epic win, getting a gtx480 in place of my "lost" faulty 460 - few questions about the monster - Page 5

I have these on water and i can manage 986 on one but only 920 on the other still great card tho .

 

 

I agree. My SSD was the best 100 bucks I ever spent on my PC. Amazing out how much faster it makes things when you add something like that into a system. 

I had the VF3000F Zalman cooler on my 480 (actually two of them in sli) before I installed my current AC Accelero.
The Zalman is a very effective cooler, providing similar results to the Accelero, as seen in that review, and from my own experience as well.
The one-piece vrm/memory plate included with the Zalman cooler is just like using the stock 480 plate, except it has more fin area.

You've got a good card there. I use the default voltage of 1.063v. for my permanent 800/2000 clocks, which produce no errors in OCCT. However, for anything beyond that, I just max out the voltage slider to 1.150v. on Afterburner. I need the extra juice to run it error-free on OCCT at 900 MHz. That is about the maximum for mine, without resorting to running even more voltage, which I don't care to do.

It looks like your card will do at least as well, probably better, and may need less voltage.
Quite a difference from the 460!

Looking forward to your results.
Edited by DerComissar - 4/29/12 at 1:26am

Congrats on getting that Zalman cooler installed on your 480:thumb:
Good to see you're enjoying the replacement for the 460, and now you've done something about the cooling and stock fan noise!
That's the beauty of having a good aftermarket cooler on a 480, you can tell all the naysayers that criticize the 480's temps. and fan noise to shadaaaap:D

I'm still rocking mine after two years, and just don't see the need to fork out for a 680 or 7970 yet.
I had two running in sli with excellent results, but I'm experimenting with some ridiculous fans at the moment, so I just have one installed for now.
There's a photo of it in the build link in my sig.

When I had the Zalman coolers, I remember the fun putting thermal compound on those tiny vrms! Not at all an easy job, but as you said, you used a non-conductive type so it should be fine.
That's convenient having the fan controller with that case, and you don't have to open it up to adjust the speeds. I just left mine plugged straight in to the psu, running the fans at 100% full-time.
I've since modded my stock vrm plate to fit with the Accelero I'm now using, as the Zalman plate's fins were too tall to clear the AC's heatsink, unfortunately. I had to go back to using thermal pads on the stock heatsink plate. I did like the way that Zalman made their plates to use thermal compound instead.

Looking over your comprehensive testing results. Very interesting.
Your OCCT results are a huge improvement over the stock 480 cooler. It is an intensive test, it runs my card just as hot as Furmark does.
And your temps. running the Heaven bench are very good.

I also tried undervolting my 480's at 800MHz, to 1.000v. My first 480, an EVGA, ran great undervolted at 800/2000. That was good for about a 2C temp drop running Furball or OCCT.
But my second Zotac 480 didn't like being undervolted. Even though it seemed to run fine at 1.000v., it would give errors in OCCT until I re-set the voltage to the stock 1.063v.
I have a modded EVGA 480 FTW bios set for stock voltage, but 800/2000 clock speeds, installed on both cards.

I agree with you that the higher temps. from overvolting it, for say, 900MHz, are not worth it. For me, 800/2000 is the sweet spot in performance and temps. And yet, you can still overclock it to 900MHz with a voltage bump, for benching, games, etc. Not every 480 will run stable at 900MHz, so you've got a good card there.

The 74C temp. you got in OCCT at 800MHz is sure a lot lower than what you'd get running it with the stock cooler. I actually hit 105C running Furmark when I got my first 480, running it with the stock cooler, and the stock radial fan screaming at 100%.

Kind of nice to shave 25-30C off the load temps., isn't it:D