KFA2 MDT X4 – GTX580 1538MB GDDR5 Review

The Nvidia GTX580 seems to have been topping the charts now forever and there is clearly some life yet in the old horse, as our test results show today. The KFA2 MDT X4 GTX580 is certainly one of the more interesting versions of the card released to date as it has totally rewritten the Nvidia reference rulebook.

Firstly, the KFA2 solution is supplied in a heavily overclocked state, meaning the performance parameters are significantly higher than the reference board. It certainly isn't as fast as the new AMD HD7970, but we can't imagine anyone could need more performance with a single monitor, even at the highest resolutions. KFA2 have included a custom three fan cooling solution which maintains load temperatures well under 70c when gaming.

Noise emissions are also noteworthy, and while it isn't the quietest card we have tested, there is still plenty of overhead for pushing the clocks higher by manually overclocking. KFA2 have tried to make life easier for the end user by bundling their own dedicated software for clock ramping and voltage tweaking.

The custom cooler is an impressive beast, incorporating custom blue LED lighting so it stands out within a new windowed case system build. We feel the appearance of the card will appeal to the Nvidia fans, much in the way the customised XFX HD7970 Double Dissipation has with the AMD audience.

The main talking point however will be the ability to power four screens from a single GTX580 and to game across three. We wouldn't imagine a huge percentage of gamers can afford a high end computer like the system we used today with three screens, but the KFA2 MDT X4 GTX580 is capable of handling many modern game engines at 5760×1080 resolution, if you dial down some of the image quality settings and disable anti aliasing. Obviously if you can afford two of them then you would get much higher frame rates and could even power eight 24 inch screens, but be prepared to invest in a huge computer desk!

As this solution isn't officially supported by Nvidia, the configuration of the KFA2 MDT X4 GTX580 isn't quite as straightforward as many might expect. We wouldn't say it was complex either, but you need to set up a custom resolution and install the KFA2 software to correctly configure the multi screens. The option to fun a fourth screen separately via the DisplayPort is an intuitive idea, especially when using the machine outside of gaming.

KFA2 have informed us that this card will be available very shortly, with only a small price premium over the reference solution. Retail price will be around £400 inc vat, which is very competitive.

Pros:

• Great cooler.
• Nice overclocks ‘out of the box' with potential for more.
• Software covers all bases.
• Bundle has all the cables and adapters for a four screen configuration.

Cons:

• Nvidia's new series of hardware won't be that long.
• Multi screen configuration isn't quite as ‘smooth' as an official solution would be.

Kitguru says: There is no doubt this is a killer GTX580 design … it is our favourite on the market today. The only potential issue for KFA2 is that Nvidia may be replacing the card very shortly with a new high end flagship model.

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