I am thinking of buying the Asus GTX 470 found here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-237-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810 I'm not sure about the make though, which is the best? Do they differ a great deal? Thinking of paying a little extra to get this but not sure if it is worth it? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-127-EA
Asus are a great company who have built up a good reputation, the 3 year warranty they offer on that card falls in line with other manufacturer's and as that's essentially the only difference I don't see any reason not to opt for it if it's the cheapest. I couldnt recommend the extra £30 for the EVGA OC version however as nowadays all it takes is 2 minutes with a bit of software and you have the exact same OC for free (or as big an OC as you see fit).
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-geforce-gtx-470-1280mb-pci-express-hdmi--fermi--6NVP.html Cheaper than OCUK. As for the cards themselves, as far as reference designs go, there's little difference between each card. The usual differences are the included packages (DVI-VGA/HDMI, Molex to PCI-E power cables, games, drivers, utilities), vendor warranties, and factory overclocks. Almost every vendor, offers a reasonable warranty, and factory overclocks are useless as you could do better yourself. The included packages tend to stay similar too, put keep an eye out for changes between two cards, may find something you really like. Between those 2 cards? There's VERY LITTLE difference. If you were to go non-reference.. It depends on the features of a card, and it's price. Gigabyte's GTX 460 1GB OC edition card is a good example of a non-reference design priced right, something like Sapphires Vapor-X cards, are not. Mainly because the afforementioned GTX 460 has great cooling, overclocks extremely well, and costs little over a standard 460. A Vapor-X card (usually) costs a hell of alot more for the propriatary cooler and a small overclock.
XFX always seem to put a good card together aswell and the msi versions have had a lot of good things written about them lately.
To the OP, get it from Scan, part of its Today only sale you can get the same model Asus GTX 470 V2, 40nm for £217.36 Delivered. Really good deal.
I've played with a couple of 470s and I have to say it's actually a damn good card. It runs quiet as well! Just thought I'd say so before someone comes along with the usual 'get a 5850/5870' argument.
Thanks for the replies . Think I may go for the Asus then. Is this the Gigabyte one you mentioned? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1280...07MHz-Shader-1215MHz-448-Cores-2xDVImini-HDMI Don't think I can stretch to that to be honest. I was wanting to overclock but was worried about how loud/hot the card will get, is it as bad as some people make out? I'm going to have a HAF 922, so 3 case fans, cpu fan and the gtx 470 are prob going to make a lot of noise, what you think? Is there a version which doesn't cost much more but has a better cooling option?
I agree with the 'damn good card' however I don't agree with the 'runs quiet'. This is partially true if it's sat idle however at full load with a fan set above 80% (to keep temps in check) it certainly isn't quiet.
Ha ha! You should only need 70% fan for a hefty overclock (temps at 85C in Crysis)! On stock settings, the fan should never reach 70% during gaming - perhaps 60-65%.
Interesting, this could be down to my aggresive fan profile on afterburner. I am also clocked at 750/1500/3500 with voltage of 1.087. I will try setting it at 70% to see if I can keep the temps in check. At 70% isn't *too* bad but its certainly noticable as soon as a firefight (or likewise) is over.
Fans yes, DVD drive no. It is more of a wooshing noise (as opposed to a whine). If you play with headphones on you will be fine as its fine when idleing.
Well I was planning on having two in SLI configuration eventually, for watching films and games. How do people cope with the level of noise generated? 3 gtx 470/480's in SLI must be horrendous?
Ah, my friend was running them at exactly 1V. Make sure you set the fan profile so that if you exceed ~100C the fan kicks in 100% - I don't want you frying your card . 480s are loud! Nothing a good set of headphones can't block out but you wouldn't be able to use them in conjunction with speakers, unless the cards are water cooled. 470s in SLI at default speeds are okay.
Yeah my little 470 (remember it's a flashed 465) requires a tad more juice for what is a relatively good overclock (23% not to be sniffed at). I think I just need to back off the fan profile a bit (I have it it on a very steep curve). Max temp I have seen so far is 82 degrees so I have a bit of headroom. The latest 260.63 drivers also don't seem as good for me as the 260.52 release. Previously my card was stable with a slightly lower voltage. I will revert back to see if I get the temps down a bit (and thus reduce the fan). On a side note I hit a brick wall (hard) with my 460. 875/1750 is the absolute max it can do for benching at the max voltage allowed (1.087). If only I could get the voltage up more it would do 900+
I've noticed that too. In fact, I'm running my cards at stock at the moment as applying an overclock through Afterburner is now having no effect on performance - though the improved drivers mean that my stock 480s now run better than when they were overclocked on the old 197 drivers . Still, I'm using an old version of Afterburner - downloading the latest one and trying it out is on the list of things to do.
Hi all, Im thinking of getting a GTX470 at the end of the month to replace the 2 8800GTX in SLi that i have at the moment, was just going to ebay those to get a little money back, would i see any perfomance improvement with just the one card for now, i know i'll gain the DX11 stuff but not sure how it would compare, just for gaming and surfing use at native res of 1920x1200 if that helps? Thanks for any help in advance. Mark
Roughly speaking a GTX470 clocked to around 750/1500 is similar in performance to a single GX295 (2x275). A single 275 is roughly equivilant to 8800GTX SLI. You should see a significant improvement in gaming performance, it may also be one of the only setups that you will see a reduction in noise, temps and power usage..
Thanks for that, looks like ive got a purchase on my hands then! I have been considering the new 460 but im not really into overclocking and since the 470 doesnt appear to be to much more expensive right now and the 480 being to much of a jump it seems like a good compromise, plus i can add another later on when the funds build up! The original Bit-tech review for the 470 looking back wasnt particulary kind although prices have dropped and drivers have improved so i guess that would change the verdict a little? Thanks again for your help.
