Sparkle Calibre X580 Graphics Card Review

Overclockers.com · 03-28-11, 07:29 AM

Quote:

A couple weeks ago we saw the best single graphics card on the market released by AMD. Today we're going to have a look at an NVIDIA partner card housing the best GPU on the market - the Sparkle Calibre X580.

... Return to article to continue reading.

kommanderkodiak · 03-29-11, 06:14 AM

would it be possible for you to get me the dimensions of the various heatsinks on the vrm vram MOSFETs etc on the chipset ?

hokiealumnus · 03-29-11, 07:18 AM

It would, but probably not this week. I'm very sorry; we just have family visiting and I won't have time to rip it apart.

That said, there is only the MOSFET / vRAM sink. Some of the RAM is open without heat sink and the chipset uses a giant thermal pad.

kommanderkodiak · 03-29-11, 09:42 AM

no worries about not being able to do it this week. Whatever date works for you, works for me.

False Christian · 03-29-11, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kommanderkodiak

no worries about not being able to do it this week. Whatever date works for you, works for me.

OK, how about January 19th, 2077?

kommanderkodiak · 03-29-11, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by False Christian

OK, how about January 19th, 2077?

QUIET YOU!

jk

ChinStrap · 03-30-11, 12:28 AM

those load temps are sexy

hokiealumnus · 03-30-11, 07:21 AM

Agreed...this thing comes ready to have extra voltage pumped into it.

fundip · 04-04-11, 04:45 PM

are these videocards binned? i'm trying to decide between the sparkle calibre and the ASUS GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II. the asus costs $60 less, seems like it has more efficient voltage regulation, but the heatsink isnt as good. i will not be doing any extreme ln2 cooling, just using the heatsink that comes with the gpu.

hokiealumnus · 04-04-11, 05:15 PM

I would think they do a little with the warrantied overclock, but the oc itself isn't a stretch with most 580's. Don't have a directCU II to compare directly unfortunately. If you want quiet and great cooling though, it's hard to go wrong with the sparkle.

fundip · 04-05-11, 01:23 PM

i see that they dont put heatsinks on the vram, though if you buy the arctic cooling heatsink seperately they include ram heatsinks. are vram heatsinks even necessary for a higher vram oc?

hokiealumnus · 04-05-11, 01:28 PM

Well, there's not really any way (other than hard-mod) to increase voltage on the memory, so I'd say it's likely not needed. The aluminum heat sink for the MOSFETs under the main heat sink does cover several vRAM chips but you're correct, it doesn't cover all of them.

fundip · 04-10-11, 11:26 PM

i ordered this card from newegg and it arrived a couple days ago. i installed it and have been running benchmarks. the heatsink on this card is massive but it works great. load temps at stock voltages with this x580 are lower than idle temps with a reference gtx470. it has yet to go above 58c when overclocked and doesnt make sound.

the highest overclock i can make stable in all apps is 975Mhz with 1150mV, crysis doesnt like anything higher than this but other benchmarks can go to 995Mhz without crashing or artifacting.. i think the sweet spot for gaming is about 925Mhz at 1125mV because i dont see much increase in fps beyond that. stock VID in afterburner is 1013mV and in gpu-z its 992mV. which one is more accurate and is this a low vid for a gtx 580 clocked to 810Mhz?

hokiealumnus · 04-10-11, 11:31 PM

I was told it was the AB stock voltage. Mine was 1.000, so just a tad lower than yours but not by much. Sounds like you have a stout card there. Glad you like it!

kommanderkodiak · 04-26-11, 08:42 PM

Houston we have a problem. in order to use 2 of those my case would need to have 8 slots unfortunately mine only has 7 is there a work around or anything guys?

my case is a HAF-932
Im a dork i just looked at it again it only has 2 brackets
LOL im safe whew

