470 nightmare

[alienware]

So I put the card in my PC after clearing out the drivers. Reboot BSOD.

Tells me Windows is corrupt and I need to run a repair. Three repairs still the same.

So I put a Radeon back in, same thing.

So here I am reinstalling bloody Windows. Thankfully I managed to rescue my New Vegas saves or else I would have blown up Nvidia HQ.

I also know why these cards are so hot (not that I've managed to get to the temps).

Have you seen how poxy small the bloody fan is? Jesus it's half the size of the one on my Radeon 5770 ! No wonder they're so bloody noisy !

Report back number 1.

First of all I was idling at 46c with the fan at 40%. TBH I had to crank up the fan speed to even know it was on. Even at 100% it's nowhere near as noisy as two Radeons. Infact, even at 50% it's not audible over the rest of the system.

I would say that's 3c over the idle temp of one of my 5770s with the same ammount of noise. And considering this card is twice as powerful as one of my Radeons I have to say that the horror stories were nowhere as bad as I have heard.. I shall continue to dabble !

I think the 120mm feeder fan right behind it helps.

Edit. It's down to 39c now.

Edit 2. Now 38c.

OK then time for some Vantage. Before (Crossfire 5770 + 8800 Ultra)

Before (Crossfire 5770 no Ultra)

After (single 470)

Max temps/fan speed when running Vantage

Max temp of 71c. What surprised the crap out of me however was to find out that the fan was running maxed. It sounds like my 5770s did at about 60%.

The 5770s made a really horrible hollow whooshing sound where as this is the same as my 8800 Ultra in noise. And I ran the Ultra at 100% all the time.

Very very happy so far, VERY fast card.

 

[hmmblah]

At 100% fan speed my 470 is loud. Just about hair dryer loud. I run it at 75% 24/7 while folding at run at about 72C. 75% is slightly audible, but barely noticeable above the rest of my system.

Edit: Oh and get clocking that 470! I need to do another bench session to see if I can crack 24k in Vantage. My card is only a mediocre clocker though compared to others, I bench at about 830 core. My memory can't clock much higher than stock.

 

[alienware]

My scores will be way under yours dude. I'm running a Phenom 2 940 which is going to bottleneck the 470. This is why I posted three sets of vantage scores so people can see the scores comparitively. 5770CF with an 8800 Ultra was obviously hands down the fastest in my system, but the noise heat and power consumption was a joke. So much so I took the Ultra out after a week. The 470 in here beats the 5770s. That says a lot tbh.

And look what the Cuda from the 470 does to my CPU score haha. Amazing !

 

[killablade]

Really nicely performing card you got there mate, I'm going to order myself a 470 tomorrow and hope to get equally nice performance

Do you reckon my Q8200 @ 3Ghz will perform about the same as your 940?

The 470s are dirt cheap now. I can get one for 210 euros which is about 180 or 185 pounds I beleive. Free Mafia II aswell!

 

[alienware]

Yes. The 45nm quads are basically identical in performance terms as a Phenom 2. Only they're more overclockable if you do that.

I've had a nightmare tonight

I realised Windows was stuttering. Looked at the performance index, 5.9.. For an SSD. Figuring the drive was corrupt (as that's what likely caused it to bugger in the first place) I made an Acronis image of the fresh install, secure erased it and imaged it back. It did exactly the same thing as earlier. BSOD immediately and then told me I needed to repair.

Ran Acronis again... Loads of bad sectors on the Patiot SSD. Nevermind, I'll image the Corsair to a 250gb baracuda (in the other machine) and bring the Corsair back over here. Did that, worked here.. Booted the other PC "this copy of Windows is not genuine" and wouldn't even go in. GRRR. It wouldn't even let me put in one of my two genuine serials so I had to reinstall that one all over again.

Patriot is being RMA. This rig is now behaving (MASSIVE Windows index score on the GPU).

