NVIDIA finally unleashed its Fermi architecture with the introduction of its GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 graphics cards late last week, but despite claiming victory with the fastest GPU in history, the graphics giant has been met with a mixed reception from both the media and its enthusiast fan base.

The range-topping GeForce GTX 480 is a beast of a graphics card, but it isn’t without its well publicised drawbacks – including an average pre-order price of around £466, a potential maximum system-wide power draw of around 450 watts, and a sizzling operating temperature of around 93°C under load.

Despite the massive amount of performance on offer, the card is undoubtedly hot and expensive to run, and it offers only a marginal improvement over competing cards in current-generation gaming titles.

It’s important to remember, however, that cutting-edge GPUs have a history of resulting in products that challenge thermal design. In the past, we’ve been able to forgive hot-and-pricey GPUs for the sake of jaw-dropping visuals in the latest triple-a titles. I remember picking up a Radeon 9800 XT in the winter of 2003, only to be plagued with overheating issues throughout the following summer. Back then, it was all worth it just to play Half-Life 2 with the eye-candy turned up to max.

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• READ MORE (Source): HEXUS.net – Opinion :: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480: the way it was meant to be played? : Page – 1/1