Geforce GTX 295 previews

[Cookie Monster]

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Detailed Pics of GTX295 from PCGH

-UPDATED 22/12/08



Time for a sticky.

Video Mod BFG10K.



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Comments that have nothing to do with the topic at hand (particularly personal attacks and other comments sidetracking the discussion) have been deleted...

- AmberClad

 

[abaez]

Some preliminary tests leaked: http://www.techpowerup.com/790...Radeon_HD_4870_X2.html

:Q

 

[Peelback79]

..and NVIDIA with its recommendation on the price will be 499 U.S. dollars.

Realistically that means we'll see opening day @ $550 - $600 right?

 

[Cookie Monster]

Probably for the first couple of weeks. Happens to all new hardware on the day of release.

 

[OCGuy]

Cant wait for the real reviews! Looking like a smokin' card. If they can truly price it for $499, ATi will have to cut the price on the X2 bigtime. I suspect launch price will be $549 or so.

 

[chizow]

$499 price is great news! Means the GTX 285 will probably be $350 or less. Hopefully they stick to that MSRP and don't change it after favorable reviews. I remember the 4870X2 was supposed to be $499 but ended up releasing and staying at $549+ for months. Anyways lookin forward to the reviews.

 

[Hauk]

You have a knack for breaking the news Cookie Monster. Who do you work for??

$499 would be very nice. Now to decide.. two 285's, one, or two 295's. This step-up looks to be exciting...

 

[rjc]

Originally posted by: Peelback79

..and NVIDIA with its recommendation on the price will be 499 U.S. dollars.

Realistically that means we'll see opening day @ $550 - $600 right?

If i was in the market for this card i would take that price. Will be very limited availability at first. Otherwise suggest hiberating in the basement till at least late january when should be more available.

$499 for 2 55nm GT200s seems quite a good deal really, the GT280 is still close to $400 isn't it?

 

[Hauk]

I don't like the looks of this picture. Looking at pics thus far, it appears the card vents 100% out the rear port. If you notice, the heatsink fins aren't lining up with the exaust port very well.

It may not matter due to path of least resistance, but with fan cranked up to help with overclocking, that path may become squeezed. I'd like to see the heatsink fins lining up with the exaust port better..

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
You have a knack for breaking the news Cookie Monster. Who do you work for??

$499 would be very nice. Now to decide.. two 285's, one, or two 295's. This step-up looks to be exciting...

Just being the messenger boy for you AT fellas thats all.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: chizow
$499 price is great news! Means the GTX 285 will probably be $350 or less. Hopefully they stick to that MSRP and don't change it after favorable reviews. I remember the 4870X2 was supposed to be $499 but ended up releasing and staying at $549+ for months. Anyways lookin forward to the reviews.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....view&id=10959&Itemid=1

GTX260 will probably remain GTX260 and not have a name change so as to not have a ton of 65nm parts sitting unsold. So they'll introduce them into the existing supply line so you don't know what card you're buying.

If they do this with the GTX260 then I suspect the new 55nm GTX280 will be the same way.

So...who knows? It would be smart on NV's part but not necessarily good for us lol. Sadly though, benchmarks sell cards so the GX2 and x2 parts will be pushed out and that could be a reason to hide the 55nm parts among the existing supply of 65nm parts. Because if the 55nm parts clock better thus getting higher benchmarks they will sell while the older ones just won't.

 

[zagood]

English-language sites of iron

Wow, I should be reading those sites.

I'm waiting on a huge system refresh until early next year, so I can't get excited about niche cards like this.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: chizow
$499 price is great news! Means the GTX 285 will probably be $350 or less. Hopefully they stick to that MSRP and don't change it after favorable reviews. I remember the 4870X2 was supposed to be $499 but ended up releasing and staying at $549+ for months. Anyways lookin forward to the reviews.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....view&id=10959&Itemid=1

GTX260 will probably remain GTX260 and not have a name change so as to not have a ton of 65nm parts sitting unsold. So they'll introduce them into the existing supply line so you don't know what card you're buying.

If they do this with the GTX260 then I suspect the new 55nm GTX280 will be the same way.

So...who knows? It would be smart on NV's part but not necessarily good for us lol. Sadly though, benchmarks sell cards so the GX2 and x2 parts will be pushed out and that could be a reason to hide the 55nm parts among the existing supply of 65nm parts. Because if the 55nm parts clock better thus getting higher benchmarks they will sell while the older ones just won't.

Ya early reports indicated the 55nm GTX 260 transition would be transparent, same clocks and all, but lower power consumption, all RAM on 1 side etc. The GTX 285 however is reported to have higher clockspeeds, which would justify a new SKU. My guess is that all remaining 65nm GT200 supply will go EOL and be sold as GTX 280. All 55nm parts will go toward the GTX 260, 285 and 295.

Depending on overclocks and price I do plan on snagging a 285. Should be a pretty cheap upgrade that will last until the DX11 parts in Q4. If NV continues to sell a 280 for even a few months that'll help resale as well. Remember on paper the 280 will still look very good; it'll only lag behind the 55nm parts after you factor in overclocking.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: chizow
$499 price is great news! Means the GTX 285 will probably be $350 or less. Hopefully they stick to that MSRP and don't change it after favorable reviews. I remember the 4870X2 was supposed to be $499 but ended up releasing and staying at $549+ for months. Anyways lookin forward to the reviews.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....view&id=10959&Itemid=1

GTX260 will probably remain GTX260 and not have a name change so as to not have a ton of 65nm parts sitting unsold. So they'll introduce them into the existing supply line so you don't know what card you're buying.

If they do this with the GTX260 then I suspect the new 55nm GTX280 will be the same way.

So...who knows? It would be smart on NV's part but not necessarily good for us lol. Sadly though, benchmarks sell cards so the GX2 and x2 parts will be pushed out and that could be a reason to hide the 55nm parts among the existing supply of 65nm parts. Because if the 55nm parts clock better thus getting higher benchmarks they will sell while the older ones just won't.

Ya early reports indicated the 55nm GTX 260 transition would be transparent, same clocks and all, but lower power consumption, all RAM on 1 side etc. The GTX 285 however is reported to have higher clockspeeds, which would justify a new SKU. My guess is that all remaining 65nm GT200 supply will go EOL and be sold as GTX 280. All 55nm parts will go toward the GTX 260, 285 and 295.

Depending on overclocks and price I do plan on snagging a 285. Should be a pretty cheap upgrade that will last until the DX11 parts in Q4. If NV continues to sell a 280 for even a few months that'll help resale as well. Remember on paper the 280 will still look very good; it'll only lag behind the 55nm parts after you factor in overclocking.

The easy way to tell is to check the factory overclocked cards. The ones that are getting clocks higher than you can get with the stock cooling on current cards, are 55nm. I personally don't feel like I need anything more. Maybe I'll do a step-up if I'm feeling spendy (after the holidays I'm flat broke lol). I won't even look at DX11 cards until after DX11 games rollout. The cards that release after the first round of dx11 games will be the ones I'll look at. It's like DX10. Cards came and no games, then games came out and performance was terrible. Took a bit to catch up. Maybe that won't happen this time with DX11, who knows. We'll see won't we? Of course we'll cross those bridges when we come to them.

I still don't think I need more than what I have, I definately needed more than the 4870 512MB could do for me though. It was a noteworthy upgrade for my system. 55nm, not so much...until we see some solid numbers.

 

[SickBeast]

That stuff just looks like leaked marketing material to me. The graphs are skewed to make the card look twice as fast as the 4870x2, when in reality it's perhaps 20% faster.

Even if it is 20% faster, that's a disappointment to me.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
That stuff just looks like leaked marketing material to me. The graphs are skewed to make the card look twice as fast as the 4870x2, when in reality it's perhaps 20% faster.

Even if it is 20% faster, that's a disappointment to me.

Who ever promised more than 20%? 20% better than the AMD flagship card using the same gen tech at around the same price? That sounds great. Something tells me you wouldnt be happy even if it was 300% better

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
That stuff just looks like leaked marketing material to me. The graphs are skewed to make the card look twice as fast as the 4870x2, when in reality it's perhaps 20% faster.

Even if it is 20% faster, that's a disappointment to me.

only one thing to say

Benchmarks sell video cards these days, and the card that scores highest in benchmarks will be the one that enthusiasts will look at.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: SickBeast
That stuff just looks like leaked marketing material to me. The graphs are skewed to make the card look twice as fast as the 4870x2, when in reality it's perhaps 20% faster.

Even if it is 20% faster, that's a disappointment to me.

Who ever promised more than 20%? 20% better than the AMD flagship card using the same gen tech at around the same price? That sounds great. Something tells me you wouldnt be happy even if it was 300% better

The GTX280 already competes w/ the 4870x2. SLI typically scales 50% or so. I find 20% a huge disappointment.

I just don't see the point of NV releasing this part. I would have expected something closer to an order of magnitude faster than AMD's top card.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: SickBeast
That stuff just looks like leaked marketing material to me. The graphs are skewed to make the card look twice as fast as the 4870x2, when in reality it's perhaps 20% faster.

Even if it is 20% faster, that's a disappointment to me.

Who ever promised more than 20%? 20% better than the AMD flagship card using the same gen tech at around the same price? That sounds great. Something tells me you wouldnt be happy even if it was 300% better

The GTX280 already competes w/ the 4870x2. SLI typically scales 50% or so. I find 20% a huge disappointment.

I just don't see the point of NV releasing this part. I would have expected something closer to an order of magnitude faster than AMD's top card.

Like I said, it doesn't matter how much faster it is. If it's faster there's people who live for benchmarks and records who will just pay whatever to have the latest thing. Benchmarks sell cards.

 

[shangshang]

I'm trying to figure out why some people would be disappointed at $499 for this card. think about it people, for $499 you essentially get two GTX280! That's like $250 for a GTX280! $250 for a GTX280!!!! On the wattage front, wo GTX280 will have a power draw of 236W x 2 = 472W!! A single GTX295 draws 289W total. That's 183W difference, which means you will save in electricity versus running two GTX280 SLI. Disappointment would be this selling for $600. At $499, I'll bet NV can't meet the worldwide demand!

 

[bryanW1995]

I suspect that they won't be able to meet the worldwide demand if they sell it for $999 for quite a while. NV just needs the "halo" card for now and they'll magically start selling for gtx 260's and 280's, too. The 260 already is a better deal than a 4870 512 in most cases imho, but amd did a better job initially marketing this round of cards and they've been reaping the dividends of that for months. I'm looking forward to the next round in mid/late 09 now, I really think that Nvidia won't drop the ball again next time around.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Like I said, it doesn't matter how much faster it is. If it's faster there's people who live for benchmarks and records who will just pay whatever to have the latest thing. Benchmarks sell cards.

Sales figures generated by the benchmarking community are going to be miniscule compared to those purchased by mainstream gamers. I think the overwhelming sales of 4850 cards showed that most people are fed up with the $400-$600 price tag normally associated with high end graphics cards.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Like I said, it doesn't matter how much faster it is. If it's faster there's people who live for benchmarks and records who will just pay whatever to have the latest thing. Benchmarks sell cards.

Sales figures generated by the benchmarking community are going to be miniscule compared to those purchased by mainstream gamers. I think the overwhelming sales of 4850 cards showed that most people are fed up with the $400-$600 price tag normally associated with high end graphics cards.

I'd say most people do at least five minutes of research before buying a card, even non-enthusiasts who regretibly offered to fix their neighbors' AOL rig.

But seriously, five minutes on Goolge can reveal a LOT of information, the information we regurgitate daily. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who's not thinking price vs. performance when buying a graphics card.

Regarding 4850, if it had launched at $199 and was 30% slower than 9800GTX, well you know what I'm getting at...

 

[chizow]

First p/review in at Guru3D

Guru3D

The winner today of course is the GeForce GTX 295 and considering we were using an early engineering sample card with a very beta driver, things are looking real good for NVIDIA.

Also despite the fact we were limited to testing a handful of games, we internally of course did run the majority of benchmarks with other games already. And the performance widespread is consistent and the card worked with any game we threw at it.

Haven't fully read through but I did notice the card has a top vent, so not all the hot air will be externally vented out the back.

 

[chizow]

HardOCP
Pretty even here between 4870X2 and GTX 295.

PCGH
Very comprehensive review, GTX 295 looks to sweep the 4870X2 across the board. Slower/older CPUs need not apply, check out the CPU scaling section.

Doesn't look like AT got one sadly. Probably backlash for not being able to put out a proper 180 review or using archived benchmarks.