Still very pleased with the 470 though. And, I decided the Radeons are going to go into the other PC. Two awesome gaming rigs within three feet of one another, bonus

 

[hmmblah]

My scores will be way under yours dude. I'm running a Phenom 2 940 which is going to bottleneck the 470. This is why I posted three sets of vantage scores so people can see the scores comparitively. 5770CF with an 8800 Ultra was obviously hands down the fastest in my system, but the noise heat and power consumption was a joke. So much so I took the Ultra out after a week. The 470 in here beats the 5770s. That says a lot tbh.

And look what the Cuda from the 470 does to my CPU score haha. Amazing !

No reason you can't crack 20k

. Install afterburner, set voltage to max, fan speed to max, start at 800 core and work up from there. I haven't had this much fun overclocking a card since the 9800pro.

Still very pleased with the 470 though. And, I decided the Radeons are going to go into the other PC. Two awesome gaming rigs within three feet of one another, bonus

 

[thestepster]

the q8200's overcloked hardly anything they were the worst overclockers intel pushed out in a while i think, even the b3 q6600's could beat them and they were utter poo

 

[alienware]

Little lesson to 470 owners.

Don't, whatever you do, change the global performance settings in the control panel.

My card started idling at 56c+. I could not for the life of me figure out why. Max temps were the same (72 in games) but the idle was terrible.

Then I realised a couple of days ago I tried a fix for New Vegas that didn't work. It was to change performance from adapted to maximum. Basically this stops the new drivers from down clocking and powering the card and its shaders ETC at all times. Meaning your idles sky rocket.

I know in reviews the idle temps are really bad but it seems Nvidia had just addressed that (and fixed it very well I may add) and then I went and chuffing broke it

Well, at least I got Point Of View's blessing to go ahead and fit an aftermarket cooler without voiding my warranty

 

[lasher]

I have a 8200 in the daughters rig and its pants.... a little off topic but had to be said

 

[SnW]

I have a 8200 in the daughters rig and its pants.... a little off topic but had to be said

Then i might just throw in my comment about my dead 8200

Yes its a POS, in regards to overclocking potential..

A bit OT:

Still trying to figure out what i am going to buy (upgrade FAH card) GTX460 or a GTX470 ~?

GTX470 is around 200Euro.. same as some of the GTX460´s...

 

[AMDFTW]

if its the same as say the msi hawk or the asus directCU then get the 470

something like the gainward ones as there cheap with better coolin

off topic/

 

[alienware]

The 470 will absolutely destroy the 460 if you are going to overclock it. But, you'll need an aftermarket cooler.

Having said that though I have a strong feeling that even an overclocked 460 won't beat a stock 470. In my system as you've seen a 470 beats 5770CF. In reviews it trades blows with the 5870 (though not that many in honesty). Get it cooled? serious serious potential.

 

[SnW]

Thanks for the fast replies guys,

yea i think i will have me a GTX470 ,

with the GTX460 you have a BIG change on getting the 611P WU´s (again) resulting in 4000PPD less..

IIRC the GTX470 does 15000PPD on a 611P WU...

just (As you mentioned) need a after market cooler for it...

 

[killablade]

My GTX470 tops at 75C running at 675/1350/1700 at 1.050v.. stock cooler

 

[alienware]

Did you get one then? come on mang, pics or it didn't happen

You show me yours and I'll show you mine.. Oooer

 

[killablade]

Did you get one then? come on mang, pics or it didn't happen

You show me yours and I'll show you mine.. Oooer

I'll try and make some pics tomorrow. Be sure to check out my rig gallery (KillaBlade's rig) as I'll probably post them there. Gotta say it's flippin fast xD

 

[alienware]

They are that yes. It's just nice to load up a game and not wonder if Crossfire is working properly.

 

[killablade]

Pictures are up!

 

[alienware]

Mine. It's such a crappy day here I have the lights on and it's still dark.. At 1pm.

Card in - God I HATE DUST.

And what the other part looks like. Can't get a pic of that without removing it.

 

[killablade]

Right mate thought I'd post my 3Dmark vantage result here

GTX470: 700/1400/1750 - 1050 mV

Q8200: 3Ghz