GTX 470 overclocking benches & impressions

My GTX 470 arrived a couple of days ago...


What is very interesting is the fan noise and temps: fan noise @ 70% is not loud at all, just air whooshing at a dull tone, no "whine" or whirring. It is perfectly comfortable to me, whereas a 5870 at above 38% began to emit a whirr, and eventually a hairdryer-like noise @ 70%+ speed. Now, the big surprise here for me was, that the temperatures are nowhere near as high in my system as they are in the reviews... take a look at the data I took from GPU-Z 0.42 and eVGA Precision in my notes:

720c/3520mem 70% fan
NFS Shift peak temp: 76c
BFBC2 peak temp: 80c
SF4 peak temp: 72c

Again, the fan is very unobtrusive noise-wise inside my case (Coolermaster RC690). Idle temperature is 35c after letting it sit for around 25 minutes websurfing.

Anyway, onto the actual performance...

TEST SETUP:
Intel i7 920 HT on, 3.72ghz
6GB DDR3 @ 8-8-8-2T timings, 1560mhz
nVidia GTX470 1280MB/ATI Radeon 5870 1GB
256GB Crucial M225-series SSD (Indilinx barefoot controller with samsung nand)
Dell 3007WFP-HC 2560x1600 LCD monitor

Click to expand...

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5870 Clocks (for NFS shift #'s) was 925c/4900m (9.11 drivers back then), for BFBC2/SF4 they were stock (850/1200) with 10.2 drivers
GTX 470 Clocks for these tests below: 704c/1408s/3504m, 197.41 drivers


NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT:
2560x1600, 8x AA, 16x AF, transparency multisampling, max options, several laps of Ambush Canyon, DX10

GTX470 OC'd: 53min, 64avg
5870 OC'd @ launch: 32-35min, 50avg


Street Fighter 4:
2560x1600, 8x AA, 16x AF, transparency multisampling, max options w/ ink filter, in-game bench

GTX470 OC'd: 148.2fps avg
5870 stock: 124.4fps avg


Battlefield Bad Company 2:
2560x1600, 4x AA, 16x AF, transparency multisampling, max options w/ HBAO enabled, DX11, Port Valdez "Rush" mode (full game)

GTX470 OC'd: 37min, 52avg
5870 Stock: 25min, 41avg


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A quick Unigine Heaven bench...



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Now that I've had it a couple of days I overclocked further with a voltage tweak:









Results are quite nice, and it scales very well performance-wise! Peak temps are 86c with 73% fan, which is the last step before it becomes "loud" or bothersome to me at all. It is 100% stable through a day+ of gaming with BF Bad Company 2, Warhammer Online, WOW, NFS Shift, SF4, Dirt 2 benching, 3dmark Vantage benching, and Heaven benching.

Overall I am quite impressed with it... . Faster than a 5870 even at the 700 OC (not just for me, see results like this as well: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3204/nvidia_geforce_gtx_470_video_card_overclocked/index13.html), and much faster at my 800 OC.

Nice job Tiger, thanks for sharing and taking the time.

Now overclock that CPU!

GoldenTiger said:

NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT:
2560x1600, 8x AA, 16x AF, transparency multisampling, max options, several laps of Ambush Canyon, DX10

GTX470 OC'd: 53min, 64avg
5870 OC'd @ launch: 32-35min, 50avg


Street Fighter 4:
2560x1600, 8x AA, 16x AF, transparency multisampling, max options w/ ink filter, in-game bench

GTX470 OC'd: 148.2fps avg
5870 stock: 124.4fps avg


Battlefield Bad Company 2:
2560x1600, 4x AA, 16x AF, transparency multisampling, max options w/ HBAO enabled, DX11, Port Valdez "Rush" mode (full game)

GTX470 OC'd: 37min, 52avg
5870 Stock: 25min, 41avg

Click to expand...

Good OC on that, 800mhz and temps don't seem to be in the red. Question for you: How does the 470 fully OC'd compare to the 5870 fully OC'd with latest drivers?

Yes my thinking was always 470 was going to be a good card for under 400, why not use newer drivers than 10.2 though?

Rattle said:

Yes my thinking was always 470 was going to be a good card for under 400, why not use newer drivers than 10.2 though?

Click to expand...

I sold my 5870 just before the 10.3 beta's came out, so I only have that data. They're very close to 10.3 in performance, but if someone has newer #'s at same settings and a similar overall system with 5870 go for it so we can compare !

don'tknow said:

Good OC on that, 800mhz and temps don't seem to be in the red. Question for you: How does the 470 fully OC'd compare to the 5870 fully OC'd with latest drivers?

