OC3D Exclusive Review MSI GTX480 Lightning

[tombman]

Why NV didn't come up with that kind of cooler and pcb in the first place, you ask?

PRICE!

Release prices would have been like 700 Euros, not 500 Euros!

Now, was that so difficult to figure out?

Of course NV would have been able to design such a cooler and pcb, but they had to watch the total costs too.

MSI just built an extreme enthusiasts card with practically no price limit- EASY

 

[alienware]

Release prices would have been like 700 Euros, not 500 Euros!

The Arctic triple costs £50 retail. That's with Arctic making a profit out of it.

Where are you getting an extra 200 euros from? because that would pretty much buy a GPU water cooling system.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Hmmmmmmmm Nvidia fanboy alert. The Frozr is cheaper than the AC to produce aswell. Some people cant accept the fact the 480 cooler was a POS and they should have sorted it with all the extra time they had.

Also the Lightning isnt that expensive either even though its cram packed with better kit than the reference 480.

 

[alienware]

TBH Tom and I have thought about this hard..

The actual radiator and pipes on a stock 470 cooler look pretty good. I reakon it's nothing more than a fan problem tbh. I'm very tempted to remove the shroud (as it comes off in a few parts, very nice and modular) and strap a 120mm fan to the actual cooler and see what happens. If it's good I can easily make a shroud out of alu sheeting and possibly put twin 92mm fans in it. It's got to be better than the crappy blower.

Centrifugal fans only work well when -

There is enough pressure to boost air through. This means that the shroud would need to be 100% sealed and the fan seriously powerful.. Not possible on 12v. Maybe a blower from a car heating system yes lmao. It isn't, not by a long shot.

Looking at the heatsink on this wonderful MSI card the sink itself it's that much larger than a stock 470 cooler (the actual metal part).

Oh and FWIW I think this card here on review is actually very cheap. It would be one thing to whack a cooler on a 480 and over charge for it, but this one has had a complete bloody revamp, new board, new layout.

 

[tinytomlogan]

TBH Tom and I have thought about this hard..

The actual radiator and pipes on a stock 470 cooler look pretty good. I reakon it's nothing more than a fan problem tbh. I'm very tempted to remove the shroud (as it comes off in a few parts, very nice and modular) and strap a 120mm fan to the actual cooler and see what happens. If it's good I can easily make a shroud out of alu sheeting and possibly put twin 92mm fans in it. It's got to be better than the crappy blower.

Centrifugal fans only work well when -

There is enough pressure to boost air through. This means that the shroud would need to be 100% sealed and the fan seriously powerful.. Not possible on 12v. Maybe a blower from a car heating system yes lmao. It isn't, not by a long shot.

Looking at the heatsink on this wonderful MSI card the sink itself it's that much larger than a stock 470 cooler (the actual metal part).

Oh and FWIW I think this card here on review is actually very cheap. It would be one thing to whack a cooler on a 480 and over charge for it, but this one has had a complete bloody revamp, new board, new layout.

That will look like such a bodge. At the end of the day it should have been better from stock, thats kinda the point.

 

[hmmblah]

The 470 stock cooler is the first cooler I haven't replaced. My last few cards I replaced the coolers even before using the cards. The 9800 pro had an absolutely horrid stock cooler and caused premature deaths of those cards. I'd go as far to say that the 470 has the best stock cooler of any reference card produced. The build quality is impressive, definitely not what I have come to expect on a reference card.

 

[alienware]

That will look like such a bodge. At the end of the day it should have been better from stock, thats kinda the point.

I totally agree about the better from the start comment. The fan is absolutely bloody lousy.

I'll see how temps go but trust me when I say it wouldn't look bodged. I have a mate close by (same county) with a press break haha.

 

[tinytomlogan]

I totally agree about the better from the start comment. The fan is absolutely bloody lousy.

I'll see how temps go but trust me when I say it wouldn't look bodged. I have a mate close by (same county) with a press break haha.

See if Im honest for all that hassle id buy a purpose made cooler or just buy a better card in the first place

 

[alienware]

Well the card itself is fantastic. The noise levels are far better than the 5770s too. I suppose a good aftermarket cooler would allow for whacking great overclocks but I'm not sure I need them tbh.

 

[Stryker64]

Hey since it has a display port does that mean you can run the Nvidia version of Eyefinity on one card? Or do you still need two?

As in triple monitors, 2 in DVI and 1 with the display port using one of those active display port adapters