03-29-11, 06:14 AM	#2
kommanderkodiak Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: crapifornia	would it be possible for you to get me the dimensions of the various heatsinks on the vrm vram MOSFETs etc on the chipset ? __________________ i7-3930K C2 16GB @ 2133Mhz 9-11-11-28 1T Corsair H100 ASUS Rampage IV Extreme XIgmatek Elysium Antec HCP-1200 PSU OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 512gb SSD Crucial SSD C300 2.5" S3 64GB (games drive) Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM 64mb Cache + 1tb caviar black + 2 TB green drive LG supermulti bluray reader/dvdrw w/lightscribe ASUS GTX Titan OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
	QUOTE Thanks

03-29-11, 07:18 AM	#3
hokiealumnus Water Cooled Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Raleigh, NC	It would, but probably not this week. I'm very sorry; we just have family visiting and I won't have time to rip it apart. That said, there is only the MOSFET / vRAM sink. Some of the RAM is open without heat sink and the chipset uses a giant thermal pad. __________________ Enjoy benchmarks? Join the benching team! \| New to water cooling? Read the Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your PC. xsuperbgx - "As a wise man once said: "Less talky. More clocky."" \| cyberfish - "When overclocked, it's undefined behavior." I.M.O.G. - "Vaseline on Ivy Bridge is a bad idea. But not so bad of an idea that it can't be fixed with a torpedo heater, a dishwasher, an oven, and a few hours. " \m/ OverClockers mATX L33T Club \m/ - Join Now! - My mITX Build
	QUOTE Thanks

03-29-11, 09:42 AM	#4
kommanderkodiak Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: crapifornia	no worries about not being able to do it this week. Whatever date works for you, works for me. __________________ i7-3930K C2 16GB @ 2133Mhz 9-11-11-28 1T Corsair H100 ASUS Rampage IV Extreme XIgmatek Elysium Antec HCP-1200 PSU OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 512gb SSD Crucial SSD C300 2.5" S3 64GB (games drive) Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM 64mb Cache + 1tb caviar black + 2 TB green drive LG supermulti bluray reader/dvdrw w/lightscribe ASUS GTX Titan OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
	QUOTE Thanks

03-30-11, 12:28 AM	#7
ChinStrap Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, IA	those load temps are sexy __________________ Working on a re-build. A few of us Benchmark. You Should join us
	QUOTE Thanks

03-30-11, 07:21 AM	#8
hokiealumnus Water Cooled Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Raleigh, NC	Agreed...this thing comes ready to have extra voltage pumped into it. __________________ Enjoy benchmarks? Join the benching team! \| New to water cooling? Read the Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your PC. xsuperbgx - "As a wise man once said: "Less talky. More clocky."" \| cyberfish - "When overclocked, it's undefined behavior." I.M.O.G. - "Vaseline on Ivy Bridge is a bad idea. But not so bad of an idea that it can't be fixed with a torpedo heater, a dishwasher, an oven, and a few hours. " \m/ OverClockers mATX L33T Club \m/ - Join Now! - My mITX Build
	QUOTE Thanks

Sparkle Calibre X580 Graphics Card Review

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04-04-11, 04:45 PM	#9
fundip Member Join Date: Apr 2010	are these videocards binned? i'm trying to decide between the sparkle calibre and the ASUS GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II. the asus costs $60 less, seems like it has more efficient voltage regulation, but the heatsink isnt as good. i will not be doing any extreme ln2 cooling, just using the heatsink that comes with the gpu. __________________ evga x58 3 way sli mobo intel i7 930 @4.3(207x21) sparkle gtx580 cm690 ii advanced xfx 850w psu noctua nh-d-14 gskill pi 1600@ 1652(6-8-6-20) 6GB memory ocz vertex2 120GB 3.5" ssd wd caviar blue 1TB
	QUOTE Thanks

04-04-11, 05:15 PM	#10
hokiealumnus Water Cooled Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Raleigh, NC	I would think they do a little with the warrantied overclock, but the oc itself isn't a stretch with most 580's. Don't have a directCU II to compare directly unfortunately. If you want quiet and great cooling though, it's hard to go wrong with the sparkle.
	QUOTE Thanks