Click to expand...

My Asus 5870 (which replaced the initial one with the 925 OC in the OP) wouldn't hold an overclock for 24/7 gaming (would artifact after 30-45mins in any game even with 40-45% fan at anything but stock, where it worked fine), so that's what I'm comparing to. See above for the rest of the explanation .

Shiggity said:

Nice job Tiger, thanks for sharing and taking the time.

Now overclock that CPU!

Click to expand...

Thanks... I'm going to try pumping the CPU up some more soon, I settled on this overclock awhile back and never revisited upping it more.

Oh, I see then. Variances between each card can ruin things like that. Some doing 1ghz and some barely getting above stock.

But overall it's looking better than the initial reviews on hardware sites. Those ones that used auto fan speed on all their tests (sigh).

I'll pop the GTX 470 to stock and post some benches tonight at some point for comparison .

Thanks for the benches Golden, I am really looking at this card... Maybe I'll get it in the next few months. Cheaper than the 480 and close performer.. I'd say even both OC'd the 470 would come close to the 480..

-D

I've got some 5870 vs 470 numbers, 10.3 whql.
Still a work in progress, have a dozen or so more results to chart.

5870 @ 950/1300, 470 @ 790/1580/900

Can I get somone with a 470 and i7 @4.0-4.2 to run 3DMark06? I am curious how it stacks up against my SLI.

grunion said:

I've got some 5870 vs 470 numbers, 10.3 whql.
Still a work in progress, have a dozen or so more results to chart.

5870 @ 950/1300, 470 @ 790/1580/900

Click to expand...

What resolution and other settings are used in these tests?

Brutal-Force said:

Can I get somone with a 470 and i7 @4.0-4.2 to run 3DMark06? I am curious how it stacks up against my SLI.

Click to expand...

I think I hit 26k at 4Ghz with 700/1400/1800(900).

EarthDog said:

I think I hit 26k at 4Ghz with 700/1400/1800(900).

Click to expand...

Yeah, thats about what I have been seeing. For me this is a sigh of relief. I can actually use my SLI 260s until a) I decide to step up to a GTX 495 if and when they come out or b) DX11 becomes a requirement on newer games (not that I play that many) or c) the prices come down to a point that its worthwhile to buy a 470.

I see it like when I picked up my GTX 260 for $150 New and now the prices are back up. If the 470s come down like that, then I may step up. I kinda thought I might end up with 295s in between, but Fermi actually ended up cheaper than I expected. I was actually contemplating a 470 when I saw prices between 350 and 400, but since my 260s will still be competitive, I can wait.

Thanks for the Feedback ED.

when i first read this post it made me want to go get a 470 so i went to newegg and checked them out. I ended up getting one after reading the all the great customer reviews but i thought it was funny that after reading your (golden tiger) thread i also saw your review on newegg as well!! must be popular ha

Brutal-Force said:

Yeah, thats about what I have been seeing. For me this is a sigh of relief. I can actually use my SLI 260s until a) I decide to step up to a GTX 495 if and when they come out or b) DX11 becomes a requirement on newer games (not that I play that many) or c) the prices come down to a point that its worthwhile to buy a 470.

I see it like when I picked up my GTX 260 for $150 New and now the prices are back up. If the 470s come down like that, then I may step up. I kinda thought I might end up with 295s in between, but Fermi actually ended up cheaper than I expected. I was actually contemplating a 470 when I saw prices between 350 and 400, but since my 260s will still be competitive, I can wait.

Thanks for the Feedback ED.

Click to expand...

You can sell both GTX260's and get a 470/480...

Right now would be better rather than later, since the GTX's will start depreciating once the GTX460 is out..

-D

how does the 470 stack up to a GTX285? i honestly havent looked too much at the 400 series cards. how about 2 285's in SLI? wonder if it would be better to pick up a second 285 for SLI for sell the 285 and pick up a 470

gsrcrxsi said:

how does the 470 stack up to a GTX285? i honestly havent looked too much at the 400 series cards. how about 2 285's in SLI? wonder if it would be better to pick up a second 285 for SLI for sell the 285 and pick up a 470

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I've wondered the same with a 470 vs SLI 260's, which I currently have. I've looked for benchmarks to compare, but the 260's aren't usually included. Anyone have any insight.

Sorry if this has hi-jacked the OP.

Here are few benchmarks 470 gtx vs 260 gtx sli.

Thanks. This is tough, as GTX 260 SLI is better in some. Now I know GTX 470 SLI would blow it away, but is it worth it?? Besides DX11 support, I may hold my money for a little longer.