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**Gigabyte Super OC GTX 480's - VERY LOW PRICES!**

Buckster said:
is it the same card ? did you make note of the serial number before sending it off ?
Click to expand...

No the card is definitely different.

I thought I would update on my solution for the meantime until I decide what to do with the card. I found that keeping the card well below 80 degrees helps massively with stability, although this card is still not perfect as it will not work error free at stock BIOS settings.

I used MSI Afterburner to create and test a custom fan profile to override the stock fan profile in the BIOS:

fanspeed.jpg


I also noticed that power consumption is massively affected by heat with this GPU. I know semiconductor electrical resistance is reduced with increased temperature, but the resistance of metal is increased, so maybe the circuit as a whole is affected when the temp increases.

I noticed this because when idle at 40 degrees one LED is lit, if the GPU temp rises over 45 degrees or thereabouts two LEDs light up even though the load has not changed. Imagine the difference made when under full load with a massive temp increase. You can monitor this increased current draw with the OC Guru utility and experiment for yourself to see it increase as the heat increases, even when the load stays the same.

This is seriously making me consider water cooling...
 
scorpionUK said:
Just wanted to add my overall very positive experience of this card so far. It seems to be working very well after the first couple of hours of use. In game (Shogun 2) load temps are peeking at around 83C with the auto fan speed ramping up to about 74%. I'm finding a huge performance improvement moving from 2xGTX 260 (SLI) in Shogun 2.

A couple of odd things I noticed:

The clocks are 700 Core, 1400 shader , 924 memory by default. I'm having to set them manually to the overclocked settings (820, 1650, 950 respectively). Is this common with all of these cards?

I can't get the OC Guru OSD to display at all. Does this feature actually work?
Click to expand...

Well it looks like I spoke too soon. With a bit more robust testing using OCCT, errors have been detected when running at 820, 1640, 950. I guess this is why the clocks are set at 700 etc. by default on mine :(

I noticed the card is idling very hot at around the mid 50s and the temps are getting up to 90C+ under load. It is when they hit around 85+ that the errors begin and their rate gets progressively worse as the card heats up more.
 
Buckster said:
scorpion if set to 700 as default it is NOT a SOC card is the SE
Click to expand...

Hmm, I definately ordered the SOC and it came in an SOC box, so I may have the wrong card having been put in it! Is there any physical difference between the SOC and SE that I could check?

Scratch that - the dual Bios button is unique to the SOC IIRC.
 
er - no they look very similar if not identical as use same PCB (according to this thread), and same cooler

there should be a part number or serial label on the back though

which should say SOC or something on it

ALSO key giveaway is the Serial number of the card is on the outside of the SOC box ..

and also on the back of the card - check they both match
 
Buckster said:
^^ thats interesting

as after 3 hrs 50 of furmark Gigabyte on an open bench had the card at 73C !!

I was up to 98C after 15 minutes
Click to expand...

I wouldn't let mine get that hot personally, I am trying to keep mine well under 80 degrees to be on the safe side. It is interesting to see that the card hit 73 degrees on the Gigabyte test bench, I am going to use that as my target temperature from now on.

I had a really nice Silverstone case with two side fans that I gave to my brother for his PC, I am sure that would have kept the card under 75 degrees in OCCT if my room was cool...

None of this changes the fact that the card must be faulty still because the default fan profile is nowhere near as aggressive as mine, and that shows Gigabyte tested their design at higher temps than I am aiming for...
 
Buckster said:
er - no they look very similar if not identical as use same PCB (according to this thread), and same cooler

there should be a part number or serial label on the back though

which should say SOC or something on it

ALSO key giveaway is the Serial number of the card is on the outside of the SOC box ..

and also on the back of the card - check they both match
Click to expand...

The serial matches up fine and the card has the Dual Bios button (currently blue lit) and the power phase LED's. Interestingly they are all lit up atm. Is that normal when idling?
 
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