GTX480

If you're into computer stuff, then you probably know about the GTX480 already. To simply sum things up from the reviews I read, it is basically one very hot, very fast GPU.

It Idles at around 73 degrees Celsius. and at full load, it hovers around the mid 90s. That might sound high, and in fact it is high, because the limit for GPUs and CPUs is at 100 degrees. The idling temperature is ridiculously high. My GTX 275 is only at around low to mid 50s. That is considered normal if you have an nVidia card. It is lower for ATI cards. It has 4 heat pipes popping out of the plastic decorative shroud, and I believe it really needs those cards before igniting in to silicon dust.

Considering that this card idles at an extremely hi 70 degrees and loads up to 90 degrees. I believe if you get an effective liquid cooling system for this card and drop the temperatures to "normal", this card should have so huge overclocking head room available.

This card is considered to be really fast compared to the last generation of graphics cards. But it was delayed for half a year, giving ATI a DirectX 11 monopoly for that time and establishing market control. The GTX480 is a direct competitor to the ATI's 5870. Which it does beat, but at a higher price point, temperature, and power consumption. Although I don't think anyone would really care about power consumption unless determining the power requirement for your power supply. It doesn't make sense if you look at it because why would you buy a supercar, say Ferrari, Lamborghini, or a Porche and criticize its fuel economy?

It doesn't beat it by much, but it does beat it by a noticeable amount.

This card is mostly made for tessellation, and great at anti-aliasing. When turning up the AA, frame rates usually drop by a noticeable amount. When comparing apples to apples, the GTX480 takes less of a hit than a 5870, which is hugely impressive. To make it even better, the scalability of SLI is much more efficient now with this new generation of graphics cards.

Though I am mostly an nVidia fan, but I am supporting ATI in the new generation of graphics cards, simply because they are priced better and they support features that are more practical like Eyefinity rather than Physx (okay, this might be a little useful), but 3D vision isn't. You still have to wear those glasses for them.