GTX 295

[gamerk316]

http://en.expreview.com/2008/12/03/dual-gpu-gtx260-gx2-officially-branded-as-geforce-gtx295.html

It’s an accomplished fact that GT200 graphics core is updated to be 55nm. We exposed the image of GT200 yesterday, though many people are doubtful about its truth. Anyway, everything will be clear sooner or later, and we believe our readers will have their own correct judgments.

Dual-GPU designed GeForce GTX260 GX2 graphic card will be officially named as GeForce GTX295. Apparently, GeForce GTX295 is coming to regain its dominance of performance which has been grabbed by AMD Radeon HD4870X2. It will utilize two GT200 of 55nm with 216 stream processors, and probably carry on dual PCB design. As of now, the frequency and memory are not known yet.


Our source indicates that the design of GeForce GTX295 graphic cards has been finished, and its trial-production and test process will follow later. With the big day coming closer, it’s time for GTX295 card to show itself.

Seems to be on target with my origional expectations. Should be nice to see how it stacks against the 4870X2...

 

[the last resort]

is it going to be a triple slot cooler like that one PALIT card? Cause i think that thing is going to produce some serious heat, and hence cause some serious issues.

 

[gamerk316]

Can't be much worse than the GX2 was...

 

[Guest]

as long as they properly support it with drivers it will be awesome

for those with lots of cash...

AND as long as it costs around 450 - 500 $... if it costs any more it won't be bought... just like the 4850 isn't being bought... because its 400$ and the 2 individual 4850s are 300$...

 

[Annisman]

People, let's not hate on the GX2, it was a pretty good card when it came out. Also, the heat was nonexistent if you turned up the fan speeds a tad.

 

[LATTEH]

O_O i wounder how much it will cost?

 

[Annisman]

well GX2 was 600 when it started.

 

[mtyermom]

still using the 2 PCB design, I wonder how much that is going to limit their clocking/overclocking.

 

[pbrigido]

Very nice. Competition at the upper tier of video cards is good for both ATI and NVidia, as well as the consumer. Now if they have resolved the price fixing issue, things should finally be priced at fair and competitive market value.

 

[Huttfuzz]

Maybe heat will be down because 55nm...let's wait and see. If it's good i'll buy for sure.

 

[frozenlead]

Why do they insist on 2xPCBs? Isn't it more difficult to produce, harder to cool, and requires lower clockspeeds? Do they just want to keep on going because they don't want to copy ATI?

 

[pbrigido]

Why do they insist on 2xPCBs? Isn't it more difficult to produce, harder to cool, and requires lower clockspeeds? Do they just want to keep on going because they don't want to copy ATI?

I would suspect it is due to mainly its size and can't be placed on 1 PCB.

 

[L1qu1d]

dual GPU cards should be single slot solutions and thats it in my opinion, reaching quad sli... too many problems, I wouldn't grab another GX2 or X2 card, Unless I have a single slot mobo, or I see drivers have been fully matured.

 

[cal8949]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257612-33-charlie-right

 

[4745454b]

Nice to see I was right. The GTX280 is simply to big/hot/power demanding to sandwich together. Using the 260 is a slightly better option. As for which is faster, at the moment I'm thinking the x2. The 4870 is "faster" then the GTX260+. (more like equals if anything.) If Nvidia has to lower the clock speeds at all to get two working together, then the x2 will be champ. (Unless you SLI the GTX280 that is...) The question now is what will be the clock speeds, and will it come out anywhere near $500? (I just checked newegg, I saw some x2's for just over that amount.)

 

[yobigd20]

niiiice. now slap 4 of these babies on MSI's quad sli x58 board, for (octa?)8-core gaming. lol. if only games could take advantage of that much power.... well actually I guess I'd have to rewire a new 20 amp circuit to my room to power a rig that would need like 2kwatts lol. thats more than my air conditioner. though i think I could make up the cost of that by removing the heater in my house as I'm sure I wouldn't need one with this hahah.

and then eventually when intel releases their 6 core nehalem that supports hyperthreading, thats 12 more cores. stick two of those babies on a dual processor motherboard (lol like skulltrail when they release one for this) and you'd have 24 cpu cores + 8 gpu cores. 32-core desktop gaming!!!! can't wait!!! hahahaha theres something wrong with me.

 

[spathotan]

There is no excuse for 2 PCB's. ATI has sucessfully made several dual GPU cards on a single PCB, and the 4850X2 is over an inch longer than the 4870X2.

Also, I predict $700 for this, and not worth it just like SLi'ing GTX 280's or tri-sli'ing anything isnt worth it.

 

[pbrigido]

Let's also keep in mind that they said "probably" on 2 PCBs...not definately. Until more information is released, especially from a substantiated source like Nvidia, this is just speculation. None of it could be true, all of it could be true. Time will tell.

 

[emp]

I just can't shake off the feeling that this will be a triple slot behemoth. Good for nvidia I guess, but it's not practical for anyone.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Wow 2 underclocked GTX 260s together to go up against a 4870 X2?! The only reason the 4870 X2 is good is because it gets around 15% more performance than 2 4870s crossfired. I really hope that nVidia can pull this one out so that we can move on to some new architecture, but the 2 PCB thing is kind of looking like a 9800 GX2 flop (couldn't beat 2 8800 GTS 512mbs in SLI at stock). Oh well...

 

[L1qu1d]

it would be cheaper and quicker to have 2 PCBs than 1 Dual GPU PCB for the company. I don't kno if it would be cheaper for the consumer, but it would save the company money.

Remember that these are 2 260 GTX revisions, which will prob be able to clock higher, and pack a little more punch.So we'll see how they performa, don't jump the gun 2 soon.

 

[4745454b]

Why would they be able to clock higher? You now have two GPUs pumping heat into a single heatsink. Unless they do something "exotic" on the cooling, they might have to drop the clocks a bit.

 

[frozenlead]

Well, if they revise the core and lower the critical temp, they'll be able to clock it higher to reach the same temp. There's no baseline to compare it to, though, considering there isn't a 260X2.

That is, of course, barring the thought that the 295 will magically be faster clock-for-clock.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Running all those tracings for a 512 bus on 1 pcb would be a feat in itself, and possibly more expensive for redesign and adding layers.

Im hoping nVidia is wise enough to be competitive with their pricing on this, as I dont see it killing the x2. It should win, or else why build it, but not a huge win

 

[4745454b]

Why would they revise the core??? The GTX295 is born in the same way as the GX2. They are behind (or perceived to be behind) and are reacting the same way. Slap two PCBs together and put SLI on a stick. They aren't re-working anything. They can adjust clock speeds, but thats about it. Because you now have two GPUs dumping heat into the same heatsink, they'll either need to upgrade the sink, or downclock the speeds.

I'll even bet this won't use the new 55nm parts, assuming it comes out "soon" (3-6 months.) They'll use the old parts in the GTX295, while selling the new 55nm chips as single cards. This works out better for them profit wise. If the GTX295 gets hung up for some reason, then this might change.