7. ATI Radeon HD 5770 Review
All the modern graphics cards have gone to dual power connectors. Well, all but one. There are actually others, like the rest of the 5000 series ATI cards (which we haven’t looked at) that are less powerful than the 5770, but it seemed odd for this one to only have the single connection. It’s really not a big deal, other than it limits the amount of power it can take in safely, but it is odd. Maybe ATI didn’t have gaming and other intense graphics rendering in mind for the ATI Radeon HD 5770? Whether that is the case or not, it's still a good card. See other great graphic cards in our comparative review site.
GPU/Interface: 
The 5770 is a decent graphics card. Its strongest point is definitely the GPU. Sitting with a core speed of 850MHz, just over a billion transistors and 1360 GFLOPs of computing power, it’s only real competition is the GTX 285 and ATI's own 4890, as far as specs go. Out of the three cards, this one, the HD 5770, is really the best GPU option, since the card is far cheaper than the GeForce GTX 285 and is also somewhat cheaper than the Radeon HD 4890. The best part about it is that not only is it less expensive but it tested out as the superior GPU, in almost every way.
Video Memory: 
This graphics card could have done much better with a better video memory set. 1200MHz isn't a bad clock speed for memory, 1GB of video RAM isn't uncommon and being GDDR5 is the new standard. The two things that totally kill the memory are the bus width and bandwidth. Most graphics cards have at least 256-bit memory bus width but the 5770 has a wimpy 128-bit. The bandwidth is equally disappointing, only about 77. Those both fall far short of the GTX 285 and are still half of what the old HD 4890 has.
Supported API:
The memory may be less than desirable, but with DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4 support, you still have potential when you consider the price. These two APIs will be the standard of new apps and games that will be coming out over the next year or two. Without cards that support these APIs, you'll be forced to view the content on a lesser scale and in some cases may not be able to run it at all.
Summary:
The combination of DirectX 11 support, OpenGL support, a decent GPU and a good price makes this a graphics card that is bound to be successful. The average person doesn't need the super mega ultra graphics card costing an arm and a leg. We all want that ridiculously expensive card, but it's not usually what we actually end up getting. If there was content for the top graphics cards only, then it would be different, but there isn't. Therefore the ATI Radeon HD 5770 is a great option for many.
6. Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 Review
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 used to be one of the fastest single-core GPUs on the market. It was the number two card in Nvidia’s 200 series lineup. There's a big enough gap between this card and the GTX 295 that with the releases of ATI 5000 series, it looks weak. But looking analytically, it really isn’t weak at all. Video games are some of the most GPU-intensive software and the GTX 285 will play them all just fine. The real problem is that it’s the same price as the GTX 470, which is a clearly superior card. To check it out and others, see our graphics card review section.
GPU/Interface:
It has a single core clocked at 648MHz which is no longer anything special. However, its shader clock speed is 1476MHz, which is quick, even now. That's about the only thing this GPU has going for it though. The computing performance of the card is only 1063 GFLOPs, with only 240 stream processors. Numbers aren’t everything, we know, but when nearly every number is low by quite a bit, your results will be the same.
Video Memory:
Unlike the specs on the GPU portion of the GTX 285, the video memory is actually robust. The closest competitor to this Nvidia graphics card is probably the ATI Radeon HD 5770. Both cards have a single gigabyte of memory and are sitting close together when it comes to clock speed. The 285 has only 42MHz more than the 5770MHz, which you probably wouldn’t even notice. The ATI card does have the step up to GDDR5 memory but it doesn’t even touch this GTX card when it comes to bus width and bandwidth. The GTX has an impressive 512-bit bus width and a 159 bandwidth measurement. That's 4 times more bus width and just over twice as much bandwidth.
Rendering Technologies: 
One of the many things that comes along with buying an Nvidia card is called PhysX. PhysX is the technology that Nvidia came up with to help realize the effects of nature and real life movement experiences and implement them into games. In other words, it was designed to make reactions more real. A good example would be an explosion in a game where someone is close enough to get thrown back. What would the body do, exactly, when it initially gets hit by the shockwave? What about the transition to flying through the air? The body position and the landing? Maybe it bounces a little against the ground? In real life all these things would be unique every time. In games, that usually isn’t the case. The goal is to make games more and more real, and PhysX is a step in that direction. It’s a step towards capturing the physics of the real world.
