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Four Overclocked GeForce GTX 580 Cards, Rounded Up

Four Overclocked GeForce GTX 580 Cards, Rounded Up
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Today we put four factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 580 cards to the test: Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 580 Super Overclock, MSI’s N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC, Sparkle’s X580 Captain, and Zotac’s GeForce GTX 580 AMP²! Edition. Which one is worth its premium price?

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 580 is currently the fastest graphics card based on a single GPU. If you want more performance than what it can do, you need to look at a dual-GPU board or a pair of cards in CrossFire or SLI (and if you don't know what the card is capable of, check out GeForce GTX 580 And GF110: The Way Nvidia Meant It To Be Played).

As we've come to expect, there are board partners who deviate from the company's specification in one way or another in the interest of differentiation. Some employ overclocks straight from the factory, others implement custom cooling solutions, and nearly all try to offer unique features to set their products apart from the pack.

Today we're rounding up four premium GeForce GTX 580s, all of which arrive overclocked, and comparing them to a reference GeForce GTX 580. Our contenders include Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 580 Super Overclock, MSI’s N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC, Sparkle’s X580 Captain, and Zotac’s GeForce GTX 580 AMP²! Edition.


Reference
GeForce GTX 580
Gigabyte GeForce GTX
580 Super Overclock
MSI N580GTX
Twin Frozr II/OC
Sparkle
X580 Captain
Zotac GeForce
GTX 580 AMP²!
Graphics
Clock
772 MHz855 MHz
800 MHz
822 MHz
815 MHz
Shader
Clock
1544 MHz1710 MHz1600 MHz
1644 MHz
1630 MHz
Memory
Clock
1002 MHz1025 MHz1024 MHz
1008 MHz
1025 MHz
GDDR5
Memory
1536 MB
1536 MB1536 MB1536 MB
(3072 MB version expected soon)
3072 MB
Cooler
Reference
Windforce 3x
Twin Frozr II
Reference
Zalman VF3000
Size
11" x 5" x 1.8"11.4" x 5.7" x 1.8"11" x 5.2" x 1.8"
11" x 5" x 1.8"11" x 5.3" x 2.5"
Connectors
2 x DL-DVI,
1 x mini-HDMI
2 x DL-DVI,
1 x mini-HDMI
2 x DL-DVI,
1 x mini-HDMI
2 x DL-DVI,
  3x MiniDP
2 x DL-DVI,
1 x mini-HDMI
Form Factor
Dual-slotDual-slotDual-slotDual-slot
Triple-Slot
Price
£359
£439
£379
$649 MSRP
(1536 MB version) UK Price Not Known
~£400


As mentioned, all of these cards sport factory overclocks of varying degrees. But there are some unique features in the bunch, too. Let’s take a closer look at each unique spin on Nvidia’s design.

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  • 0 Hide
    chillin15 , 4 August 2011 15:16
    Gigabyte used to sell a 560 ti at 1000mhz core clock and 1045mhz for the memory that was massively unstable which ultimately led them to downgrade the speeds on the model. Many people still couldn't get theirs to work in games when they lowered the speeds themselves. For that reason, I really don't trust the SOCs...

  • 0 Hide
    51l3n5t , 10 January 2012 11:22
    Im a little late to the party but...

    I have a Gigabte gtx580soc OCed at 950Mhz on stock voltage totally stable in extended BF3 sessions and the highest I'v seen it go is 72c love this card