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The KFA2 GeForce GTX 580 Anarchy Edition is a fantastic performance oriented graphics card. We already know that the GTX 580 is one of the best video cards currently available, but the Arctic Cooling solution on the Anarchy Edition really helps it stand out in such a crowded sector.
On a performance level, two of these cards are capable of powering through any of the modern Direct X 11 engines, even at the highest settings. A single card is more than enough at 1080p or 1600p, although for some gamers, the desire to crank even higher resolutions and settings will always prove too tempting.
The Accelero Xtreme Plus is another great product from Arctic Cooling and builds upon the reference edition by lowering temperatures and reducing noise emissions. We recorded under 70c when fully loaded which is a class leading result for such a powerful discrete solution. We managed to get both cards overclocked to around 860mhz with little effort, thanks in part to the excellent cooling proficiency.
Many of these custom GTX 580's cost in the region of £450 in the UK, but the KFA2 is actually one of the cheapest cards in this series right now, retailing for £371.50 inc vat at time of publication. At this price we have no hesitation recommending it and If I was in the market myself for a GTX580, these are the cards I would buy. The cooler alone is worth £40.
KFA2 also offer a 2 year warranty, so you have some peace of mind, in case of hardware failure down the line.
Pros:
- 2 year warranty.
- great UK pricing.
- GTX580 is one of the most powerful cards on the market.
- Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Plus is class leading.
- Strong SLI scaling with many games.
Cons:
- Batman game is only supplied via selected partners.
- No extended length SLI cable in the bundle.
- if you want SLI be prepared to pay for a high end power supply.
Kitguru says: A fantastic card for the gamer who demands performance.
excellent, been waiting on a review of these for a very long time
Amazon have them also. I ordered one there, great deal and thanks for review.
Lol that power drain for the system is insane. I was drooling, but im glad I dont have it,. my electricity bill would be insane.
haha, total overkill. gotta love tech. Not sure id like the bill for a years worth of gaming on that system though.
Nice idea to work with arctic. I think sapphire did for a while on a range of cards didnt they?
impressive, never heard of the company. their website is great too. hope to see more of their products here
the power drain scares me for that full system. mine consumes less than 200 watts!
@ the cons
SLI cables come with SLI capable motherboards
It does come with a free game (even in the link product)
No mention that it is a triple slot cooler and thus will only fit certain motherboards in
SLI
Mine didnt come with a free game, bought it on amazon. The batman deal is with nvidia on seleected stores.
It is a disgrace these cards dont come with an SLI connector. My MSI motherboard has an SLI connector with it, but its a HARD, inflexible style connector not designed for cards of this size, so it wouldnt work. A high end card like this with a custom cooler should be supplied with a large flexible SLI connector.
If lowest price is the main deciding factor then yes. If performance and engineering of the card then most definitely no.
MSI Lighting 580 (not ridiculously overpriced Extreme Ed.) beats KFA2 580A in every test. And MSI TF3 cooling is well worth the extra few quids in price. It keeps card very cool – below 40C. In stress you can also get few degrees off vs KFA. And most important thing – cooling is a 2 slot solution which means you can easily squeeze 4 of such monsters in one case. It is pretty much impossible with KFA580A – you can do that only with min. 10 PCI slot case using PCI Express x16 risers/extenders (extra cost which nullify the advantage in price – risers are not cheap).
MSI lightning 580 is ok at best, I want this one 🙂
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-133-MS&utm_source=froogle
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