Summary:
In short, this isn’t a bad graphics card by any means. Comparatively it looks weak but it isn’t to the extreme that you’d think. It’s a great graphics card and those that already have them won’t need to upgrade for a while yet. The one real flaw is the price. The 3rd party sellers need to take a bunch off the price so that it’s comparable. If they don’t, they’ll be sitting with a pretty big stock of Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 graphics cards for a very long time.
5. ATI Radeon HD 5850
There are always those that think they have to have the best of the best graphics cards and on top of that, they're overclocking and more. That's just for bragging rights. This is especially true when it comes to gaming. The reason is that game developers don’t want to limit their potential audience to only those with the top-of-the-line systems. Game developers try to hit in the middle so that mid- to high-end systems can run their games on the higher settings while older systems can still play on the lower graphics settings.
The ATI Radeon HD 5850 is still a high-end card but on the mid to lower end of that range. It should still be able to play most games at the high settings but before too long that may not be the case. If you are more concerned about API than brute-strength computing power, this is definitely a good consideration. To learn about some other great options, read through our graphics cards site.
GPU/Interface:
The main competition for this ATI card is probably Nvidia's mid range GTX 200 series. But for the GPU, it isn't really even a fight. The HD 5850 takes it in every way. It dominates in stream processors, transistors, TDP (max power) and GFLOP computing performance, but only wins by a small margin when it comes to core clock speed and fill rate.
The Radeon HD 5850 has over three times as many stream processors as the GTX 285. It has nearly double the transistors. That many transistors on a smaller Fab (fabrication process) add up to be a very significant difference. Tacking on an extra thousand GFLOPs to the computing performance, along with a lower energy consumption rate, you end up with the better deal.Video Memory:
To counter act the superior GPU performance, the GTX 285 comes back with an easy win in the video memory side of graphics cards. The HD 5850 does have GDDR5 going for it, but beyond that, it's out-performed in this area. The GeForce card has a slightly higher clock speed and wins by double when it comes to bus width. The ATI Radeon card has the same amount of memory but is also out-done in bandwidth. The video memory performance holds this card back from beating the GTX 285.
Display Interface:
The 5800 series by AMD has one of the most versatile sets of ports for connecting your monitor(s). It has 2 dual-link DVI outputs that'll give you a 2560 x 1600 resolution. It also has a DisplayPort and HDMI output that will give you the same resolution. Many times, graphics cards will only have one or two of these three main outputs but these cards give you all three so that you theoretically don't have to worry about adapters to convert the outputs to what you need. The only time you should have to convert one is if you're running multiple HDMI or DisplayPort monitors. Also if you plan on using an older monitor that is still uses VGA (video graphics array) connections.
Summary:
This graphics card has all the latest support for APIs, including DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4. As more content becomes available that utilizes these advanced APIs, this card will be a nice less expensive solution to getting one of the top-of-the-line expensive cards. It also comes with all of AMD's technologies like Stream, Avivo HD and Eyefinity. Although it is over-looked now due to all the talk about the higher end cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5850 will most likely become one of the most popular upgrades for the average gamers and video transcoders.
4. Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 Review
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 came out the same time as its older brother in the series. For a little while it was discounted as the lesser of the two which, going by specs only, it is. However, once you consider the price differences the story changes a little. This graphics card may not be the most powerful, but aside from GPU, memory speeds and sizes, you get everything else that the higher end card offers. That includes Fermi and DirectX. In multiple benchmark tests, the GTX 470 was able to out-perform all of the ATI competition with tessellation and AA (anti-aliasing) cranked up. Apparently, you can’t rely totally on what spec sheets tell you. To see some other graphics cards then read our review section.
GPU/Interface:
Putting price aside, the 470 still puts up an awfully good fight when compared to some of the higher end cards on the market. The single core of the GPU is clocked at 607MHz in its stock configuration. The shader clock speed is 1214MHz, which is just under the stock speed of Nvidia’s previous flagship model.
The fill rates are a little slow on both of these graphics cards. You’ll find similar texture fill rates in the previous series and better ones from most of the rest of the competition. The big hit that the GTX470 takes is in computing performance. Stock, it’s sitting at only 1089 GFLOPs which is one of the lowest out of the current leading graphics cards. Obviously, it doesn’t hinder it enough to take it out of the competition altogether, but it's still something upon which Nvidia could improve.Video Memory:
The 470 has a pretty nice video memory setup. All though it isn’t as impressive as the 480, it still looks good against the ATI competition. It has just over a gig of memory that is clocked at 1674MHz. This GDDR5 memory has a nice 320-bit bus width for fast processing. Its one flaw, which is only a flaw because it’s out-done by the other leading cards, is the 133.9 bandwidth measurement.
