Author: Chris Ray
Editor: Uber_Tiny
Editor: VW_Factor

GTX 295 Quad SLI

Introduction: Following in the tradition of the Geforce 7950GX2 and the Geforce 9800GX2. Nvidia is releasing another dual GPU/Dual PCB graphic card. Dubbed the Geforce GTX 295. Both the Geforce 7950GX2 and 9800GX2 have received criticism. Both for different reasons. I think when moving forward with GPU designs it's important to look back. And see what we have learned.

7950GX2 Problems: The 7950GX2 had an uphill battle to face when dealing with the rendering limitations of Windows XP. In Windows XP DirectX 9.0C could not store more than 3 frames at a given time. So 3 Way AFR was infact not possible under Windows XP. So it defaulted to a hybrid of AFR to SFR rendering. This was partially explained in my 9800GX2 Quad SLI scaling guide. This was corrected under Windows Vista which came out at the end of the cards lifespan.

2006 SLI Rendering

2008/2009 SLI rendering

9800GX2 Short lifespan: The 9800GX2 solved this problem by using Nvidia's Nway Under Windows Vista. Windows Vista provided the ability to SLI more than 2 GPUS without having to resort to split frame rendering. Which is grossly incompatible in today's method of rendering games. Under this new condition the 9800GX2 scaled great. 4 Way AFR allowed the GPU's potential to be realized.. however.. it was often hampered and limited by its 512 megs of memory. Preventing it from reaching its potential. It was an artificially frustrating situation where you couldnt turn AA/AF up because the memory subsystem was too small to allow for it at the highest resolutions. So you'd often left making texture/AA compromises in order to get optimal scaling. Too this day the 9800GX2 scales well so long as you make these memory compromises.

Today and the Geforce GTX 295: The big question that lays in front of us is did the GTX 295 Quad SLI solve these problems. Taking a look at the specs....

Specs at a glance: The Geforce GTX 295 as a single core card sits somewhere between the Geforce GTX 280 and the Geforce GTX 260. It carries all the shader and texturing power of the GTX 280 ((minus some minor clock speed differences)) but still has 1 memory partition 4 less ROPS than the Geforce GTX 280. This means the card has an effective 896 Megs of Video ram available to it while rendering 3D scenes. It still a step down in memory/bus width from the GTX 280 but it does carry signiifcantly more memory than the 9800GX2. Which should alleviate most memory bottlenecks until you reach 8x multisampling and 2560x1600 resolution. Other than its the same GT200 ((x2)) that we have come to know and love from Nvidia. It has all the power saving technology for idling/desktop that are seeen from the GTX 260/280 variant cards for a quiet 2D experience.

Quiet? Lets talk about the cooler: Nvidia claims the card can dissipate up to 289 watts of heat. Which is about 40% improvement over the 9800Gx2. However there are some things you need to be aware of. The card itself has a full back grate for sending hot air out the back which is different from the 9800GX2 which barely had any space in the back for air exhuast. However despite this improvement to airflow not all of the air reaches the back. The side heatsink grates will push air out towards the side of the card. Meaning there will be some heat dumped into your case verses going out the back. As far pushing heat out the back of your case not as much air will reach the back compared to a GTX 280 or GTX 260 and some will get exhuasted into your case. This is a minor complaint but something case builders should be aware of when they are building their GTX 295 or Quad SLI computers.

Ok So how loud is it?: When the card first loads up and the PC starts on the fan boots at about 40% speed. Very quickly once the bios boots up the card down throttles to nearly inaudible levels. When gaming under a stressful environment the noise levels can pick up, They do so gradually as the tempature rises. The dynamic fan control is quite good. As far as overall noise is concerned. It is very similar to the 9800GX2. While in 2D mode you'll probably never hear it as Nvidia has excellent thermal and power management on their GT200 cards.

Power: Just like the 9800GX2 and Geforce GTX 280 this card requires one 8pin and one 6pin power connector. This means you will need a PSU that is at least compatible with the 9800GX2 or GTX 280. It is not recommended to use a molex to 8 pin connector.