Are you looking to perk up your entire computing experience? The Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 with its great graphics and competitive pricing may bring you the much needed respite. It was launched simultaneously with GTX 480, the pricier cousin of the same series. Touted as a slapdash version of the former, GTX 470 has gone on to prove many tech junkies wrong by delivering on several fronts.
In several tests conducted to test the performance of graphic processors, GTX 470 has outdone models manufactured by other companies. Through generous use of the tessellation technique, the product offers high picture quality for the PC gamer.
Graphic Processing Unit Interface
GTX 470 performs fairly better in terms of GPU if pitted against other graphic cards. Despite its fine performance, it functions at 607 MHz instead of 700 MHz and its clock speed is significantly lower than Nvidia GeForce GTX 480. The speed at which steam processors function has also been stepped down to 1214 MHz.
However, this model does not have a good texture fill rate as compared to other cards. Despite a slow rate of translation of pixels to video memory, it has not held back the performance of the card. A flipside of this card however, is its low GFLOPs rate, that is, the rate of operations per second. The computing performance therefore takes a backseat at a 1089 GFLOPs.
Video Memory
The memory of Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 has been sized down to 320 bit than the better equipped GTX 480. A sophisticated GDDR5 memory is supported by a speed of 1674 MHz . However, GTX 480 fails to offer the bandwidth measurement required to prop up such high performance memory. A bandwidth of 133.9 GB/sec significantly slows the memory setup.
Display Interface
Armed with a pair of dual-link DVI ports and a mini-HDMI port that translate digital images from a source to the display device, this card has a fairly good display interface. DVI ports are usually common in PCs. However, GTX 480 gains an added lead because of the HDMI video interface.
Application Programming Interface that are supported
GTX 470, like most other advanced graphics cards, supports DirectX 11. This is a highly developed API and is used widely used for developing graphic cards. GTX 470 offers gamers the opportunity of using this interface and enhances their gaming experience by leaps and bounds. This platform supported by GTX 470 not only adds real-life dimension to computing but offers a rich ground for further development of graphics.
Technologies provided
Incorporating new technologies like Fermi and DirectX 11, GTX 470 remains an up-to-the-minute invention in the world of advanced gaming. A conscious decision to focus on technologies like tessellation, supported by platforms such as DirectX 11, reflects a keen attention on detail. Tessellation in effect breaks down the polygons used to develop graphics mainly into triangles. This puts more thrust on the system and therefore require superior interfaces like Fermi and DX 11.
A last word
The card is quite compatible with almost all varieties of mother boards. It is priced much lower than its steeper alternative in the GTX 400 series. It is a wise buy even in terms of add-ons and interfaces that can support tessellation-imbibed graphics. Surely, this one will give you the kicks of gaming without burning a hole in the pocket.