NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 leaks out with Fermi on board
By Nilay Patel 
posted March 4th 2010 11:46AM
posted March 4th 2010 11:46AM
posted March 4th 2010 11:46AM
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HOT.
I mean that literally and figuratively.
@Christian Martin
Rumour has it these will have a 300W TDP. I mean, man, that's 3 times the TDP of my processor!
@archkron
300 W ? That's crazy? seems to be significantly less effecient than ATi.. but as long as it cranks out the same bench scores and FPS, will most gamers care or even think about it?
Hmm... Gamers have to be aware of PSU requirements these days... so... I guess quite a few will care.
@excelsium If they intend to OC - then yeaah!
My 295 GTX will live on forever!...or another year or so, whichever comes first. :)
@excelsium
people buy 800w power supplies or more as a standard now-a-days... im sure if you are shelling out the cash to buy one of these things a power supply is the least of your worries.
@archkron
It has a one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe power connector. This means that the max power usage is somewhere between 225W and 300W.
So this isn't another rebranded 8800 finally? or is it?
@JeanLuc Picard
It is not and that card looks beautiful. I mean my god I love it when they strip it down like that. Too bad they put those black bars on it. They always cover the best parts
@JXCGunrunna there are children watching, after all.
@JeanLuc Picard
The 200 series wasn't a rebrand either for the most part (some models here and there, mostly mobile, were G9x-based). It was a brand new chip...the GT200.
@JXCGunrunna But I wonder why did they cover the PCI-E connector... not like we don't know what it looks like...
@ToniCipriani
It has been said a million times already, the person who was loaned the card is hiding identifying details by using the blackouts. Nvidia could trace the card by serial number or other method and the person would get it trouble for violating the NDA.
It looks so...... naked
@Lubing The Tube Don't worry, they censored a lot of it, your virgin eyes are safe
Why did they censor the eyes and teeth?
@loocas
They're traceable. So nVidia would be able to find out who leaked the images and broke the NDA.
@Prevacator MUHAHA! Way to fuck with 'em! :D
Yeah yeah, where are the benchies?
Mmmm... looks hardcore, somehow.
Is that a mini-DP port next to the two DVI ports? I was under the impression that the card can only manage two outputs total; does using the DP connector prevent you from using one of the DVI ports?
@Old fogie late bloomer
According to the retail box pictures -- http://forums.vr-zone.com/news-around-the-web/570761-gigabyte-gtx-480-gtx-470-retail-boxes.html -- it's a mini-hdmi port.
@f001
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/810/fakedd.png
You sure those are genuine?
I'm not convinced those box pictures are real, but mini-HDMI would make a fair amount of sense.
@Old fogie late bloomer
It would probably disable the 2nd DVI port...pretty normal setup.
@Kamokazi
Yup, sounds about right. Though, I have to say... I'm really not sure why you would buy the high-end Fermi for a home theater setup, so I'm a little surprised it's not DP.
@Old fogie late bloomer
There are a decent number of 22" monitors with HDMI these days.
looks like they didn't get the clocks they wanted with the standard cooler so stepped up a bit.
I'm guessing poor overclocks, very high power usage and about $20-30 more than they planned based on the cooler.
8pin + 6pin power isn't anything new on flagship models, the GTX285 has the same power plug arrangement. Hell my GTX260 takes dual 6pin aux power. Now you start seeing 24pin ATX on the side of a GTX495 and then you got yourself some power draw.
Not to ruin the parade or anything, but when the hell are macs gonna get good graphics cards? I feel bad for anyone owning a mac pro right now
@albinomexi
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_285_for_mac_us.html
Although I've heard it has shit drivers.
@albinomexi
They have the 4870 (for $350, euch). I love mine in my hand built Windows PC. Yeah though, they really need to catch up and drop the prices.
@Dafrety
Isn't part of the reason for the exorbitant prices is the licensing fee they have to pay to Apple?
@albinomexi The answer - never. If you're serious about gaming and high-end graphics cards, chances are that you've already built your own computer. Conversely, if you own a Mac Pro, chances are that you do design/photography/video-editing work and not much gaming. Different target markets tbh.
