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ZOTAC Geforce GTX 470 and GTX 480 Video Cards Reviewed

Eric Garay
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Most PC enthusiasts have been keeping up with nVidia’s “heated” Geforce GTX 470 and 480 GPU launch. Despite the drama, nVidia’s partners are still doing what they do best and that’s continue to produce good video cards. With the right combination of components and software, they can shine where nVidia’s own reference cards may have failed to impress. ZOTAC is one such manufacturer that develops their own video cards from the PCB up. This allows them to fine tune their video cards which can improve performance and lifespan of the product without having to cut back on features. Today we see what ZOTAC does with nVidia’s latest and greatest: The GTX 470 and GTX 480


Features and Specifications

The newest GF100 GPU boasts a couple features not previously found in the earlier GTX 2XX. The obvious major differences come in the form of a 40nm die shrink, greater number of CUDA cores, faster GDDR5 memory, 3D nVision Surround support, DirectX 11, Tessellation and Open GL 3.2. There are naturally memory, core, and frequency differences noted in the chart below.

Like many vendors, both the GTX 470 and GTX 480 sport stock frequencies. Typically, we get to see ZOTAC’s spin on the reference cards dubbed AMP! with higher memory, GPU, and stream frequencies by now. Unfortunately, the late nVidia launch probably has engineers still testing GPUs to see if there’s extra head room for these cards more tuned versions as typically their AMP! cards tend to rock.

The two cards sport two Dual Link DVI ports and a mini HDMI port. For the more common user, two monitors is more than enough video connectivity. This supports the card’s ability in working with 3D Vision Technology. 3D Vision Technology allows the most extreme gamer to attach up to three 3D supportive 1080p monitors while experiencing the game play wearing 3D Vision glasses.

What’s In Each Box?

Since these are the first batch of card to finally be releases, there aren’t any extras or any video games. Future product SKUs might include something like their GTX 285 Batman Edition which came with Batman: Arkham Asylum. At the moment, there is no word if such a thing is in the works. Both of the cards include the basic starter bundle. This includes the various PCI Express power cable adapters, DVI to VGA adapter, and HD audio cable where applicable.

You’ll also find the driver DVD containing whatever drivers were available at launch. Since then, there was at least one new driver release from nVidia. If you have questions about installation, or about further power requirements, all one has to do is check through the reference or user guide. ZOTAC doesn’t include any software extras for overclocking their video cards. And, given the heated reputation of the stock GTX 470 and 480, we’re not sure you would want to go there anyways as you’ll find out in the coming pages.





What the Heck is Tessellation?

DirectX 11 video cards such as these GTX 400 series as well as ATI’s HD 5xxx, currently offer hardware tessellation. The two new hull and domain shaders double assist the Vertex shader as the polygons are rendered. This results in better balanced and rendered graphical details not easily seen in previous generation video cards. Previous generation methods over detailed some areas and under detailed others creating an unbalanced effect. Using the two new shaders helps prevent the GPU from taking a performance hit when creating such large numbers of poly details. DX11 implements tessellation settings that help correct this issue and improves overall details whether it be mapping or the AI in games.

One of the latest benchmarks to implement DX11 testing is the Unigine Heaven Demo. We’ll take a look and compare results after looking at the card inside and out.

The Zotac GTX Series

On the outside, both of the new GTX cards are pretty much stock reference models except for the stickers. The fan shrouds aren’t much different if at all from the previous generation. The card lengths change just a bit with the GTX 470 measuring in at just under 10 inches. Thankfully it’s not any longer than usual. The 470 requires two 6-pin PCI Express power connectors to operate. This is essentially the intended video card for mainstream users cautious about spending too much money.

The GTX 480 it measures in right at 11 inches. That makes it as long as the GTX 295. While it doesn’t was as much as the ZOTAC GTX 295, it definitely weighs more than the GTX 285 due to the massive heat sink. The bulk of its weight comes from the larger heat sinks under the fan shroud which covers pretty much every component that produces high frequencies for rendering mad frame rates.