Display Interface:
Both the GTX 400 series graphics cards come with the same ports for plugging in your monitors. They have 2 dual-channel DVI connectors and 1 mini-HDMI. DVI is the most common, but it’s nice to have that HDMI option without the need for an adaptor. These connections allow for up to 2560 x 1600 resolutions.
Supported API:
Like higher end GTX card, the 470 has the same supported API. DirectX 11 is one of the most talked-about features in graphics cards. With the enhanced graphical effects upon which DX 11 is based, like tessellation, the demand for graphics cards with DX 11 support has become a big deal.
Although only a few games have come out so far with the option of DX 11 settings, more are sure to come. This new DirectX API has opened the door to more realistic and life-like effects. Naturally, developers have been drawn to it because of this--for them it’s all about producing the highest quality graphics. By implementing this new 
Rendering Technologies:
Nvidia has an extensive line of technologies that are built into their graphics cards. Fermi is the latest that has been included in the GTX 400 series. Fermi was designed to work alongside DirectX 11. The key points that both things touch upon are tessellation and DirectCompute.
Tessellation basically multiplies and manages the polygons, or basic shape elements, in graphics. By doing so, you increase the detail that is possible for developers to render. Unfortunately, this puts a heavy strain on hardware, so for that reason it has not been a focus until recently. Tessellation has been used in CG (computer generated) animation for a number of years now, but it’s usually in a movie. Movies are a little easier to make good graphics for than games. With movies you only have to make them look good once, and hit the record button. With games though, users have to be able to interact and manipulate them, which means they have to be ready to animate every possible scenario that a player will experience. Not an easy task. With the hardware power that we have available now, mixed with things like Fermi and DirectX 11 that support it, these higher levels of detail are possible. In time we’re bound to see some amazing results.Additional Features:
As with all cards as of late from Nvidia the 470 model has 2 dual channel DVI ports and a Mini-HDMI 1.3 port for connecting your card to your computer. This is very standard and works with almost any mother board on the market today. The card itself is slightly shorter in length than the 400 or 500 series but is still quite large and will take up at least 2 slots on your motherboard.
Summary:
Although the Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 is a downgraded version its older borther, it packs enough punch to satisfy the demands of any gamer. It is significantly less expensive, but is still ahead of the gaming world enough that you shouldn’t have to worry about an upgrade for quite a while. If you want to enjoy running everything on the highest graphics settings but don’t want to pay the flagship premium price, then look no further.
3. ATI Radeon HD 5870 Review
The ATI Radeon HD 5870k, our TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award winner, ruled the roost for quite some time and has only as of late fallen down the charts. It was the elite of the first graphics card series to support DirectX 11. Although it gave way to its big brother, it still is an excellent graphics card. The highest card in the GTX 400 series offers about a 15% performance increase over this card but is about a hundred dollars more. For those reasons the HD 5870 is still a very popular card. Its main competition seems to be the lower end GTX 400 series card and the fight is over which one gives you "the most bang for your buck". They're both close and it's a tough call. Based on specifications and performance ratings alone though, the 5870 wins the overall battle. Go to our graphic cards review site to check out and compare these two cards and others.
GPU/Interface: 
As mentioned, it is a single-core processor that has only recently been out-done. Even with that, it's only in certain areas, and overall performance in games. The 5870 technically has the faster core speed, more stream processors and puts out double the GFLOPs, all with less wattage and heat. Why? Perhaps architecture is to thank for that, since it has a lot to do with the GTX 400 series offloading the CPU more than other graphics cards. Undeniably though, it has the more impressive set of GPU specs. In fact, the Radeon HD 5870 is second to only tits older brother, as far as the GPU is concerned.
Video Memory:
A few things stand out when you compare this card to some of the higher end ones on the market. One of the most eye catching is the lack of memory clock speed, while does have more than our number one product it is still far below the average of most Nvidia cards. The size, bus width and bandwidth could all be improved but for the most part have no problem keeping up with the high demand games just now coming out.
