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New GPU,compatibilities,questions.

starmanwarz

starmanwarz

starmanwarz

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Joined
12 Jun 2006
Posts
2,323
I am having problems with my monitor and/or my GPU so I have to consider upgrading.

My budget is limited so I can't afford upgrading other parts.My GPU budget is £200.

The new monitor will be 24" 1920x1080,so I need a card that can support this res.I also need it to be compatible with the rest of my system (specs in sig).I do not intent on running multiple displays or using more than 1 GPU's.

My PSU was very good when I bought it (about 3.5 years ago,like the rest of the system) and it still works fine,is it going to be enough for one of these modern cards?

CPU is water cooled and OC'ed to 3.2,will it bottleneck a new GPU?

Mobo is simple PCI Express x16 (I think),could this be a problem?

So am I going to have compatibility issues and/or bottlenecking?

And last but not least,which card would you recommend at the £200 range (for hardcore gaming,Blurays etc)?
 
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This card is probably the best deal you can get for your money. That psu is a quality make and should be fine. The 480 pulls 329w when running furmark, as stressed as you will get. Your Pci Express x16 is perfectly fine.:D

Despite what some others may say your cpu is fine and will not bottleneck the card.
 
Can someone tell me how is the 480 compared to my 8800GTX in terms of noise/temps?Μy 8800 is loud and it idles at about 67C,will the 480 be worse than that?Also if someone knows please answer the above post :)
 
starmanwarz said:
Can someone tell me how is the 480 compared to my 8800GTX in terms of noise/temps?Μy 8800 is loud and it idles at about 67C,will the 480 be worse than that?Also if someone knows please answer the above post :)
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Well a 8800GTX according to Bi-Tech has a TDP of 185 watts where as the GTX 480 is rated at 250 watts by Nvidia but given nvidia just flat out lie about this kind read some reviews and it uses well 300 watts when stressed.

As for temperatures the GTX480 will most likely run hotter when using the stock HSF but it's hard comparing absolute temperatures when you really compare these things on a delta (difference against room temperature) and if you get a card with a 3rd party cooler results will differ as well. Needless to say the GTX480 is hot, power hungry and loud but it's cheap and gives good value performance.
 
A single 480 will be no problems on that PSU i wouldnt have thought.

Currently running an overclocked 480GTX and i5 2500k on a 620W corsair and all is fine. I'm only running 2 hard drives and one optical drive though.
 
The Special Edition will be quieter and cooler than normal 480s and will have lower power draw, so you should be okay with that.

But if you really want something quiet and cool maybe GTX 570 for £259.99 which offers the same performance
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-112-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Or a nicely overclocked GTX 560 Ti for £209.99 which maybe a tiny bit slower but consume considerably less power and run cooler/quieter
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-077-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

The 560 should also have a bit of overclock headroom left but of course the 480 SE will have more overclock headroom as it comes without any OC to start with.

You're probably best off picking the 480 SE, but these two are your competing options, I'd say.

EDIT: Actually the 560 SOC seems to be equalling and surpassing stock GTX 480/570 in benchmarks. It's also cheap this week thanks to the special offer. here's the review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/14
But of course with an overclock the 480 and 570 should pull away from the 560 in performance a fair bit.
 
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Thanks for the replies.

I am suprised that no one mentioned the 6950,isn't this supposed to be as good as the 480 but cooler and less power hungry?I always had nVidia cards and I'd like to stick with them but in my country,the 6950 costs 250 Euros and the 480 400 Euros (!!!) so I have to consider going with Ati this time (I could order from OCUK though).
 
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starmanwarz said:
Thanks for the replies.

I am suprised that no one mentioned the 6950,isn't this supposed to be as good as the 480 but cooler and less power hungry?I always had nVidia cards and I'd like to stick with them but in my country,the 6950 costs 250 Euros and the 480 400 Euros (!!!) so I have to consider going with Ati this time (I could order from OCUK though).
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Well if you get a 6950 that you can unlock to 6970 performance then you will pretty much have the same performance as a 480 GTX in most things.
 
starmanwarz said:
I always had nVidia cards and I'd like to stick with them but in my country,the 6950 costs 250 Euros and the 480 400 Euros.
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In Soviet russia, nVidia cards overclock you!

Seriously tho, those prices are a little over the top. Best to order from a reputable company, dunno if OCUK deliver to EU at all.
 
Can someone explain to me why the simple Gigabyte 480 is more expensive than the Gigabyte Special edition?I thought the 2nd one is better/cooler with the extra fans?And why is the Super OC cheaper from the SE,don't they have the same cooling system?
 
Older stock I'm guessing. But nobody buys the standard one anymore. It's either the Special Ediiton or the Super Overclock

As for the 6950 it is not nearly as fast as the 480. It is comparable to the 560. But if it's unlockable to 6970 (revision 1 -- i think it says on the part on the site whether it's unlockable or not) then you get almost 480 performance.
 
starmanwarz said:
Ok,so far there are 3 cards I like.

GTX480 SE/SOC
HD6950
GTX570

I am going to order one of these bad boys,still very undecided though.
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Get the SOC while on special. Load temps are fine, fan noise is fine. It still draws a lot of power, but your PSU will be able to handle it. Easily the best card for the money. My brother has a flashed and OCd 6950 and my OCd SE is still noticeably faster. The 570 is about as fast but costs significantly more.
 
The soc has a 1 in 10 rma rate to overclockers, which gibbo admitted was unusually high. This does not include the people that have had them sent back with no fault found, as oc is testing them with a 850w psu iirc.

Worst case senario with the socs is that people with 1000w psus are having problems powering it.

If you were to rma, then in your case it could be quite costly as you stay in the eu.

The 480's(like the 460's) can have compatibility issues with motherboards.

daveash said:
My brother has a flashed and OCd 6950 and my OCd SE is still noticeably faster.
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There must be other factors involved, such as different hardware.

There will be not much in it at all. The 480 will be noticeably faster in nvidia favoured titles and noticeably slower in amd favoured titles and vice versa.

As you said your psu is a few years old, so the peak output will have decreased due to capacitator wear.

If you were to go the 480 route, in your case I would get the SE version instead of the SOC.

The unlocked 6950>70 revision 1, will perform the same as a 480 but will consume half the power of the 480's at full load.
 
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