Zotac GeForce GTX 470 1280MB Graphics Card
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Performance tests
Testbed:
- Intel Core i7-975 (3340 MHz) CPU
- ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard with the Intel X58 chipset
- 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
- WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD
- Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
- Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, DirectX 11
- Dell 3007WFP 30-inch monitor
- ATI CATALYST 10.4; NVIDIA Drivers 197.41/197.45.
- VSync disabled
Benchmarks:
- Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) -- DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
- Crysis 1.2 (Crytek/EA) -- Rescue, DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
- Crysis Warhead (Crytek/EA) -- Cargo, DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
- Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) -- DirectX 10.0/11.0, Ultra High settings, run the benchmark as follows: "dirt2.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml".
- Warhammer 40.000: Dawn Of War II (Relic Entertainment/THQ) -- DirectX 10.0, Super High settings, run the benchmark from the in-game menu.
- Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) -- DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, run the benchmark from the in-game menu.
- Tropics Benchmark 1.3 (Unigine) -- DirectX 10.0, High settings.
- Heaven Benchmark 2.0 (Unigine) -- DirectX 10.0, High settings.
- Heaven Benchmark 2.0 (Unigine) -- DirectX 11.0, High settings.
- 3DMark Vantage 1.02 (FutureMark) -- DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, multitexturing, Extreme settings.
We'd like to thank Unigine for helping us set up their benchmarks.
Far Cry 2
Crysis, Rescue
Crysis Warhead, Cargo
Colin McRae: DiRT 2
Warhammer 40.000: Dawn Of War II
Just Cause 2
Unigine Tropics Benchmark
Unigine Heaven Benchmark DirectX 10.0
Unigine Heaven Benchmark DirectX 11.0
3DMark Vantage Graphics Marks
Conclusions
Zotac GeForce GTX 480 1536MB is a regular GeForce GTX 480 we have already reviewed in detail. It fits between Radeon HD 5870 and Radeon HD 5970, offering excellent DirectX 11 potential in terms of tesselation performance. Drawbacks include high power consumption, very high temperatures (hence cooler noise), and price.
Zotac GeForce GTX 470 1280MB is more interesting in terms of price/performance, called to compete with Radeon HD 5850 which it outperforms nicely. However, it's price is closer to that of Radeon HD 5870. Until it's reduced to at least an average of prices of Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 5870, the popularity of GeForce GTX 470 will be shaky. Still, the product is also very interesting in terms of DirectX 11 performance.
You should also remember about technologies like 3D Vision and PhysX these two graphics cards support. When prices become adequate and these cards become more affordable, these feature will add to cards' success.
The key drawback of both GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 is heat and cooler noise. Well, that's up to you. Some people just don't care about noise, focusing on performance. Besides, as stated above, GeForce GTX 470 is not as noisy, without those bothersome noise modulations.
One more thing. If you plan on installing a liquid cooling system, know that you may void warranty. Starting from this lineup, NVIDIA has been putting especially crispy stickers onto cooler screws on the back of the PCB. And you can hardly remove the cooler without breaking those (and voiding the warranty).
We express gratitude to Zotac for the provided graphics card. The PSU is provided by TAGAN, the monitor is provided by NVIDIA.
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