Display Interface:
The Radeon HD 5870, along with its little brother, has the best set of connections to accommodate the majority of monitors. It has 2 dual-channel DVI ports, which is the most common and versatile connection right now. Dual-channel DVI can be used for the regular single channel DVI link, but also allows for the same high resolution that HDMI and DisplayPort gives us. Speaking of which, this display interface includes one HDMI and one DisplayPort connection, just in case your monitor doesn't do DVI. Most other graphics cards seem to have one or the other or a "mini" variation. This one makes it nice to hook up whatever you want, with less need for adapters—a major plus in our book.
Supported API:
After DirectX 11 came out as part of Windows 7, the first DirectX 11 flagship graphics card was the ATI Radeon HD 5870. It's true that the next step up was soon to follow, but it cost about twice as much, and still does today. With that kind of a gap, you have average-to-serious ATI gamers getting the 5870 and only the most extreme dishing out for the higher end card.
It didn't take too long for a few games to come out that had the option of DirectX 11 settings, which enhanced graphics by quite a lot. It also was quickly integrated into benchmarking programs, since it was the new standard. With nothing from Nvidia, that left cards like this one to dominate. Luckily for Nvidia, ATI released these DirectX 11 cards with a limited supply, which limited the number of people who made the upgrade. It's a little late, but now there are plenty of choices for those looking for an elite graphics rendering experience with a lower cost.Rendering Technologies:
Like other ATI cards, this graphics card comes with Eyefinity which allows for multiple displays. This is a great technology because of the multitasking abilities it provides. Across three screens, you can have all the essentials visible at the same time without having to switch between them. For instance, on one screen you can have your music streaming and be able to switch, download and adjust to accommodate whatever you're in the mood for. On your second screen you can have your favorite game up to play and still maintain your song surfing. On the third screen you can be checking up on and chatting with your friends through your local online community like Facebook. Keep each other up-to-date on your game progress as you race to be the first one to beat the game.
Additional Features:
The ATI Radeon HD 5870 uses a 6 pin /6 pin connector which is not the most common but will not be hard to find a connection for. It can support up to 4 GPUs which is a little overkill but has always been AMD's standard for the hardcore gamers out there. It is about the same size as most cards on the market today and will generally take up two slots on your motherboard.
Summary:
It may not be the most powerful graphics card on the market, but you get plenty of performance out of the ATI Radeon HD 5870. If it runs smoothly at max settings, do you really need to go to the next level for bragging rights? Some may say yes but others with a budget won't care, especially when more expensive cards don't offer any significant advantages in gaming. That isn't the case for developers and graphics rendering apps but for gaming it is. This is especially true when it comes to online gaming since the bottleneck with advanced gaming systems isn't the machine itself, but the internet bandwidth. The world's biggest super computer can't load up a web page any faster with the same GB/s internet connection.
2. Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 Review
Nvidia has finally brought out its DirectX 11 series of graphics cards--an entire refresh cycle late--the GTX 400 series. Better late than never, we say. The flagship of the lineup is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480. Although the newest Radeon model has the current claim on the most powerful graphics card, it is a dual-GPU card, which puts it in a realm of its own. Nvidia's previous flagship was also a dual-GPU card but in no way can it stand up to 5000 series. With the current series they have gone back to the single GPU for now, though that could change in the future. Why Nvidia has chosen not to go toe-to-toe with AMD's newest model is, for the time being, a mystery. We rated this card so high because of it's superior tessellation abilities which greatly improve many aspects of this amazing card. It did have some heating and noise issues when it first came out but still received our TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award for overall power.
GPU/Interface:
As far as single-GPU graphics cards go, the GTX 480 is the most powerful. Benchmarks on many graphics-intense games have shown it to have an overall lead against other single-GPU cards. The dual-GPU ATI Radeon card is still unrivaled, but knowing the competition between the two companies, Nvidia will come out with something soon enough.
The GTX 480 has an overall average set of GPU stats, when compared to other high-end graphics cards. The exception here is its impressive number of transistors per die. The highest end Radeon card has 334 million transistors on a 2154 mm2 die, whereas the GTX 480 has 3 billion transistors on a 529 mm2 die. That is a huge difference.Video Memory:
Compared to single GPUs, video memory is one place where the GTX 400 shines. It has the highest clocked memory, 1848MHz, as well as the most memory per GPU. Most cards sit at or around 1GB per GPU but the GTX 480 gives us an extra half gigabyte on top of that for a total of 1536MB.