Underneath the Skirts

Along with the obvious PCB circuit changes and because the Fermi (GF100) GPU requires a healthy dose of power to operate, the cooling solutions underneath each card had to be revised to some degree. For instance, underneath the GTX 470’s fan shroud, is a rather beefy aluminum heat sink with five large copper heat pipes connected to a copper base. The turbine type fan typically moves about 15 or so feet of air a minute at its highest speed. These fans require high RPMs to move enough air, thus you can expect much fan noise.

The GTX 480 wins the “omg” award in terms size and weight. This beast of a cooler has four similar sized heat pipes connected to its base. Because the GTX 480 sports higher frequencies which require more power, it makes sense that it would needs a more substantial cooler. Unfortunately, it means extra added weight. It also gets the same rather limited (and loud) cooling fan. Because this GPU is expected to get even hotter during operation, you should expect more audible fan noise and temps. nVidia really needs to get more innovative in this respect.





Test System and Setup Notes

One of the important notes we’d like to add is that like many previous nVidia based video cards, power is essential to a stable and enjoyable gaming experience, especially if you have on of these video cards. If you’re running on a low quality 500 watt power supply, you’ll probably encounter some random issues with your system. Might we suggest a good quality 600 to 700 watt power supply to start. 1000 watts if you plan to empty your wallet for two. Granted, you may not push these video cards to their maximum power consuming limit. But if you do, a substandard power can easily bring your system crashing down or even ruin some components.

With that in mind, here is our test system optimized for gaming and video rendering perfection:

We used the 197.41 NVidia driver for the GTX 4xx series and 197.45 nVidia driver for the GTX 200 series video cards. The ATI Catalyst 10.3 driver was used for the GIGABYTE HD 5870 video card on hand. Additionally, vertical sync was forced off as to not limit our frame rates.

Benchmark Time

For the benchmarks, we wanted to continue using the latest benchmarks that represent the most up to date and current graphical experience possible. For that reason, we’re using main stream DX10 and DX11 applications. This includes 3DMark Vantage, Unigine Heaven Demo, Bad Company 2, Crysis, BioHazard 5, and CineBench R11.5. No scores were entered for DX10 cards under DX11 only testing.

3DMark Vantage

In past testing, sequential geForce series cards don’t very too much in performance. However, there is a big difference between the GTX 470 and GTX 480.

The GTX 470 is capable of completing 3DMark slightly ahead of the GTX 285. We’re actually surprised to see its performance is somewhere below an equally priced HD 5850. The GTX 480 easily crushes its sibling though and heads up the entire pack including the current best bang-for-buck performer, the HD 5870. At 17,152 points, it’s the fastest, stock GPU available.

Now that we’ve got a baseline down, let’s see how they do with some DirectX 11 benchmarks.

Unigine Heaven Demo (DX10 and DX11)

Using this lovely video benchmark, you can easily test all the DirectX capabilities of any video card. Since, some folks are still using Windows XP Pro and Vista, we tested both DX10 and DX11 options with 4X Anisotropic settings.

As expected, the GTX 480 lead with a healthy 45.4 frame average in DX11 with tessellation enabled and 55.8 frame in DX10 without. You’ll be happy to know that with Physx on and off in DX11, there was about a 2 frame difference so you might as well leave it on. The surprising thing is that the HD 5870 just about matched the GTX 480 when in DX10 mode. Needless to say, tessellation sure makes for better details especially during the grass and dragon scenes. Let’s keep the benches moving along…





Bad Company 2 (DX11)

This latest DX11 title offers immense scenery and game physics that push Fermi’s Tessellation support to the limit. It seriously taxes any video card at resolutions higher than 1080P especially using all the highest settings.

Recording the overall average from running three different recorded scenes, the GTX 470 and 480 both produce very playable frame rates. The GTX 480 again lead the pack by a few frames. It seems as though the GTX 480 rendered some scenes just a little slower which allowed the HD 5870 to catch up. This could be due to the video drivers or even the card throttling down due to high heat, come to think of it. Further nVidia driver updates may change the way we experience BC2 in the future.

