well remember on the 260/280 they have ram chips on the back of the card, and that the back shroud would double as a heat sink. not need with this card and the fact it does not have the 1gx2 is most probily to keep cost down..not that its cheap. link works for me led???
Nice preview of the GTX 295 from HardOCP here: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU5OSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA== They've concluded that it is NOT 26% faster than the RADEON HD 4870 X2 but offers roughly the same performance. They also state that the reduced memory of 896 MB per GPU and limited memory bandwidth of 448-bit (same as the GTX 260) means that it performs worst than the 4870 X2 at resolutions of 2560x1600 with 8X AA. Stupid that NVIDIA didn't make the GTX 295 with two GTX 280 GPUs at a lower clockrate so it had the same memory bandwidth of 512-bits and 1 GB per GPU. Yes, that image quality is insane and probably won't be used by many people so what they'll end up with is a card that is NVIDIA's equivalent of the 4870 X2, only this supposedly runs a bit cool and is a lot quieter. That still makes it a great card but it doesn't look like it's the 4870 X2 beater than NVIDIA make it out to be.
hmm, looks like they do vent the heat inside the case (onto the side of the case, to be exact.) luckly for me, my case has an outtake fan for the GPU on the side.(works effectively on my 9600 even though it is almost useless for the lower one) so that would actually yeild better temps for people with a setup like that. idk. i'de say if you get the video card, mod your case and put a fan right on the GPU.
yea a lot of cases (including mine) started adding intake/exhaust ports for fans right next to the video card.
That review seems extremely biased towards ATI. A few things I noticed, 1. they are comparing Beta just released Nvidia drivers to matured and optimized ATI drivers, 2. they keep talking about the memory limits of the GTX 295 without ever mentioning the 4870X2 256bit bus (same as the 7900 Series). A lack of bus is just as bad as a lack of VRAM and in most cases the bus hurts performance worse. 3. Way to judge a preview driver/card so harshly before even getting RC drivers.
The 4870 uses Gddr5 which is twice the memory bandwidth of Gddr3 so it doesn't need a bus larger than 256bit to make use of 1gb. I read alot of [H] reviews and have to agree that this review did seem a little biased but I have littlle sympathy as nvidia took too long to develop a card which performs roughly equal to a hd4870x2 and unlike when the 9800gx2 was released there is real competition from ATI meaning this card will likely be eol within a few months when the real next gen single cards have to be released. It's not a bad card just too little too late.
[H] is realy the only review I have seen, out of like 10 that have the 4870x2 that close, not sure what the difrence is but, I think the GTX295 looks to be a good card.
One question, do the drivers have to be written specifically for this card or does it use SLI? That could mean a lot. I mean SLI works a lot of the time, but if you need a driver particularly for this card so that you get the maximum available power from it, that could be a problem. How good will the support for it really be?
Where is this going to all lead to ? What we are seeing is not the next gen card where the single gpu is concerned. Its old gen in either SLI or GF slapped together. Now you cant call that next gen card. Its too easy for these card companies. Performance wise all these so called next gen cards are only marginal to the old gen. I want to see something that will blow away everything that went before it. This has only happened when the 8800gtx was released in was a true next generation card and still standing tall. Thats why i consider the 8800gtx as the GODFATHER of all modern days gpu released after it.
Now that the GTX295 will be out in January, how long do you guys think Nvidia will take to release the GTX 300 series? Has anyone herd any news about the GTX 300's(or whatever the name will be)? I've been waiting and deciding on which card to get; first waiting for 55nm 260, then GTX 295 gets announced, then I read the GTX 300 will be released first quarter of '09. So I'm stuck waiting, again. Frustrating darn this technology stuff
I wonder if the revised 55nm GTX 280 and 260 will launch the same time? A 55nm GTX 280 will be a beast with a volt-mod and some high end air cooling/water. With my board being a CF board I am really tempted to go with two 4870X2 after the GTX 295 launch (due to price drop). However I'd really like to stay with NVIDIA for superior drivers, so the GTX 295 might be my best choice for 1920x1200.
Well I am to broke to even think about a card come January but if say around April or May the GTX 300 isn't out or announced I will be all about the GTX295. I know how you feel about the speed in which technology changes, so my take is to pick a card and don't look to upgrade for two years. My plan was to get my 8800gts then add another for SLI a year after that and then the next year get a new card. I didn't play out like that but it went close to it. I have three 8800gts 2 being ssc's with 112sp and one being the original with 96sp. I think this may be the best upgrade path for me.
Yeah I try to plan out my upgrades on a two year cycle. I got my video card in November 06, now thinking about changing it. Got my CPU in December 07, will go Core i7 around December next year. Works for me My problem is that my video card really grew on me and now I don't wanna let it go :'(
Well if your happy with it why change it. If your happy with your gaming performance why bother. Why not wait for nex gen now. Will only b likely 6months from now. And it'll all be DX11.
For the AnAndTech fans here is a quick GTX 295 preview from them: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3481