04-05-11, 01:23 PM	#11
fundip Member Join Date: Apr 2010	i see that they dont put heatsinks on the vram, though if you buy the arctic cooling heatsink seperately they include ram heatsinks. are vram heatsinks even necessary for a higher vram oc? __________________ evga x58 3 way sli mobo intel i7 930 @4.3(207x21) sparkle gtx580 cm690 ii advanced xfx 850w psu noctua nh-d-14 gskill pi 1600@ 1652(6-8-6-20) 6GB memory ocz vertex2 120GB 3.5" ssd wd caviar blue 1TB
	QUOTE Thanks

04-05-11, 01:28 PM	#12
hokiealumnus Water Cooled Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Raleigh, NC	Well, there's not really any way (other than hard-mod) to increase voltage on the memory, so I'd say it's likely not needed. The aluminum heat sink for the MOSFETs under the main heat sink does cover several vRAM chips but you're correct, it doesn't cover all of them. __________________ Enjoy benchmarks? Join the benching team! \| New to water cooling? Read the Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your PC. xsuperbgx - "As a wise man once said: "Less talky. More clocky."" \| cyberfish - "When overclocked, it's undefined behavior." I.M.O.G. - "Vaseline on Ivy Bridge is a bad idea. But not so bad of an idea that it can't be fixed with a torpedo heater, a dishwasher, an oven, and a few hours. " \m/ OverClockers mATX L33T Club \m/ - Join Now! - My mITX Build
	QUOTE Thanks

04-10-11, 11:26 PM	#13
fundip Member Join Date: Apr 2010	i ordered this card from newegg and it arrived a couple days ago. i installed it and have been running benchmarks. the heatsink on this card is massive but it works great. load temps at stock voltages with this x580 are lower than idle temps with a reference gtx470. it has yet to go above 58c when overclocked and doesnt make sound. the highest overclock i can make stable in all apps is 975Mhz with 1150mV, crysis doesnt like anything higher than this but other benchmarks can go to 995Mhz without crashing or artifacting.. i think the sweet spot for gaming is about 925Mhz at 1125mV because i dont see much increase in fps beyond that. stock VID in afterburner is 1013mV and in gpu-z its 992mV. which one is more accurate and is this a low vid for a gtx 580 clocked to 810Mhz? __________________ evga x58 3 way sli mobo intel i7 930 @4.3(207x21) sparkle gtx580 cm690 ii advanced xfx 850w psu noctua nh-d-14 gskill pi 1600@ 1652(6-8-6-20) 6GB memory ocz vertex2 120GB 3.5" ssd wd caviar blue 1TB
	QUOTE Thanks

04-10-11, 11:31 PM	#14
hokiealumnus Water Cooled Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Raleigh, NC	I was told it was the AB stock voltage. Mine was 1.000, so just a tad lower than yours but not by much. Sounds like you have a stout card there. Glad you like it! __________________ Enjoy benchmarks? Join the benching team! \| New to water cooling? Read the Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your PC. xsuperbgx - "As a wise man once said: "Less talky. More clocky."" \| cyberfish - "When overclocked, it's undefined behavior." I.M.O.G. - "Vaseline on Ivy Bridge is a bad idea. But not so bad of an idea that it can't be fixed with a torpedo heater, a dishwasher, an oven, and a few hours. " \m/ OverClockers mATX L33T Club \m/ - Join Now! - My mITX Build
	QUOTE Thanks

04-26-11, 08:42 PM	#15
kommanderkodiak Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: crapifornia	Houston we have a problem. in order to use 2 of those my case would need to have 8 slots unfortunately mine only has 7 is there a work around or anything guys? my case is a HAF-932 Im a dork i just looked at it again it only has 2 brackets LOL im safe whew __________________ i7-3930K C2 16GB @ 2133Mhz 9-11-11-28 1T Corsair H100 ASUS Rampage IV Extreme XIgmatek Elysium Antec HCP-1200 PSU OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro 512gb SSD Crucial SSD C300 2.5" S3 64GB (games drive) Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM 64mb Cache + 1tb caviar black + 2 TB green drive LG supermulti bluray reader/dvdrw w/lightscribe ASUS GTX Titan OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
	QUOTE Thanks

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