Welcome to the second half of our 580 Faceoff. There are many high-performance graphics cards out there, and the NVIDIA GTX 580 is one of the best. Many manufacturers have made their own versions of the GTX 580, so how do we know which card to buy? We’ve already taken a look at the ASUS Matrix GTX 580 Platinum, so today we’ll be looking at the GIGABYTE GTX 580 SOC.

Graphics card vendors often try to make their cards stand out in a few areas. Some vendors emphasize a higher factory overclock. Some to stand out by replacing the stock heatsink and cooler with an after-market unit that is supposed to deliver a cooler card and lower overall noise level. Then there are vendors who go the whole nine yards with a non-reference design and high quality components. The ASUS GTX 580 Matrix and the GIGABYTE GTX 580 SOC fall in this last category.

In the past, GIGABYTE’s SOC label did not always refer to the non-reference design; instead, it is usually awarded by the company’s “Gauntlet selection”, where components go through strenuous testing in order to earn the SOC branding. The SOC often comes with a non-reference cooler and usually carries one of the highest factory overclocks available.

• READ MORE (Source): GIGABYTE GTX 580 SOC – Bjorn3D.com