@r3loaded Apple touts the Mac Pro as a workstation computer, which means it should handle everything from CAD to 3D graphics. It offers anything but workstation graphics but still demands workstation prices.
@r3loaded
A good gaming machine can do all the above, not just gaming. As much as Apple would like you to believe there are plenty of photogs that don't use Macs.
@tcc3
Economies of scale I believe. When you are making 100,000 of something it is cheaper than making 10,000 of the same thing. They have to pay programmers to write the Mac specific Bios.
Has anybody been hearing anymore doom and gloom about these? Last thing I read is that they were basically crap and that Nvidia was already looking to push Fermi 2 out ASAP in order to remedy the situation.
Those rumors sounded weird to me though... seems like more news outlets would have picked up on it had it been the case.
I definitely wouldn't mind picking up one of these cards though once BFG or EVGA get their versions out!
@Raziel66, heise.de had just an article on it. From the benchmarks it looks at the moment performing on par with Radeon 5870.
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Nvidias-Fermi-Leistung-der-GeForce-GTX-470-enthuellt-946411.html
@Raziel66, in the article they mention that it is on average between 5870 and 5850.
Some results:
3DMark Vantage (X-Mode):
Radeon HD 5870 - 8730 points
GTX 470 - 7511 points
Radeon HD 5850 - 6430 points
GeForce GTX 285 - 6002 points
Performance mode (I presume that's part of 3DMark vantage too):
Radeon HD 5870 - 17303
GTX 470 - 17156
Radeon HD 5850 - 14300
Unigine Benchmarks, 4xAA:
GeForce GTX 470 - 29 fps
Radeon HD 5870 - 27 fps
Radeon HD 5850 - 22 fps
Unigine Benchmarks, 8xAA:
Radeon HD 5870 - 23 fps
GeForce GTX 470 - 20 fps
Radeon HD 5850 - 19 fps
Oh sh*te, the Engadget article is about 480 -- heise - GTX 470 .... :(
@Dummy00001
still good information, probably info i wouldnt have found lol, and besides this is the lesser one, which means the 480 is only gonna get better..
@Dummy00001 Thanks for all the info! That actually takes care of my worry. Guess I'll start saving up!
Available soon for the equivalent price of two PS3's and an XBOX 360. (And that's coming from a guy who has been playing PC games since 1992.)
@i1patrick
what is your point the high performance ATi cards are expensive too.
@i1patrick
I doubt anyone actually needs this for gaming. Folks who have the 8800 GTX still can run everything recent with the settings up.
@Dafrety I tend to agree but actually my 8800 GTX died, probably due to the bump issue nVidia has had forever, and got a HD 5770. It really performs much better than the 8800GTX. I can turn antialiasing on high whereas with nVidia I'd disable that to run at a descent resolution.
@i1patrick while I agree with the theory of your statement, I might want to point out that the GTX 480 is over 27 times more powerful than the GPU of a PS3. these cards are not for the light hearted. they are ment for the serious professional and dumb first adopters :) I'd say they are aiming for different markets and probably shouldn't be compaired
(GTX480 ~ 3880 GFLOPs vs. Reality Synthesizers ~130 GFLOPs)
@i1patrick but also for the performance equivalent of two PS3's and an xbox360. most of those so-called 1080p games are rendered in 540p and upscaled. with little to no AA or AF.
@robamb2002... Agreed that this card is way more powerful than any console's GPU, but I still gripe at the premium prices that GPU manufacturers charge for their best silicon. I spent over $450 on my last video card alone (8800GTS in late 2006)...more than I would have for a new PS3 at the time. [I still use it and it runs OK.]
I don't regret that, but I do wish the price comparison for a current-gen console vs a decent gaming PC was at least close. A 2x-2.5x price premium for a gaming PC is reasonable because PC gaming is a better experience (IMO).
But the 5x-8x premium for a mid-level PC gaming rig (all-in cost with case, cpu, mobo, RAM, Win7, etc) vs a top console is ridiculous.
The PC gaming experience vs console gaming experience is better, but is it really 5x-8x better? [Estimate based on $300 for a new PS3 vs $1500 to $2400 for a new mid-level gaming PC.]
The price/performance ratio for consoles has improved with every new console generation. For gaming PCs, the ratio stays the same or gets worse.