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

An update on these:-

We've now had 25 units back on these, but we've sold 300+

Yes the return rate is higher than normal, infact its double what we'd expect but over 300 people are happy with their cards and at the price well they are a bargain. :)

Were nearly out of 480's now across the board so these great deals won't be around much longer and we shall just be reliant on the GTX 560Ti. :)
 
More likely the other 275 haven't checked to make sure they are 100% working :p ;)


I still think the SE's were the better deal, no one has had problems with those, if the SOC's didn't exsist and everyone had bought SE's and just overclocked them themselves I doubt there would have been anywhere near as many sent back.
 
Gibbo said:
An update on these:-

We've now had 25 units back on these, but we've sold 300+

Yes the return rate is higher than normal, infact its double what we'd expect but over 300 people are happy with their cards and at the price well they are a bargain. :)

Were nearly out of 480's now across the board so these great deals won't be around much longer and we shall just be reliant on the GTX 560Ti. :)
Click to expand...

Gibbo, I'm trying to get an RMA number to return one of these faulty cards. Really like the deal and would really like a working card, but it would be pants if you sold out before getting it back to you and verifying the fault. What would happen then? Any chance you could push this through for me please? RMA query related order number is OC1210243.
 
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I have been doing further testing. To get my slightly more stable replacement card OCCT stable I had to do the following:

1. Make my room artificially cold by opening all the windows.
2. Remove side panel of case and hold a high speed 120mm fan next to the graphics card on full speed (really loud fan).
3. Slightly increase GPU voltage to 1.113v
4. Manually increase fans on the card to 100%

It then survived about 5 minutes of OCCT with no errors, but the temp still reached 87 degrees even with all my unrealistic cooling... I stopped the test then for the sake of the GPU. I know they can take high heat but I just wanted to be on the safe side.

I conclude that if on the Gigabyte test bench the GPU never went over 73 degrees, that either their test room is air conditioned to about 5 degrees or they are not testing the cards correctly.

Realistically this cooler is not up to the job of keeping the card at a nice temperature and is too loud at the SOC speed. I think it needs about two to three times as much surface area for the fins to dissipate all that heat. It is just too thin and lightweight for the job and is more suited to stock speeds, as found on the SE version.

Still deciding whether to RMA because of all the talk of no fault found on other returns and because the stock is getting low. Really don't want to be sent a second rate replacement! :(

Update:

Just tested at 800Mhz and stock 1.088 voltage and it was OCCT stable with the case open. Still topped 83 degrees though even in a cold room...
 
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thebigak said:
I have been doing further testing. To get my slightly more stable replacement card OCCT stable I had to do the following:

1. Make my room artificially cold by opening all the windows.
2. Remove side panel of case and hold a high speed 120mm fan next to the graphics card on full speed (really loud fan).
3. Slightly increase GPU voltage to 1.113v
4. Manually increase fans on the card to 100%

It then survived about 5 minutes of OCCT with no errors, but the temp still reached 87 degrees even with all my unrealistic cooling... I stopped the test then for the sake of the GPU. I know they can take high heat but I just wanted to be on the safe side.

I conclude that if on the Gigabyte test bench the GPU never went over 73 degrees, that either their test room is air conditioned to about 5 degrees or they are not testing the cards correctly.

Realistically this cooler is not up to the job of keeping the card at a nice temperature and is too loud at the SOC speed. I think it needs about two to three times as much surface area for the fins to dissipate all that heat. It is just too thin and lightweight for the job and is more suited to stock speeds, as found on the SE version.

Still deciding whether to RMA because of all the talk of no fault found on other returns and because the stock is getting low. Really don't want to be sent a second rate replacement! :(
Click to expand...

What temps does your card idle at at default voltages and clocks?

The cards tested in reviews I've read seemed to stay much cooler at both idle and load than mine:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1998&pageID=10132

This shows idle temps at 42C. Mine idles at about 54C! I wonder if the cooler has failed to be applied to the card correctly on some of these faulty ones.
 
scorpionUK said:
What temps does your card idle at at default voltages and clocks?

The cards tested in reviews I've read seemed to stay much cooler at both idle and load than mine:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1998&pageID=10132

This shows idle temps at 42C. Mine idles at about 54C! I wonder if the cooler has failed to be applied to the card correctly on some of these faulty ones.
Click to expand...

Mine idle between 39-42 depending on the day temp
at the moment its 39c and temp outside is 11c
oh and never seen it over 77c even running OCCT for 10mins
 
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Mine will idle at around 40 degrees in my case when it is closed with the fan profile I posted in this thread (about 40% at idle).

When playing current games like Dirt 2 at 1080p with max settings it reaches about 70 degrees with the case closed and a ghetto 120mm mod side fan next to it.

Problem is current games don't tax the GPU like future ones will, and that is when the problems might start. That is why I use OCCT to simulate this.

I would check the idle temp in your case with the side panel off to see if it drops. Your ambient temp might be higher than average.

I do like the card but it is like a high maintenance woman who demands a spacious house, has high running costs and is a little flaky! :P
 
I'm just slightly downclOcking mine now

Saves stress then of worrying why not stable and whether I need z new psu

Still happy enough k mean at the price paid with a decent cooler it's a great card
 
REDNINEAPB said:
Mine is a SOC
GPU-z recons VCC is 1.063v loaded with heaven 2.5
idle seems to be 0.962v

oh by the way this is in a CM690II with side panel on
Click to expand...

You are lucky with that card. My first one had stupidly low voltage (1.025) and gave errors in OCCT after 1 second. This replacement card has 1.088v and gets too hot...

Looks to me like these are not cherry picked GPUs but cards that have had each individual BIOS modified to suit the quality of the GPU...
 
thebigak said:
You are lucky with that card. My first one had stupidly low voltage (1.025) and gave errors in OCCT after 1 second. This replacement card has 1.088v and gets too hot...
Click to expand...

Mine is set at 1025v and is ate SOC speeds and plays quite nicely

I was getting a few artifacts in occt in 2d mode but in 3d mode it was perfect with no artifacts

I have no problem in heaven benchmark and games, No artifacting

Also OCCT gpu mem test shows no errors

:p i agree with you thats a stupidly low v on the gpu as i have to increse the v's on my sparkle 480 to 1100v to hit 850 core so was :eek: and :confused: but :D when i see this SOC core v's
 
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Noticed these are now down to £219 again. So now we know reason for the price hike just so it can be reduced to make it look a bargain.

I am a bit peeved actually because 2 days ago I asked Presales if any of the 480's were going to be reduced in price anytime soon.

This is the response I got from 5UB

Good morning,

These are now end of life so the pricing and the availability is extremely low, unfortunately the suppliers have been putting the pricing up so we unfortunately cannot offer these currently at a cheaper rate. We have no signs of any discount on these cards currently or any time soon.
Click to expand...

So the money I was going to use to buy a 480 I spent on other things. Yet less than 48hrs later its reduced. So a representative of OCUK was either ill informed (result = poor customer service and loss of sale ) or put a misleading response.

To be honest I hope they can't get rid of them.

Yes I have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. :mad:

Is it worth complaining ? Probably not.
 
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