Launched on March 25, 2010, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 is NVIDIA’s first DirectX 11 GPU. The GTX 480 is built on a 40nm process and boasts 480 CUDA cores. It also packs 60 Texture units and 48 Raster Operators . The reference Graphics Clock is 700MHz, while the CUDA cores are supposed to operate at 1401MHz. The GTX 480 utilizes GDDR5 memory, and NVIDIA’s reference design calls for 1536MB of it to be configured at 3.696GHz on a 384-bit bus. This gives the GeForce GTX 480 a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 177.4GB per second. The GTX 480 is rated to run at a maximum of 250 Watts, and the GPU’s thermal threshold is 105 degrees Celsius.
Since its launch, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 has been roundly criticized for its immense power draw and high thermal output. As true as those points are, the GeForce GTX 480 is still the fastest single-GPU video card on the market.
The GeForce GTX 480 launched with an MSRP of $499 USD. Since then, etail prices have fallen only about $50 with rebates.