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Question about dual 480 gtx cards

WaldoeWaldoe Member UncommonPosts: 642

I recently built my first computer a few months ago. I got a cheap gtx 285 graphics card from a friend that was going to return it.

 

I am going to upgrade though and was curious if having 2 480 gtx cards could be cooled on air or if they would require some kind of liquid cooling? My main concern would be heat when having two powerhouse graphics cards like that.

 

This is also not a thread about which kind of card is best. I have had to replace 3 fairly new ATI cards over the years because they seem to die on me. So I do not buy ATI anymore.

Comments

  • ReizlaReizla Member RarePosts: 4,092

    I don't have a GTX480 myself (yet), but I've been reading about them lately. One of the main issues is (indeed) heath. The GTX480 seems to be toe hottest card around (litterally :P). Where other cards can be touched after stopping their heavy duty in about 5 minutes, the GTX480 is told to be still around 60 Celsius 15 minutes after they have stopped working.

    Imagine having 2 of those in your system... You really need some kick-ass cooling on them. I have my doubts if air will do the job, unless you want even more noise from the computer than each of these cards can produce when adding a dozen fans to your case (yeah, the GTX480's loud as well).

    My advice is to add some liquid cooling to your system. I suppose it's not a real deal (financially) for you, if you can afford to buy 2 of these monsters ;)

  • MehveMehve Member Posts: 487

    They will keep themselves cool enough to operate properly. They'll likely put out some serious fan volume to do it, and the temps will definitely be hot, but they'll manage it and they'll endure.

    If you want to help the process out, use a motherboard with two slots between each of the PCI-Ex16 slots, to make sure one card doesn't shroud the other. And obviously, use a case with good airflow, preferably with more intake fans than exhaust, as a positive pressure setup will encourage more air to exit through the GPU's.

    A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
    That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.

  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

    Go ahead and get a version of the 480 with better cooling.

    http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1489-AR&family=GeForce 400 Series Family

     

    In my opinion if you can budget 2 of these anyways go ahead and drop a little more on a better cooled version for an SLI setup.

  • WaldoeWaldoe Member UncommonPosts: 642

    Originally posted by jdnewell

    Go ahead and get a version of the 480 with better cooling.

    http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1489-AR&family=GeForce 400 Series Family

     

    In my opinion if you can budget 2 of these anyways go ahead and drop a little more on a better cooled version for an SLI setup.

    Well I do not want to sound noobish, but what exaclty is an SLI setup?

  • CleffyCleffy Member RarePosts: 6,412

    Definetly opt for better cooling if you get 2 GTX480.  Even if nVidia says its safe to operate video cards over 100c, it doesn't mean your cards will last long at that temperature.  This is especially true with a smaller transistor that is more susceptible to heat.  For recent reference, the G80 were also hot and the G85/86 were known to fail due to overheating.  Most of the G80's would eventually die because of too much heat with reference cooling.

  • MehveMehve Member Posts: 487

    Originally posted by Waldoe

    Originally posted by jdnewell

    Go ahead and get a version of the 480 with better cooling.

    http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1489-AR&family=GeForce 400 Series Family

     

    In my opinion if you can budget 2 of these anyways go ahead and drop a little more on a better cooled version for an SLI setup.

    Well I do not want to sound noobish, but what exaclty is an SLI setup?

    SLI stands for Scaled Link Interface, and is Nvidia's marketing term for running multiple cards together. ATI's equivalent term is Crossfire.

    On a related note, if you want to drop a high-powered card into your computer, go for it and have fun. But do some research before going for a second card. Running multiple cards is a much better experience than it used to be, but there are still issues that can crop up, and quirks that you should be aware of before diving in. You'll need to frequently update your graphics card drivers to get maximum performance, not all games support multiple cards, and others don't see much improvement from the second card.

    A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
    That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.

  • WaldoeWaldoe Member UncommonPosts: 642

    Originally posted by Mehve

    Originally posted by Waldoe


    Originally posted by jdnewell

    Go ahead and get a version of the 480 with better cooling.

    http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1489-AR&family=GeForce 400 Series Family

     

    In my opinion if you can budget 2 of these anyways go ahead and drop a little more on a better cooled version for an SLI setup.

    Well I do not want to sound noobish, but what exaclty is an SLI setup?

    SLI stands for Scaled Link Interface, and is Nvidia's marketing term for running multiple cards together. ATI's equivalent term is Crossfire.

    On a related note, if you want to drop a high-powered card into your computer, go for it and have fun. But do some research before going for a second card. Running multiple cards is a much better experience than it used to be, but there are still issues that can crop up, and quirks that you should be aware of before diving in. You'll need to frequently update your graphics card drivers to get maximum performance, not all games support multiple cards, and others don't see much improvement from the second card.

    I mainly want to get them to max out games like Final Fantasy 14 and Guild Wars 2 with ease so far these games seems as if they will have hefty GPU requirements. There is also Crysis 2 so another good reason haha.

     

    But I will look into it more. I am pretty set on wanting to use two cards at this point. So I will try and find out more info on the good and the bad of it.

  • MordeathMordeath Member Posts: 131

    I have 1 480 and have thought about getting a 2nd after this one has been running flawlessly. It runs current releases (Metro 2033 and similar new games) well and is cool. My case is a CoolerMaster HAF932 (blue led version) and its awesome. If your case has plenty of ventilation you shouldnt need water. The HAF also has a water port if you end up wanting to do that later on.

