Topic: NVidia GeForce 400 Series

[MysterD]

Lot of reviews are popping up for the GF 400 series of cards.

I'm surprised Pug hasn't started a thread up on the new Fermi cards - so dammit, I'm gonna get things going here.

Anandtech's review is up for GTX470 and 480, as well...

[Pugnate]

6 months late, too hot (95 f'ing degrees at load!!!!!!), too power hungry, and only about 5-20% than the competition. It is 50% better at min. frames, which isn't something to be underestimated though.

Also, a bit of the Fermi stuff is hardware locked... probably due to low yields.

[MysterD]

6 months late, too hot (95 f'ing degrees at load!!!!!!), too power hungry, and only about 5-20% than the competition. It is 50% better at min. frames, which isn't something to be underestimated though.

Damn, that's really hot.
I wonder how long it'll take for them to refine in w/ newer models - which probably is inevitable.

And wow @ pretty much 600-watt supplies are required for this thing.

[Pugnate]

Yea I think this is after the refinement. The cards are 6 months late. But yea, I wouldn't buy these. I was actually waiting and planning for them, but they aren't worth it for now.

The problem is that both AMD and Nvidia have gone to a smaller process and are both having various issues. AMD's 5 series cards, while awesome, are suffering from low yields which is why supply is a little low and the cards have gone up in price.

[Cobra951]

600 watts?!  That's insane.

[Pugnate]

Yea it is such a waste of energy just to play a game. In SLI it is close to 1KW, which is what a microwave takes? Oh human beings, what funny creatures we are.

[Cobra951]

Heh.  I was thinking SLI = hairdryer. 

[Pugnate]

Just confirmed it. It needs a 1.2 KW PSU for SLI on a modern system with a high end processor, harddrives etc.

Sorry but that's just a big waste. Many modern Microwaves use about 600-800 watts, and they are used for what, five minutes a day?

Spending twice that for four hours a day, just to pretend you are shooting Nazis just doesn't seem right.

edit:

I guess living in a country where power is so scarce that there is loading shedding (rolling blackouts), thrice a day, this feels pretty poor.

[scottws]

It's not just you Pug... that's crazy.  How many people really have SLI though?  A smallish percentage of PC gamers, who are already a small percentage of computer users.

That scares me though.  If I remember correctly, my PSU is 550W.

[gpw11]

The power requirements of cards are retarded now.  I think I have a 450W psu and don't think I'd be able to upgrade my card without being below the recommended psu specs of any of the newer ones.

I refuse to believe it's not sloppy engineering.  People care about speed, not power draw, so why put time into streamlining it?

[Pugnate]

Yup, most gamers don't use SLI. I am just wondering if those that will use two 480s regularly will feel at all weird about sucking up that much power.

Even the fact that a single 480 will go up to 95 degrees is a bit insane. I am not an engineer, so I sometimes feel lost reading this stuff but the main reason it seems that this thing is so hot and hungry, is because it is General Purpose GPU. Nvidia are moving in a direction where they want their cards to act as both processors and video cards... and making something this complex makes it less efficient.

That's the reason they were 6 months late. Intel has the best engineers, and their GPGPU (called Larrabee) was recently canceled, because they just couldn't do it.

Also, GPW a 450W PSU is pretty small, but it won't go higher than 550, I am sure of it. If you are going to upgrade to a 600W PSU it will last you till it craps out. I am sure the next iterations of these Nvidia cards will be more efficient.

The 5 series ATi/AMD cards are pretty awesome, and the best part about them is they run fairly cool.

[gpw11]

Also, GPW a 450W PSU is pretty small, but it won't go higher than 550, I am sure of it. If you are going to upgrade to a 600W PSU it will last you till it craps out. I am sure the next iterations of these Nvidia cards will be more efficient.

Honestly, it could be 500-550W. I bought it before my PC, knowing that I'd just switch it over from my older one.  I really can't see me upgrading it unless it started crapping out though....I probably won't be buying a new card anytime soon.

[Pugnate]

If you open your case it should be clearly labeled what it is. Is it some generic PSU or branded?

On the side of the supply you should see the amp ratings. Even if it is a 450w supply and you don't have too much in your system, you can get by easily as long as the 12V amp rating is OK.

I got my sister a 9600GT but her 450W supply's 12V cable didn't meet the 26amp requirement for the video card (I think it was 26). Her PSU's 12V cable's amp rating is I think 22 or something, so it is definitely short.

It seemed like a bit of waste to get another PSU when it would cost the same as the video card. Hopefully it won't cause her system too many issues in the future... but so far so good.

[Cobra951]

Just confirmed it. It needs a 1.2 KW PSU for SLI on a modern system with a high end processor, harddrives etc.

Sorry but that's just a big waste. Many modern Microwaves use about 600-800 watts, and they are used for what, five minutes a day?

Spending twice that for four hours a day, just to pretend you are shooting Nazis just doesn't seem right.

edit:

I guess living in a country where power is so scarce that there is loading shedding (rolling blackouts), thrice a day, this feels pretty poor.

This boggles my mind.  There is a push right here in this country, without having those problems, to "go green".  Energy conservation.  The Energy Star program came out of that push in the early 90s.  Yet no one seems to be calling out these video-card companies on their continually rising power demands.  What they do can be accomplished much more efficiently with little sacrifice.  I guess the drive to come up with a few more polys per second to outdo the competition keeps Nvidia and ATi from ever revising existing designs to use less silicon and less power.  This happens on consoles, with chips shrinking and consolidating.  As I understand it (very little lately) some newer cards use little power and they blow away the space heaters from a few years back.   But the darlings of the industry are always these ever-hungrier designs on the bleeding edge.

[Beatrice]

MY ASS IS ON THE BLEEDING EDGE!

[MysterD]

Hitler reacts to GF 400 Fermi architecture.