Nvidia GeForce GTX 295

Verdict: BFG and Asus go head to head with Nvidia's new dual-GPU graphics card.

Nvidia has a fairly good record when it comes to dual-GPU cards. Put the GeForce 7900 GX2 of the first Quad SLI launch to one side; both the 7950 GX2 and 9800 GX2 were fine cards. The GeForce GTX 295 is Nvidia's fourth dual-GPU card, and again sandwiches two graphics cards together in one DX10-compatibile brick. Unlike its predecessors, the GTX 295 uses two previously unseen GPUs rather than two underclocked GPUs from elsewhere in Nvidia's range.

The new GPUs sit between the GTX 260 (rev 2) and the GTX 280, as they each have the same 240 stream processors as a GTX 280, but the same 448-bit memory interface and clock speeds as a GTX 260 (rev 2 or otherwise). Note also that the new GPU inside the GeForce GTX 285 is different to the GPUs of this card.

The stream processors of the GTX 295 run at 1.242GHz, while the core operates at 576MHz. Each GPU has 28 ROPs, and connects to 896MB of 999MHz (1.998GHz effective) GDDR3 memory. The GPUs are made with 55nm transistors rather than the 65nm transistors found in older GTX 200-series GPUs.

The GTX 295 weighs 1.21kg and is 10.5in long. The jet of hot air from the side vent means that a side panel exhaust fan would be advisable, despite the clever arrangement of the two DVI and the HDMI outputs on the rear of the card, which leaves as much room as possible for the rear vent. The card has 6- and 8-pin PCI-E power sockets, and Nvidia claims that it consumes 289W, 3W more than the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2. The fan of the GTX 295 is loud, and the card becomes very hot, but the HD 4870 X2 has the same flaws.

<strong>Performance</strong>

Since our preview of the GTX 295 Nvidia has had its ForceWare 181.20 driver WHQL certified. We tested the card with this driver and saw no difference in performance from previously. We also tested two GTX 280s in SLI with the same driver, and you can see these scores opposite, as well as those of the HD 4870 X2 tested with Catalyst 8.12.

We still saw the HD 4870 X2 own the GTX 295 in X3: Terran Conflict at every resolution. This was especially true at the higher resolutions, such as 1,920 x 1,200 with 4x AA and 8x AF, where the GTX 295 could only manage a minimum frame rate of 30fps, while the HD 4870 X2 produced a much more impressive 43fps. X3: Terran Conflict is an issue for multi-GPU Nvidia hardware at the moment, as a single GTX 280 had a minimum of 42fps, while two GTX 280s in SLI manage a poor 28fps minimum. In all of our other test games, SLI setups were impressively quick.

In fact, in Crysis Warhead and Far Cry 2, the pair of GTX 280s in SLI was faster than the GTX 295. In Far Cry 2 at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA, the pair of GTX 280s in SLI ran the game at a minimum of 55fps, compared to the 43fps minimum of the GTX 295 and 40fps minimum of the HD 4870 X2. In Crysis Warhead, the pair of GTX 280s in SLI played the game at a minimum of 34fps at 1,920 x 1,200 with 4x AA, compared to the 26fps minimum of the GTX 295 and the HD 4870 X2. Fallout 3 completes the impressive showing of the SLI GTX 280s, with a high minimum frame rate of 55fps when running the game at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA and 8x AF; the dual-GPU cards only managed minimum frame rates in the mid or high 40s.

The strength of the two GTX 280s in SLI is potentially embarrassing for Nvidia, as GTX 280s can be bought for as little as &pound;230 now, so a pair will set you back only few quid more than a GTX 295. Meanwhile, if you already own a GTX 280 and an SLI-capable motherboard, buying a second card is a better upgrade than replacing your current card with a GTX 295 - although all these dual-GPU cards are arguably overkill.

<strong>Folding@Home</strong>

We couldn't disable CrossFire in the Catalyst driver, so the HD 4870 X2 fails to be a compelling buy for folders, as the folding client can only address one GPU. The 3,178ppd generated from the 477-point project p4753 is extremely poor for a high-end card. While we could disable SLI in the ForceWare driver, both GTX 295 cards on test returned unstable machine errors for their second GPUs. Looking at the folding forums, we saw that others have managed to fold on both GPUs, while some have had a similar experience to our own.

The 6,771ppd from the GTX 295 running project p4752 pales in comparison to the 13,763pp from the pair of GTX 280s in SLI, especially as one of the GPUs picked up a dreaded 511-point project and was therefore producing only 6,048ppd. If we'd received two 384-point projects, folding performance would have jumped up to around 15,500ppd, as the other card was churning out 7,715ppd from its project. While the SLI setup caused our test system to draw a prodigious 515W from the plug socket, it was still the most efficient setup on test with 26.7ppd/W compared to the 24.3ppd/W of the GTX 295 system.

Both of the GTX 295 cards on test are clocked at the same frequency, making the price and bundle the differentiating factors. The Asus ENGTX295 costs &pound;446 and is bundled with a leather CD wallet and a 10 per cent discount voucher for SLI Zone. The BFG is &pound;26 cheaper, and has a 1.8m HDMI cable and a ten-year warranty, which are far more useful inclusions.

<strong>Quad SLI</strong>

Not surprisingly, Quad SLI (for example, two GTX 295s) didn't like X3: Terran Conflict, with the second GTX 295 either providing no extra performance or slowing down the game.

Similarly, Fallout 3 is so easy to run that adding a second &pound;400+ graphics card makes little difference; even at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA and 8x AF, a single GTX 295 runs the game at a smooth minimum of 45fps, so the increase to a minimum of 57fps isn't worth the extra &pound;400+.

Moving from two GPUs to four meant significant improvements in Far Cry 2, though, raising the minimum at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA from 43fps to 73fps. However, the extra performance is academic, as a 43fps minimum is perfectly smooth. Crysis Warhead acted sporadically with two GTX 295s, with the game running at a minimum of 29fps at 1,920 x 1,200 with 4x AA for roughly 60 per cent of our benchmark runs, and at a minimum of 43fps (and an average of 53fps) for the remaining 40 per cent. By adding a second GTX 295, we weren't able to run our test games any better than we could with a single GTX 295 - both configurations make the games smoothly playable at the same resolutions.

<strong>Conclusion</strong>

There's little difference in gaming performance between the HD 4870 X2 and the GTX 295. While the GTX 295 is faster than the HD 4870 X2 at most resolutions in Fallout 3, Crysis Warhead and Far Cry 2, it's only by a few frames per second at most. This would be fine for Nvidia if GTX 295 prices matched those of the HD 4870 X2, but there's at least an &pound;80 price gap between the two, with HD 4870 X2 cards costing as little as &pound;365. The PhysX and CUDA compatibility of the Nvidia GPUs have also yet to be killer features, apart from when folding, so while the cheaper BFG card is the better GTX 295, neither is a compelling purchase. A second GeForce GTX 280 or a single Radeon HD 4870 X2 are better options if you have a 30in TFT.