a 5870 which puts it smack bang in 480gtx territory. Why is this never mentioned?

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/10/25/asus_eah5870_video_card_review/9


The term power is used so much these days without any real thought behind it. The way it is used implies that buying a certain card will boost their electric bill by massive amount. When in reality it wont at all. The difference between a 5870 (188w) and a 480gtx (250w) both at stock clocks and full load is 62w which is not allot at all in terms of the electric bill.

http://www.geeks3d.com/20090618/graphics-cards-thermal-design-power-tdp-database/

When I buy a top end card I except its going to cost a fair bit, use more power and output more heat than a low end or mid range card. On the flip side its going to give me an excellent gaming experience and should last many years before I need to change it to keep up with the eyecandy.

I cant understand why some feel threatened, bitter or upset about a certain tech if it trumps theirs. Tech is evolving all the time and what is top dog today will be old news next year and superseded. If tech doesnt evolve and if there isnt any new competition the market stagnates and we consumer all loose out. Look at what happened to the 8800 series. ATI struggled with the 2000/3000 series and all we got was die shrinks and no real progression as Nvidia sat back and resold us the same cards just rebadged (9800 series). The same happened again with 5000 series and Nvidia's lack of a dx11 card or any new card. Ati upped their prices from launch and instead of refreshing after 6 months which is the norm we still have the same cards which have only just recently started to fall in price.

IMO new tech should always welcomed and if that tech brings new features the table all the better for us. As enthusiasts surely thats what we all want to see. Just because new tech arrives on the scene it doesn't mean previous tech is poor, it just means that there is something new on the market and if we so choose we have the option of trying it out. If not we still have our current tech to enjoy and get the most out of. :)

Sorry for the long post :D
 
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I don't take my conclusions from any one source neither should anyone else.
You have to look at the over all picture to get the balance.

Also furmark is not realword testing.

You obviously didn't read the article at all as games were included. Nor it seems have you read my post. ;)

If you looked at the overall picture you would see that the 480 is just like any other top end gpu. In terms of heat.

A 480 performs very well in games, allows the user to pile on the AA with very little hit to frames, has a new type of AA (TRSAA), can go upto 96xAA with SLI, has 3d, physx, good dx11 etc... I dont understand how this can all be ignored? Surely this is progression?
 
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You obviously didn't read the article at all as games were included. Nor it seems have you read my post. ;)

If you looked at the overal picture you would see that the 480 is just like any other top end gpu. In terms of heat.

A 480 performs very well in games, allows the user to pile on the AA with very little hit to frames, has a new type of AA (TRSAA), can go upto 96xAA with SLI, has 3d, physx, good dx11 etc... I dont understand how this can all be ignored? Surely this is progression?

Read through my posts.
& noticed what i quoted from you & see what my question are about.

Multi screen, heat, power & noise.
The reviews over all do not give that impression of being no different from highend single GPU cards & maybe because they do not have to go on memory & that they have both cards sitting there to be tested at the same time.

And no i did not read that review because that is one of many that i have seen & one more in favour does not shift the balance of my conclusion.
 
Your conclusion is only relevant to yourself. Not to others.

No one is trying to convince you to buy a 480, I certainly dont care what tech someone else uses in their rig as long as they are happy with it.

What I was trying to point out in my post, is that the 480 for me has behaved not different in terms of noise and heat to my previous top end cards that I have owned over the years. I would just like to add I have used 3 different 480's in three different rigs all of which I own.

If you want the best overall experience in terms of eye candy which is what a top end card is for the 480 at the moment is leading the pack due to the features I have already mentioned

allows the user to pile on the AA with very little hit to frames, has a new type of AA (TRSAA), can go upto 96xAA with SLI, has 3d, physx, good dx11 etc...


For me buying a top end card has never been about power, heat or noise otherwise I would have got a midrange or low end card instead. Its always been about new features, max eyecandy and longevity. This also applies to my cpu purchases.

I totally understand that not everyone shares the same view which is why we have a broad spectrum of different setups on the pc gaming scene. There is no right or wrong path to take as expectations varies from user to user.
 
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Your conclusion is only relevant to yourself. Not to others.

The over all conclusions of the reviews matter to most or there wouldn't be any reviews of anything otherwise.

Notice how much of your comments i cutout because im not talking about most of what your saying & its nothing todo with what i want.

Its about the facts that most sites say about the heat power & noise & that's all.
I personally don't care about the heat & power but what i do care about is the facts.
 
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The over all conclusions of the reviews matter to most or there wouldnt be any reviews of anything otherwise.

I always use reviews as a guide and base most of my info from user feed back and actually owning the gear. I normally find that the real view on a product emerges at least a good few months after the product is released and many have have been using it.

If you read the reviews you will see that fermi handles AA very well, has a new type of AA, handles dx11 very well, scales stupidly well in sli, scales well when clocked, has 3d, is the fastest single gpu, doesn't have a silent cooler, has physx, has 3d etc....

Or you could just focus on the fact that it runs 4-5c hotter than a 5870, uses 62watts of power more than a 5870.

You could also ignore the fact that the 5870 when overclocked to keep up with the 480 uses about the same power as a 480. Its heat will also rise nearer that of a 480 at full load. Of course this is fine even though a 5870 doesnt have 32xAA, TRSAA, physx, 3d, weaker multi gpu scaling etc...

This doesnt mean a 5870 is a bad card, all it means is that there is another card with more advanced features which is faster, uses a bit more juice and will run a few degrees hotter.
 
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Notice how much of your comments i cutout because im not talking about most of what your saying & its nothing todo with what i want.

Its about the facts that most sites say about the heat power & noise & that's all.
I personally don't care about the heat & power but what i do care about is the facts.

Well the facts have been included in my posts about all aspects of the 480. Again its upto the individual which path they take, neither path is right or wrong as long as all the facts are taken into account and the user gets what they paid for. :)
 
Sorry razor but it looks like your trying real hard to justify you purchase, just enjoy your rig and let it be.

Nothing to be sorry for. I have three different rigs and I am pleased with them all.

It seems to me that there is allot of negative posts about new tech in this forum and most of it is coming from ATI owners. As an ATI owner yes I own a few ATI cards and have owned many ATI cards over the years I find this approach wrong especially if people are coming here to find info on their next gpu. The heat and power statement is banded about like its the only reason to buy or not to buy a top end gpu, when in fact there are many reasons which should be mentioned. The way some use this term it would have people thinking that their pc's will melt and their electric bill jump up considerably and cost them a fortune.
 
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