Crysis Warhead (DX10)

Still the DX10 monster of the last decade, Crysis Warhead didn’t do much to prevent either of the Fermi GPUs from offering playable rates.

The GTX 480 just edges past the HD 5870 using high settings. If this were a DX11 game, the GTX 480 might have had a place to shine even if it only managed to score a much lower frame rate.

BioHazard 5 (DX10)

This benchmark is much simpler and represents a pretty good standard of what many of the current mainstream titles have to offer. If your current video card can handle the two previous benchmarks, chances are that your frame rates will be similarly playable.

Naturally, the two nVidia GTX 4xx series cards have no problems handling the demo even with all the features maxed out and enabled. The GTX 480 essentially scores right at 20 frames per second more than its sibling and bests the HD 5870 pretty easily, on average. HD 5870 does bump ahead though in one of the areas though. The GTX 295 seems to hang in there though against its newer brother and even bests it in a few areas on this DX10 benchmark.

Cinebench (OpenGL Testing)

One thing that nVidia’s GPUs have always done well with in the past has been performance in most OpenGL dependent programs. Here, we see that the Zotac GTX 480 still holds the top single GPU lead with the HD 5870 close behind. The GTX 470 doesn’t do too shabby as it beats out its predecessor by a good 2 frames.





Wanted: Way Better Cooling Solution…Immediately!

CHiL it does not!

In case you weren’t already aware, the stock nVidia reference cards get hot and loud. This almost seems pre-ordained by design. They also consume every rated watt right down to the wall socket. In our own real world testing, results were quite similar in temps, but with lower fan noise even after 60 minutes of benchmarks. Inside an ANTEC P183 case, the GTX 470 emitted about 42 dBA and the GTX 480 topped out at 45 dBA. Again, these were recorded during typical testing based on what most users will be doing with these video cards. If you’re doing some Folding@Home, you will probably get a little more noise out of these cards. Here’s a quick chart to put it into perspective.

Even though nVidia regards the stock cooler as adequate, we rarely ever agree with that assertion. In fact, we enjoy seeing better coolers because they often mean a little extra speed in due to the ability to run higher frequencies. Hopefully ZOTAC will be able to amp it up with their AMP! series. Other vendors are working on their own GPU coolers as we speak. Given the GTX 4xx series’ hotness, we wouldn’t be surprised if everyone comes up with something better than stock really soon.

Final Thoughts

There’s no question that the NVidia Geforce GTX 480 is the king of Tessellation. It provides the highest DX11 frame rates of any single GPU video card currently on the market. It’s also offers up 3D Vision Technology if you ever want to get your own AVATAR on. On the entertainment side, nVidia still offers some of the best HD play back should you ever feel like connecting your 32″ 1080p monitor at your favorite LAN party. It does so at the cost of heat and power consumption consumption however and you’ll want to use your headphones to block out the whirring of the fan when they hit high.

As with any new nVidia GPU launch, the ZOTAC GTX 470 and GTX 480 both carry premium pricing and stay true to their MSRP, at least for the time being. The GTX 470 will cost you roughly $349 US while the GTX 480 requires a $150 premium taking the price to $499 Us. Price for this performance isn’t too off target for the enthusiast market. Just remember to factor in the possible need for a more capable power supply when you’re shopping for one of these cards. You’ll need it. While you’re at it, you may want to pick up some more fans for your case as well.

Because the ZOTAC GTX 470 1280MB and GTX 480 1536MB Graphics Cards are currently the most affordable options and have delivered a very good, reliable 3D experience, we have no reservations recommending them for your next “Fermilicious” gaming system with a side of “Tesselation”.

Pros:

  • True to the MSRP pricing it ahead of the pack
  • ZOTAC supported (Home of the ITX!)
  • GTX 480 is the fastest DX11 graphics card available
  • Fermi offers Shader innovation
  • Supports 3D NVision Technology

Cons:

  • Premium price for premium performance
  • Very hot graphics cards
  • Audible fan noise
  • Limited bundle for the price

Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0

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ZOTAC Geforce GTX 470 and GTX 480 Video Cards – Photo Gallery





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