It is of course GDDR5 memory, which is the high-end standard for now. The bus width is larger than most, at 384-bit which helps its overal preformance greatly. The 177.4 bandwidth is far greater than most other graphics cards but is technically out-done by dual-GPU cards that have two separate sets of memory at their disposal.Display Interface:
Much like the other high end cards for Nvidia the 480 has 2 dual channel DVI slots and 1 Mini-HDMI 1.3 slot which is the standard for graphics cards today. You should have no problem finding these tpye of connections for any system on the market today. We would like to see a few other options for this card but in the long run having at least two will make it possible for anyone to use this card.
Supported API:
NVIDIA finally gives us DirectX 11 on their cards. They cut it a little close but still managed to jump in before DirectX 11 becomes standard in games and video rendering. The new Fermi architecture is based on CUDA, but also has the integration of DirectX elements. DirectX 11 supports things like greater tessellation, DirectCompute (which allows the GPU to act as a second CPU) and superior multi-threading. DirectX 11 is a huge step for GPUs, and it's the future of graphics rendering.
Rendering Technologies:
Although the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 is great for gaming, the focus seems to be super-computing for developers. Nvidia is known for its CUDA technology, which has been the company's GPU computing architecture for quite a while now. With the release of the GeForce GTX 400 series cards came the upgrade version code named "Fermi". Fermi is the biggest reason for the long wait for this card line. It takes everything that CUDA was, and added many of the developments that DirectX demands. The combination of DirectX and Fermi makes for some exciting potential for developers, which will hopefully convert to some intense gaming experiences soon enough.
The Fermi technology could probably be best described in Nvidia's own words. They say, "Fermi makes GPU and CPU co-processing pervasive by addressing the full-spectrum of computing applications. Designed for C++ and available with a Visual Studio development environment, it makes parallel programming easier and accelerates performance on a wider array of applications than ever before – including dramatic performance acceleration in ray tracing, physics, finite element analysis, high-precision scientific computing, sparse linear algebra, sorting, and search algorithms."With the big focus on rendering technology, as long as a large group of developers jump on board, Nvidia could open some serious doors for future video development, which could land them in a very good position.
The biggest push they're making is for tessellation to become a major implementation. Tessellation, when it comes to computer graphics, is used to manage and divide polygons so they can be rendered faster. The more "tessellated" they get, the more detailed and realistic they can become. The example most commonly used is with hair. Hair is quite difficult to render realistically because there are thousands of fine strands that have to act independently. For complete realism it needs to flow with the physics of natural-looking movement. That can be a person turning their head or ducking. In cases like this, developers have to think, "What should the hair do to look natural?" Tessellation implements the natural effects of nature to give us realism. That includes things like the wind blowing the hair around. In older games, hair is usually just a couple of chunks, and the movements are not graceful at all.
In-game content is limited generally to the cinematic "pre" and "post" play scenes, but with the astounding tessellation performance that the Fermi provides, you may start seeing a lot more of it in actual game play. Although it isn't a new concept, tessellation has yet to be integrated on a wide scale into anything but movies and those cinematic scenes throughout games. We've all seen it before. Good examples of realistic tessellation are Manfred the mammoth in the movie Ice Age and also Sullivan in Monsters Inc. Watch one of those movies again and pay close attention to their fur and its movement. In-game content may be limited now, but with the astounding tessellation performance that the Fermi technology provides, hopefully we'll start seeing a lot more of it. With the implementation of intense tessellation, you may find yourself wondering if it's real or rendered. And we look forward to that.
Additional Features:
One of the really cooled features we liked about this card was the fact that it used heat pipes which are not seem quite as much on recent cards. These are simply used to keep the card cooler when running high intense games; the problem is that somewhere along the line the heating was a big issue for this card. It is the same size as its older brother at 4.4 inches high and 10.5 inches in length making it quite a large card.
Summary:
In short, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 is an amazing single-GPU card. SLI dual cards would compete with the overall performance and FPS (frames per second) of the dual-GPU 5970 that ATI has out, but not in its singular state. Two cards are probably too expensive for the PC of your average gamer, but it's definitely a great option for the enthusiasts and developers. On the other hand, if your main concern isn't those extra FPS and you're more interested in the Fermi architecture that the GTX 400 series has, than the less expensive option is a single 480 rather than ATI's 5970.
1. Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 Review
In early 2010 Nvidia released their GTX 400 series of graphics cards for the hardcore gamers out there. However, just six months later they released the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580, the first model in the 500 series and the new flagship graphics card for this outstanding company. Much like the 480, this model uses DirectX 11 and has a single GPU. Most of the primary features that affect the 3D rendering and speed were updated to meet today's standards and the reality is that the GTX 580 is one of the fastest and best-performing graphics cards on the market. Because of this it received our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award for overall power and performance.
GPU/Interface:
Nvidia chose to stay with the single GPU for the GTX 580, which is by no means a bad choice; they have been making this type of video card for years and know exactly what they are doing. This is by far the most powerful single-GPU card on the market when it comes to overall power output and benchmark tests. If you compare this card to that of the older 480 model you will notice that the specs are slightly higher across the board and that the power needed to run the card is slightly less than most of the competition. The transistor count was upped ever so slightly from their previous model and still outnumbers that of any card on the market.
Video Memory:
When it comes to finding a graphics card that will be able to play any game at top performance it's important to look at the clocked memory and overall memory. The Nvidia GTX 580 has the highest clocked memory speed we've seen – 2004 MHz – which even outperforms any dual-GPU cards on the market today. You are going to love the 1.5GB of memory because this will ease the amount of RAM needed to render the intense graphics of games like "COD: Black Ops" and other graphics-intensive games.
The memory in this graphics card is GDDR5, which is the new standard for any card that wants to compete with other high-end gaming hardware. The memory bus width did not change from the 480 model and stayed at 384-bits, which should still do just fine compared to most graphics cards on the market today. An amazing 192.4 bandwidth was added which comes very close to dual-GPU cards.Display Interface:
The Nvidia GTX 580 is like most other graphics cards from Nvidia and simply offers the connections that are most common. In this case they offer dual-channel DVI, Mini-HDMI 1.3 and also support VGA. Dual-channel DVI is by far the most common connection type and pretty much makes up for the omission of an HDMI connection. This card has the type of connections that are in demand and not a lot of extra ones which can be nice if you don’t know a lot about graphics cards and want to install your own.
Supported API:
With the release of Windows 7 also came the very important DirectX 11 update to graphics cards. Nvidia's first card to offer this DX 11 was the 480, so it was no surprise to see their replacement model with the same technology. The reality is that both of these cards use Fermi architecture based on CUDA and also use DirectX 11 for superior tessellation, which has always been one of Nvidia's strongest areas and will most likely stay that way.
Rendering Technologies:
The Nvidia GTX 580 graphics card is the second series of models to use what Nvidia likes to call Fermi; this is basically what CUDA was but with greater potential. CUDA allowed for higher performance, a wider array of applications to run at once, full-spectrum computing and just about anything else in terms of computing power. Now take that and add in the capability to work with everything DirectX demands and you have the new and improved Fermi. This technology is designed to aid developers, allowing them to create even better games for all of us to enjoy.
One of the main areas that Nvidia focuses on with their graphics cards is tessellation. This technology basically allows complex, intricate images such as clothing, water and fire to render faster. Things that have a lot of moving parts such as hair or grass are much harder to render because there are thousands or even millions of objects that have to move according the wind or the movement of an object. Tessellation makes it possible for each blade of grass or flame in a fire to act like it would if you were to see it in real life. This technology is always improving and will always be a huge since games will continue to become more lifelike and even more detailed.The ability to run multiple screens at the same time is another thing that most gamers and game developers need. This graphics card only allows for three displays which is enough for most gamers out there but will fall short for those developing the games of the future.
Additional Features:
All Nvidia cards can support up to 3 GPUs at the same time and for the most part this is about all you would ever need for any system. The graphics card itself is cooled by a fan and is also cooled by the fans or liquid cooling system installed into your machine; the combination should have no problem keeping this card at a reasonable temperature. The card is quite thick at 4.4 inches high which will take up 2 slots of most mother boards; keep this in mind if you are planning on adding two cards to your system.
Summary:
When push comes to shove, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 is going to beat out just about every other graphics card. In terms of tessellation, there is no graphics card on the market that can outdo the GTX 580. We would love to see Nvidia add a dual-GPU card to their lineup, but we're more than confident that this card will impress any gamer out there. Now if you want to really destroy the competition you can link two 580s together with Nvidia's own SLI multi-GPU solution; that would outperform anything on the market without even breaking a cyber-sweat.
source : toptenreviews.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment