BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH

***craig5320*** · Jan 28, 2009, 05:42 PM

GTX 295 & GTX 285 Review
_______________________

During CES 2009 Nvidia launched the latest cards in their GeForce range, the GTX 285 and 295. The 285 is essentially a refresh of the existing GTX 280 with a reduction in the core size and reduced power requirements. The GTX 295 is their latest dual GPU design, the first card since the 9800 GX2 to support Quad SLI. Rather than rush out a half assed review to meet Nvidia’s tight timescales for this launch, we opted to delay our article and ensure it was as informative as we could make it.

The result is that what you are about to read should cover any questions you have about the new Nvidia products. From gaming to Blu-Ray playback, Overclocking and Thermal Performance to the internal workings of the GTX 295, we have it covered. We also deal with video Transcoding and PhysX performance and for the hard core overclockers among you we pair the cards with a Core-i7 at 4.5GHz. All our games are fully updated as of the day of publication, including the new GTAIV 1.0.2 patch.
Are the cards worth your money? That is exactly what we aim to find out today.

Zardon · Jan 28, 2009, 06:18 PM

Sorry for the wait guys. was a tremendous amount of work for Stu...

Hope it was worth it !

clanman · Jan 28, 2009, 06:19 PM

Dont even know where to start, awesome. need to reread it there is so much in there.

Alex · Jan 28, 2009, 06:20 PM

Top drawer as always guys. worth the wait !

comp_ali · Jan 28, 2009, 06:38 PM

Finally saw the light, Now reading...

The quad 295gtx seems awesome but dissappointed with the results , it came out less than twice frames of single one.

GTA IV failed with quad sli " that's a shame to a game

" and in 4870x2 single and CF the frames still identical.

Oh and the test system is build on I7 & ddr3.

May be the delay was because of getting one

OmegaRED · Jan 28, 2009, 06:39 PM

That's gotta be the first video card review that overwhelmed me trying to process it all

I was a little disappointed that GTAIV wasn't tested once the CPU was overclocked but this is after all a video card review and not a GTAIV performance article

lepel · Jan 28, 2009, 06:41 PM

Ah finally! Now I can read all my boredom away. Thanks, DH.

Zardon · Jan 28, 2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comp_ali

May be the delay was because of getting one

No. We have had the cards when every other major site got them weeks ago (we actually have 8 cards here at the minute). We just didnt sacrifice quality to cover CES and do these reviews to meet deadlines.

Vikingod · Jan 28, 2009, 06:58 PM

Great review, the best I've read so far.

comp_ali · Jan 28, 2009, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

No. We have had the cards when every other major site got them weeks ago (we actually have 8 cards here at the minute). We just didnt sacrifice quality to cover CES and do these reviews to meet deadlines.

No, I meant building the test system and I was joking too.

humonous · Jan 28, 2009, 10:35 PM

absolutely brilliant guys. best read this year by a long shot. very educational.

Mac Daddy · Jan 29, 2009, 01:28 AM

Stuart outstanding review dude !!

Video card reviews are by far the most difficult and time consuming to do especially one involving this scope.

The GTX 295 is looking good and nice to see both companies concentrating on different aspects of these devices. There are pros or cons for both as we can see ... and competition is advantageous for US the consumer

Chaos · Jan 29, 2009, 02:49 AM

Wow thats a lot to digest iin one sitting. Good job. Are all your temps taken with GPU fans on auto or a preset fan speed?

mike2h · Jan 29, 2009, 05:03 AM

thx for the hard work & excellent info!!!!

i have a oc vers ofthe 280 right now, from what i saw on the physix(sp) it appears(assuming i can even fit it in there with pcie cl card) that the most cost effective upgrade path would be something like a 9800gtx+ or even lower graphics card. buying a 285 & using my 280 doesnt seem justified given the price/performance i saw in your tests. wich is good news!
bty, ty for doing the physix part. as i was reading thru it i was thinking 'ill have to post a request for a physix comparison with a 9000 series card(&hope u have the time)'. went thru a couple more pages & there it was!

Cow_160483 · Jan 29, 2009, 10:48 AM

Grate review guys but these cards are priced crazy equivalent to the average salary of a person here lol

the 295 that is

LukeK · Jan 29, 2009, 03:56 PM

Just ordered a 295 based on this review. rather expensive, but going on this review it will give me the best performance for my games.

Glad I waited on the DH masterpiece, so many naff reviews up on these boards.

sterilegiblets · Jan 29, 2009, 03:59 PM

holy crap batman. what a mega mega review that was. found this site on google and what a find !

***Veridian3*** · Jan 29, 2009, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos

Wow thats a lot to digest iin one sitting. Good job. Are all your temps taken with GPU fans on auto or a preset fan speed?

Fans are left on auto as the stats should show what ATI/Nvidia feel reasonable/acceptable temperatures are.... its also the performance that 90+% of end users will see.

Chaos · Jan 29, 2009, 05:10 PM

Thats pretty much what i figured, I tend set mine to a level thats comparable to the noise level of my system fans. The current card i am playing with i leave the fan speed at 50% and it does not over power any other fan noise

comp_ali · Jan 29, 2009, 06:25 PM

Hey Z , sorry for this off-topic question but will the new i7 system be the standard DH test system from now on ? and did it perform better than skulltraill even with the dual_quad cpu and 16 GB Ram???.

Zardon · Jan 29, 2009, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos

Thats pretty much what i figured, I tend set mine to a level thats comparable to the noise level of my system fans. The current card i am playing with i leave the fan speed at 50% and it does not over power any other fan noise

I understand and actually agree. I think most intelligent enthusiasts will adjust their fans to help cool on 4870 cards. The only issue is as Stuart said, we need to report figures "out of the box" with their default (recommended) settings. It has been an issue with the ATI boards for a while to be fair, especially the X2 card.

tanka12345 · Jan 29, 2009, 10:44 PM

Great review guys! Well worth the wait. I wonder if ATI can take the top spot when their next lineup is released.

**kris23** · Jan 30, 2009, 02:17 AM

Amazing review.... thank you very much Stuart and Allan for your hard work.

looks like i know what im going to get now on my bday, amazing cards...

BlueMak · Jan 30, 2009, 05:05 AM

I too don't like the high temp of the ATI cards, but yes, that is more about crappy fan settings on part of ATI IMO.

As for the graphics cards in the tests, it feels the 285 to be a better investment than the 295, at least to me. Together with the 4870X2, they feel to me the better choices. I am not saying they are the best performers in the tests, just what it feels to me to be the best choice.

Jodiuh · Jan 30, 2009, 06:28 AM

Excellent review. I love fraps runs. However, it would be nice to see a few benchmarks using say an E8400 @ 3.0Ghz and 4.4Ghz using 1680 x 1050 resolutions.

Cardnyl · Jan 30, 2009, 10:24 PM

Quote:

When we switch off the PhysX effects this moves the Nvidia cards to a setting which is directly comparable with the competition and in the process we receive a boost in performance. The overall result is that each of the Nvidia cards beats its direct competition from ATI.

This seems like a somewhat misleading statement. The 4870x2 currently occupies a pricepoint that none of the other cards really come close to (basing this off the current prices on the egg). The only things that come close are a single 285 or 2x280's ($350 and $570 after MIR's respectfully).

Zardon · Jan 30, 2009, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comp_ali

Hey Z , sorry for this off-topic question but will the new i7 system be the standard DH test system from now on ? and did it perform better than skulltraill even with the dual_quad cpu and 16 GB Ram???.

I am not really sure what you mean?

Skulltrail was never a regular test system on DH, and even though we have one here it is never used in mass market reviews as very few people have one. I have covered skulltrail a few times before (I was the first one to get SLIx3 working last year too) and there really is nothing much else we can do with it.

As for comparing it to i7. the i7 is faster clock per clock (with one cpu) as obviously the Qx9775s in Skulltrail are basically just QX9770s which have dual+ support. As a CPU powerhouse however skulltrail is faster than any I7 out there if the applications use both cpus...

***Veridian3*** · Jan 31, 2009, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardnyl

This seems like a somewhat misleading statement. The 4870x2 currently occupies a pricepoint that none of the other cards really come close to (basing this off the current prices on the egg). The only things that come close are a single 285 or 2x280's ($350 and $570 after MIR's respectfully).

I'm quite confident that any kind of decent comparison would show the Nvidia card to be the best performer in a price range, for example...

4870 X2s run from $449, right up to $494 (stock models) or the overclocked model at $505. The 295 is $499.

If I was to pick the most comparable X2 it would probably be the Asus at $479 (after discounts - choosing this as it is the only one which has a cooler which rivals the 295) It is only $20 of the 295. That, and the overclocked model which is more expensive than the Geforce both loose out in performance.

Prices vary so much that it is very easy to make an argument one way or the other, but if we take products which as as close in spec as possible (fans, heat, bundles etc) there really is no competition.

It also has to be said though that the test you are referring to really isn't too much of an issue... who wins/looses is less relevant because all GTX users would be using PhysX effects anyway, seeing the other set of performance and enjoying a much more impressive gaming experience.

**kris23** · Jan 31, 2009, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardnyl

This seems like a somewhat misleading statement. The 4870x2 currently occupies a pricepoint that none of the other cards really come close to (basing this off the current prices on the egg). The only things that come close are a single 285 or 2x280's ($350 and $570 after MIR's respectfully).

i do not understand the argument you are trying to make here, the 4870X2 and GTX 295 are actually very close in price.

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
$449

Newegg.com - EVGA 017-P3-1291-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
$505

with the 285 being $350 as you said
Newegg.com - XFX GX285NZDFF GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

and the dual 280s going to $620 and with the use of rebate, goes down to $600 (sorry limit 1 per household)
Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

you are talking about the GTX 295 which is only around $509 for most brands and is just slightly higher in price compared to the 4870X2 at $449 and making its cost out to be closer to $600 by comparing it to the dual 280s which is completely false as shown above.

nvidia has pretty much won the high end to extreme range this time around....

GTX295>4870X2
GTX285<4850X2 (unofficial ATi card)
GTX260 Core 216>4870 512/1024
9800GTX+ = 4850
9800GT<4830

blibbax · Jan 31, 2009, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

I am not really sure what you mean?

Skulltrail was never a regular test system on DH, and even though we have one here it is never used in mass market reviews as very few people have one. I have covered skulltrail a few times before (I was the first one to get SLIx3 working last year too) and there really is nothing much else we can do with it.

As for comparing it to i7. the i7 is faster clock per clock (with one cpu) as obviously the Qx9775s in Skulltrail are basically just QX9770s which have dual+ support. As a CPU powerhouse however skulltrail is faster than any I7 out there if the applications use both cpus...

All the same, it'd be very interesting to see a V8 vs Skulltrail vs X58 comparison. I'd expect the X58 to walk away with the gaming tests, and the V8 to loose pretty much everything, but it'd be interesting nevertheless.

Jan 28, 2009, 05:42 PM	#1
*craig5320* HH Administrator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 8,565 Rep Power: 445 System Specs	BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH GTX 295 & GTX 285 Review _______________________ During CES 2009 Nvidia launched the latest cards in their GeForce range, the GTX 285 and 295. The 285 is essentially a refresh of the existing GTX 280 with a reduction in the core size and reduced power requirements. The GTX 295 is their latest dual GPU design, the first card since the 9800 GX2 to support Quad SLI. Rather than rush out a half assed review to meet Nvidia’s tight timescales for this launch, we opted to delay our article and ensure it was as informative as we could make it. The result is that what you are about to read should cover any questions you have about the new Nvidia products. From gaming to Blu-Ray playback, Overclocking and Thermal Performance to the internal workings of the GTX 295, we have it covered. We also deal with video Transcoding and PhysX performance and for the hard core overclockers among you we pair the cards with a Core-i7 at 4.5GHz. All our games are fully updated as of the day of publication, including the new GTAIV 1.0.2 patch. Are the cards worth your money? That is exactly what we aim to find out today. __________________ HardwareHeaven on Facebook

Jan 28, 2009, 06:18 PM	#2
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Sorry for the wait guys. was a tremendous amount of work for Stu... Hope it was worth it !

Jan 28, 2009, 06:19 PM	#3
clanman DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 152 Rep Power: 33	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Dont even know where to start, awesome. need to reread it there is so much in there.

Jan 28, 2009, 06:20 PM	#4
Alex Driverheaven Lover Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 260 Rep Power: 45	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Top drawer as always guys. worth the wait !

Jan 28, 2009, 06:38 PM	#5
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 10,469 Rep Power: 339 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Finally saw the light, Now reading... The quad 295gtx seems awesome but dissappointed with the results , it came out less than twice frames of single one. GTA IV failed with quad sli " that's a shame to a game " and in 4870x2 single and CF the frames still identical. Oh and the test system is build on I7 & ddr3. May be the delay was because of getting one __________________ Last edited by comp_ali; Jan 28, 2009 at 06:55 PM.

Jan 28, 2009, 06:39 PM	#6
OmegaRED Relapsed Gamer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Ottawa , Canada Posts: 5,688 Rep Power: 173 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH That's gotta be the first video card review that overwhelmed me trying to process it all I was a little disappointed that GTAIV wasn't tested once the CPU was overclocked but this is after all a video card review and not a GTAIV performance article __________________ E Penis Specs: <------------- See System Specs

Jan 28, 2009, 06:41 PM	#7
lepel HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Belgium Posts: 552 Rep Power: 41 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Ah finally! Now I can read all my boredom away. Thanks, DH.

Jan 28, 2009, 06:58 PM	#9
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Great review, the best I've read so far.

Jan 28, 2009, 10:35 PM	#11
humonous DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 164 Rep Power: 0	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH absolutely brilliant guys. best read this year by a long shot. very educational.

Jan 29, 2009, 01:28 AM	#12
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Stuart outstanding review dude !! Video card reviews are by far the most difficult and time consuming to do especially one involving this scope. The GTX 295 is looking good and nice to see both companies concentrating on different aspects of these devices. There are pros or cons for both as we can see ... and competition is advantageous for US the consumer __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Jan 29, 2009, 02:49 AM	#13
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,268 Rep Power: 167 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Wow thats a lot to digest iin one sitting. Good job. Are all your temps taken with GPU fans on auto or a preset fan speed?

Jan 29, 2009, 05:03 AM	#14
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH thx for the hard work & excellent info!!!! i have a oc vers ofthe 280 right now, from what i saw on the physix(sp) it appears(assuming i can even fit it in there with pcie cl card) that the most cost effective upgrade path would be something like a 9800gtx+ or even lower graphics card. buying a 285 & using my 280 doesnt seem justified given the price/performance i saw in your tests. wich is good news! bty, ty for doing the physix part. as i was reading thru it i was thinking 'ill have to post a request for a physix comparison with a 9000 series card(&hope u have the time)'. went thru a couple more pages & there it was! __________________

Jan 29, 2009, 10:48 AM	#15
Cow_160483 HH's only cow moooooo... Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: BOTSWANA Posts: 6,813 Rep Power: 300 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Grate review guys but these cards are priced crazy equivalent to the average salary of a person here lol the 295 that is __________________ Decode! Muhahahahah!

Jan 29, 2009, 03:56 PM	#16
LukeK DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 158 Rep Power: 61	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Just ordered a 295 based on this review. rather expensive, but going on this review it will give me the best performance for my games. Glad I waited on the DH masterpiece, so many naff reviews up on these boards.

Jan 29, 2009, 03:59 PM	#17
sterilegiblets DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH holy crap batman. what a mega mega review that was. found this site on google and what a find !

Jan 29, 2009, 10:44 PM	#22
tanka12345 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: New Zealand Posts: 441 Rep Power: 31 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Great review guys! Well worth the wait. I wonder if ATI can take the top spot when their next lineup is released. __________________ My New Rig - Windows 7 RC Build 7100 Intel Core i7 920 OCed to 3.2GHz \| CoolerMaster V8 \| Patriot Viper 3x2GB DDR3-1333MHz \| MSI Eclipse X58 \| LG W2261V 22" 16:9 \| Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB \| MSI ATI 4870 1GB \| Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W PSU \| CoolerMaster HAF 932 \| ASUS DRW-22B1LT Lightscribe \| Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme \| Logitech X-540 \| Razer Carcharias \| Razer Lachesis \| Razer Destructor/ Razer Goliathus Speed/ Fnatic SteelSeries Qck+ XL \| OCZ Alchemy Elixir

Jan 29, 2009, 05:10 PM	#19
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,268 Rep Power: 167 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Thats pretty much what i figured, I tend set mine to a level thats comparable to the noise level of my system fans. The current card i am playing with i leave the fan speed at 50% and it does not over power any other fan noise

Jan 29, 2009, 06:25 PM	#20
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 10,469 Rep Power: 339 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Hey Z , sorry for this off-topic question but will the new i7 system be the standard DH test system from now on ? and did it perform better than skulltraill even with the dual_quad cpu and 16 GB Ram???. __________________

Jan 30, 2009, 02:17 AM	#23
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Amazing review.... thank you very much Stuart and Allan for your hard work. looks like i know what im going to get now on my bday, amazing cards... __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jan 30, 2009, 05:05 AM	#24
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,465 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH I too don't like the high temp of the ATI cards, but yes, that is more about crappy fan settings on part of ATI IMO. As for the graphics cards in the tests, it feels the 285 to be a better investment than the 295, at least to me. Together with the 4870X2, they feel to me the better choices. I am not saying they are the best performers in the tests, just what it feels to me to be the best choice. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jan 30, 2009, 06:28 AM	#25
Jodiuh DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 49 Rep Power: 0	Re: BFG & Zotac GeForce GTX 295 & 285 @ DH Excellent review. I love fraps runs. However, it would be nice to see a few benchmarks using say an E8400 @ 3.0Ghz and 4.4Ghz using 1680 x 1050 resolutions.