  • cormachcormach Member UncommonPosts: 98

    Also, be sure you have a big enough power supply to feed those hungry things!

  • xuitonxuiton Member Posts: 133

    man they bring out new hardware faster than what new games need.

     

    In other words, 1 GTX 480 for FF14 is overkill anyway.

    1 GTX 280 could last you 2 years if used with a decent cpu.

  • WaldoeWaldoe Member UncommonPosts: 642

    Originally posted by xuiton

    man they bring out new hardware faster than what new games need.

     

    In other words, 1 GTX 480 for FF14 is overkill anyway.

    1 GTX 280 could last you 2 years if used with a decent cpu.

    With the game being GPU dependent a single gtx 480 would probably not be overkill at all.

  • xuitonxuiton Member Posts: 133

    a 9800 gtx  (GT 250 )could easily run this game and so could any modern card. I fail to see the need for FF14 to be in any SLI set up. Besides since it will be releasing on the ps3 as well, i highly doubt they will be focusing performance for multi gpu's

  • CatamountCatamount Member Posts: 773

    Put another way, if a PS3 (which has a GPU that's little more than a modified Geforce 7800) can run this in any capacity, there's no way that dual GTX480s will give any benefit in this game, unless you intend to play on three 2560x1600 monitors with supersampled AA enabled.

    Now, if other games are going to be played, and this is a rig made to run all the latest titles on high (and you intend to purchase a good number of them), as opposed to it just being a strictly FFXIV rig, then maybe two GTX480s would be a benefit.

  • xuitonxuiton Member Posts: 133

    going back to the OP and what the previous poster above me has said, it seems you do not fully understand what pc specs and games needs these days and are simply willing to throw money around and waste it on unnecessary specs.
     
    Dual GPU's have still not proved to be cost effective in games, yeah they do increase some performance in some games but we're talking on 2500x1500 or whatever resolutions.

    1 GTX 260 can run all the latest games on high settings fine and will continue to do so for quite awhile now.

    However it is your money and if you feel like wasting $800 on 2 overpriced cards go ahead.

  • Gweed0Gweed0 Member UncommonPosts: 108

    With the fact that you dont know what SLI is you may want to post your system specs here before you even buy 2 vido cards.... Your motherboard, Your power supply, and your CPU... Wouldnt want you spending $1000 bucks in videocards to find out you need to overhaul your whole system to use them both anyway. Like the others have said, a 285 is more than enough to run FFXIV. I have a 260 and I'm more than content with it playing it.

  • CatamountCatamount Member Posts: 773

    I would have put it much more tactfully, but xuition is essentially right. Of course, I assume you're running at least a single 1080P monitor given your budget (hopefully a rather nice one), so SLI should scale by nearly 100% in most games, but dual GTX480s is absurd overkill in literally all but one title (Metro 2033). If you plan on playing games like Metro 2033, maybe it's worth your while, but otherwise I wouldn't worry.

    Even then, I think Metro 2033 is the next F.E.A.R. or Crysis, that ridiculous FPS game that comes out with every new API that just becomes the most intensive game for the next several years.

  • TibbzTibbz Member UncommonPosts: 613

    Originally posted by Waldoe

    I recently built my first computer a few months ago. I got a cheap gtx 285 graphics card from a friend that was going to return it.

     

    I am going to upgrade though and was curious if having 2 480 gtx cards could be cooled on air or if they would require some kind of liquid cooling? My main concern would be heat when having two powerhouse graphics cards like that.

     

    This is also not a thread about which kind of card is best. I have had to replace 3 fairly new ATI cards over the years because they seem to die on me. So I do not buy ATI anymore.

     As previously stated opting for the better cooled version of these is a very prudent decision.  However not sure why you would need 2 480s, esp for that silly price they are charging.  Honestly unless you have a i7 extreme then you will have a bottleneck, and even then you may need to OC furtering the heat problem.  Opting for two smaller GPUs or even jsut a single 480 may be a much better idea for the sake of your AC unit lol.   

    image
  • ShinamiShinami Member UncommonPosts: 825

    The temperature Threshold of the 480GTX GPUs is 105c. Also, from actual testing, :)

     

    The bottleneck comes at around Tri-SLI. I know many who overclock their i7 processors naturally and easilly can max out two 480 GTXs and there are many 3DVantage Scores to truly show it. I've ran a lot of testing on 480s, and what gives me peace of mind is the evga has a LIMITED LIFETIME warranty on their high end cards if you register one after buying..

     

    I don't know any shop that can give me the same thing with ATI and someone like me who likes testing and playing games daily, it would suck if a card blew out and I lost my money.

     

    The highest temp I have seen on my GPU is 88C, but only from doing the craziest thing I can do in a game....and without an Air Conditioner on, but with an AC to bring the Room Temp down, at 75% Fan Speed the Temperature does not pass 75c on any game I have played.

  • Mellow44Mellow44 Member Posts: 599

    The GTX 480 is very good for melting cheese, I use it on a daily basis and I'm very happy about it. image

    All those memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.

  • viddsterviddster Member UncommonPosts: 220

    That is an expensive cheese melter you have there. image

    image
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