14 DAY TRIAL // Even as NVIDIA and AMD are hard at work on making the new generation of graphics adapters, revisions of existing ones still come out fairly often, like Gigabyte's newest high-end NVIDIA model.
As it is well known, the GeForce GTX 580 is the most powerful single-GPU video controller that NVIDIA has on the market right now.
As such, like all others before it, it went through quite a few revisions at the hands of manufacturing partners.
Gigabyte is one of the companies that has cooling technologies and enough special components to make its versions of the high-tier card more or less unique.
The GV-N580UD-3GI is the latest result of such efforts, featuring ultra Durable VGA components (reduce GPU temperature, adds 10-30% more overclocking potential and reduces power switching loss).
The company also took the liberty of throwing in the now familiar WindForce 3X cooler, which boasts a vapor chamber, three PWM fans and just as many heatpipes.
The other major asset that will reel in the attention of prospective buyers is the sheer size of the VRAM.
Basically, the outfit implemented no less than 3 GB which, coupled with the 384-bit interface and the 4,008 speed, leaves little, if anything, to be desired.
Speaking of frequencies, the 40nm GPU (graphics processing unit) operates at 772 MHz, while the shaders (512 CUDA cores) work at 1,544 MHz.
Other specifications include support for SLI (multi-GPU scenarios), support for OpenGL 4.1, PhysX, the CUDA technology, 3D Vision (enables stereoscopic 3D gaming and multimedia) and the unsurprising connectivity and I/O (HDMI and dual-DVI ports), all on a PCB measuring 280 mm x 137 mm x 43 mm, among other things.
Those so inclined can take a direct look at all available information that Gigabite has given on the 456 Euro product by stopping by the official product page, located here.