Final Thoughts

The GTX 480 has a more clear position in the market when you compare it to the GTX 470 and its competitors. There's no denying that it's the fastest single GPU video card on the market; not the fastest video card, but the fastest single GPU one. It also seems that the meatier heatsink means the card isn't plagued with the heat and noise issues as badly as the GTX 470. It's still notably hotter and louder, though, when compared to its competitor.

Considering the cost of the card, it's disappointing to see that GIGABYTE didn't choose to really include any extras in the bundle. The free NVIDIA apps can be downloaded anyway and you'll probably find the mini-HDMI to HDMI cable (or at least a connector) will be included in most boxes.

The fact that the GTX 480 has a clear market position is what makes it great. The GTX 470 is a bit here and there. The GTX 480 is the fastest single GPU card; it's going to cost more than the HD 5870, but it's also going to perform faster. Where the GTX 470 fails a bit is while it costs more than the HD 5850, it doesn't always perform faster.

The decision to buy the GTX 480 at $499.99 over the HD 5870 which is closer to the $420 mark is going to be a tough one. $80 is a good chunk of change and the performance gains aren't huge over the HD 5870, especially at the higher resolution. In saying that, in AA the card performs fantastic, but high AA and 2560 x 1600 is going to be a hit and miss on some games with it not always being an option when it comes to getting a playable framerate.

Of course, you have to throw into the equation support like PhysX and CUDA which are for some, a fantastic feature to have; to others it's not important. The fact that the model clearly stands out from the pack is what makes it a lot easier to judge when compared to the GTX 470.

The GIGABYTE version while lacking some extras, has nothing wrong with it. The most important part of the bundle is included which of course is the card itself. If you're looking for a GTX 480 the GIGABYTE version is one worth looking at. The chances are, though, at the moment your decision is going to be dictated by who has stock.