GeForce GTX 285: 55nm Enabling Higher Performance
by Derek Wilson on January 15, 2009 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Just last week, NVIDIA announced both the GTX 295 and GTX 285. Today we have availability on both and test results for the GTX 285. As we weren't able to get power tests done time to include in the GTX 295 review, we also have those available today.
EVGA was kind enough to provide the hardware for this review. They sent us two GTX 280s for single and SLI testing. They provided us with overclocked cards, but for this article we underclocked them to stock GTX 285 speeds in order to learn what we can expect from non-overclocked variants.
The hardware looks the same as the current GeForce GTX 280. There really isn't anything aside from the GPU that appears different (except the sticker on the card that is).
We've already indicated the changes that have gone into the GTX 285, but here's another look at the updated clock speeds and the test setup.
| GTX 295 | GTX 285 | GTX 280 | GTX 260 Core 216 | GTX 260 | 9800 GTX+ | |
| Stream Processors | 2 x 240 | 240 | 240 | 216 | 192 | 128 |
| Texture Address / Filtering | 2 x 80 / 80 | 80 / 80 | 80 / 80 | 72/72 | 64 / 64 | 64 / 64 |
| ROPs | 28 | 32 | 32 | 28 | 28 | 16 |
| Core Clock | 576MHz | 648MHz | 602MHz | 576MHz | 576MHz | 738MHz |
| Shader Clock | 1242MHz | 1476MHz | 1296MHz | 1242MHz | 1242MHz | 1836MHz |
| Memory Clock | 999MHz | 1242MHz | 1107MHz | 999MHz | 999MHz | 1100MHz |
| Memory Bus Width | 2 x 448-bit | 512-bit | 512-bit | 448-bit | 448-bit | 256-bit |
| Frame Buffer | 2 x 896MB | 1GB | 1GB | 896MB | 896MB | 512MB |
| Transistor Count | 2 x 1.4B | 1.4B | 1.4B | 1.4B | 1.4B | 754M |
| Manufacturing Process | TSMC 55nm | TSMC 55nm | TSMC 65nm | TSMC 65nm | TSMC 65nm | TSMC 55nm |
| Price Point | $500 | $400 | $350 - $400 | $250 - $300 | $250 - $300 | $150 - 200 |
The price point for the GTX 285 is $400, but newegg has parts for $380 right now and overclocked variants for not too much more.
The Test
| Test Setup | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-965 3.2GHz |
| Motherboard | ASUS Rampage II Extreme X58 |
| Video Cards | ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 SLI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 SLI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 SLI EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 |
| Video Drivers | Catalyst 8.12 hotfix ForceWare 181.20 |
| Hard Drive | Intel X25-M 80GB SSD |
| RAM | 6 x 1GB DDR3-1066 7-7-7-20 |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1 |
| PSU | PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1200W |
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MadMan007 - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
The benchmark numbers are there below the graphs but I agree that charting 2560x1600 isn't very realistic. Maybe the benchmarkers are getting a little out of touch with what real people have for monitors.Beno - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
ffs its been 2 years and we still cant get pass 100 fps burrier in crysis at 1650x !!every new cards ati and nv makes, only gives around extra 10 fps on that game :(
MadMan007 - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
One detail that's not clear, and this is partly because of NVs confusingly named releases, is which GTX 260 is included in the charts. We know it's not the 55nm, but is it 192 or 216 shader? Lots of websites forget to put this detail in their testing, just writing GTX26-192 or -216 would make it clear. Thanks.jabber - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
....those bizarre S-Video outputs?Why not something more useful? Or just drop them completely.
Odeen - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
The S-Video outputs are industry standard, and are used to connect to SD TV sets.. I don't see what's so bizzare or useless about them.jabber - Friday, January 16, 2009 - link
But who uses them?I've never seen anyone use them and I havent read about anyone trying for years. When they did all those years ago the VIVO thing was a mess or a pain to get working.
Just seems pointless now especially for SDTV.
MadMan007 - Friday, January 16, 2009 - link
While it's an s-video looking output it's not just for s-video, they are used for component output as well I believe.SpacemanSpiff46 - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Any reason the 4850 X2 is being neglected so much? I have not seen any reviews with this card. Also, it would be nice to see how the 9800GX2 is stacking up with these cards.bob4432 - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
wonder the same thing myself - the 4850 is a good card alone and the price is very nice. add to that that many people are running a 4850, this could be a very attractive upgrade - lets see some 4850 cf setup #s/comparisons tooSunagwa - Friday, January 16, 2009 - link
I have to agree. I always go for the most value when I purchase my parts.Granted "value" can easily be taken out of context considering obviously wide ranging income.
For me however the 4850 (this time around, I am a PC gamer at heart) was the absolute choice when I purchased it.
Getting back on topic, I would love to see the CF setup as well as the dual GPU setup included in your review. If only to be able to compare the performance and possible upgrade potential of my current computer to your test bed.
Just a side note for those who care but my C2DUO-Wolfdale OC'D to 4Ghz that I payed 160$US for has me very happy and I could care less about Corei7...wait...no I could not. 8)
Regards,
Sunagwa