Nice card. However, I'd still like a 1GB frame buffer. I guess I'll wait until the 55nm GTX 280's hit and use the Step-Up program to grab a couple of those. And John was right, this card beats the 4870x2 just marginally so it's not really anything to get too excited about.
Or maybe some none-conductive glue and a kidnapped driver maker to help you slap both your GTX 260 into one bulk !
Lol. I'm actually partial to ATI but two 55nm GTX 280's in SLI will rule all, at least for a few months.
according to the review/preview this card looks like a great card and a proper answer to the X2, obviously no reason for me to invest in one as the X2 is already an excellent card and drivers seem to improve things every so often so it's all good, but the nvidia cards are just as good or better. i have to say nice one nvidia, did a good job. i also like the fact it's a hybrid Gtx260/280, nvidia probably included less memory for price reason, seem to be doing very well so no complaints.
I don't know about that, I mean it's been a while since ATI released a card too, last time they came out with GDDR5 and 55nm chip ..... they must be up to something, maybe it's their turn to pull of a 2inch by 2 inch GPU XD
I hope that they do. Unfortunately, I'll be using Nvidia for at least the next year because I'm seriously going to get two GTX 280's when they're released in 55nm. My wife will have a heart attack if I blow even more money after grabbing two of those. I waited almost three years to do a complete overhaul and when I upgrade, I don't screw around.
yeah zombie burger with green brains i'd eat them both cus in the end its allllll the same..... two fast bugers let us green guys have our day it wont(yes i'm a self proclaimed nv fanboy) last....never does for either camp.
lol ati got owned by crappy driver support in dead space... oh i think i found a card for my future system
No matter who is the best its all good for use, its always makes things cheaper. I just still cant make up my mind. I want GTX295, but realy my system runs all my games fine(but the 512megs of ram are holding me back I think), and then the GTX300 coming mid of 2009 with DX11 I think, wich Im sure I would want. From alot of the reviews the GTX295 at my rez 1680x1050 looks like the clear champ so I might just bite on this one.
Thanks for the review Hilbert. Looks like Nvidia users with step up options will be very pleased with this one for sure.
so after 3 month of the 4870x2 being the king, nvidia release the gtx295. but i guess nvidia is playing catch up at this time. let see 10% more peformance for 70% higher price. 4870x2 $400 gtx295 $600
So if I read this correctly, the GTX295 is similar in many respects to the 9800GX2 in terms of there being 2 PCB's and a bridge chip? If so, I am hopeful that Nvidia has worked out some of the driver bugs that plague the 9800GX2 (e.g. relatively poor performance in Far Cry 2). Comments?
Never upgrade till you need it. Even then upgrade based on performance/price and resolution you play your games. That's my golden rule. Btw the Dead Space performance impressed me a lot, but I think that has more to do with ATI's driver ineptitude.
I really hope that they support this card properly. The current 9800 GX2 driver support isn't that great, if you have a look into the Nvidia driver section of this forum. At least imo, there seem to be a lot more people with a 9800 GX2 complaining about proper driver support for their games than with any other Nvidia card... Besides that, it looks like a very nice card and they took back the performance crown from ATI - at least for now. I have to say that I really think that they did a good job this time with the cooling. Although not exactly the same card, I'm quite happy with the temperatures of my GTX260 and it's noise level when it's idle. Of course, under full load it sounds like a jet taking off, but hey, when you're using the full capacity of your GPU, chances are very high that you have the sound cranked up, too. Great preview!
First off, great review. This is the first time I checked out an entire review and I'm on board. Secondly, I see some ati users being negative about the 295. Face it, the 295 wins and it's only using very early beta drivesr against ATI's optimized driver. ATI was top for 6 months. Be happy. But this just shows that if nvidia decided they wanted to they could and with the 295, they did and did it without ddr5, less vram, and lower core. @eduardmc The cheapest 4870x2 is actually 490 on newegg. And since you have that card you should know unless you got yours elsewhere for 400? The 295 as said in the very first page of the article up top is going to retail at 500. Lets see. 490$ card that's slower with ATIs #%$^&*&&U driver support or a 500$ card that's stronger and with great driver support from nvidia.. Hmm, this is a tough one.
