GeForce GTX 285: 55nm Enabling Higher Performance
by Derek Wilson on January 15, 2009 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Smaller Die + More Performance = More Power
Power isn't going to be straight forward here, as this is both a die shrink and an overclock. If all other things were equal, the die shrink would have enabled a some power savings, but increasing the clock speeds (and likely voltages) means that we have factors at work that will push against each other. As for which will win, let's take a look at the data and find out.
Since we didn't take a look at power in our GeForce GTX 295 article, we'll keep an eye on that card as well. Also, keep in mind that there have been 55nm GTX 260s being slowly phased in but that our GTX 260 parts are 65nm. The 55nm GTX 260s will show a power advantage over similarly clocked 65nm GTX 260s.
Idle power shows that NVIDIA is able to get some power savings when nothing is going on with the GPU. Power draw at idle decreased by about 10W with the move to 55nm which shows that in addition to their power saving features the die shrink does help. This advantage carries over to SLI as well with the GTX 285 SLI landing between the two single card dual-GPU systems.
The GeForce GTX 295 slides in just above the single GPU 4870 1GB while AMD's 4870 X2 consumes about 10W more than NVIDIA's higher performing dual-GPU card.
We see a different story when we look at load power. In spite of the die shrink, the added overclock pushes the GeForce GTX 285 higher under load than any other single GPU part. When SLI is enabled this becomes the most power hungry dual card setup we tested.
As for the GeForce GTX 295, we once again see good performance with lower power draw than the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and, in fact, less power draw than all the other dual-GPU setups we tested.
While a half node die shrink isn't the holy grail of power savings, the major advantage for NVIDIA comes from the die size decrease. We don't have measurements on the GPU after the shrink (we don't want to tear apart our hardware until we've tested things like 3-way SLI), but with the massive size of GT200 and the heavy price cuts NVIDIA was forced to make shortly after launch, the cost savings is a very important factor in this move.
NVIDIA needs to keep its price competitive and that means it needs to keep its costs down. Building an overclocked GTX 280 helps raise the price while building the parts at 55nm helps lower the cost. NVIDIA wants this card to be successful.
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GhandiInstinct - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Derek,These articles need to start concluding with: "So if you have to buy a video card(cpu...etc) today, buy the ____________.
Thank you.
Beoir - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
For a similar price you could get a 4870 X2.Do they think the customer is stupid? NVIDIA was not thinking about pricing by making it only $100 less than a dual GPU. But, to be the "glass is half full" wait a few months and I'm sure the price will drop significantly.
SiliconDoc - Monday, January 19, 2009 - link
It's stupid to get a dual gpu solution when you can have one GPU be smoking up the fps in ALL GAMES.The problem of course is, ATI doesn't have a single gpu that is even close. ATI is sucking wind.
That's a problem, so somehow, some line of hogwash must be blabbered about to fix that problem.
If you like screwing with games endlessly, trying to get CF working, then you go to another title and it takes an fps HIT, and comes out lower and nothing can fix it - go for your "pick".
There's just no way a sane person would take the 4870x2 over the GTX285, unless they loved trouble, no driver profiles, no Cuda, and no PhysX - and a huge power suction to go with all that crap - toasting any "savings" on the electric bill.
Try the Warmonger demo, it even runs at 17fps on a 3650 at 1280x1024. Check out how cool PhysX is - you've never seen any game like it - try it... then you'll see.
http://www.nvidia.com/content/graphicsplus/us/down...">http://www.nvidia.com/content/graphicsplus/us/down...
top one - download that puppy and have some real fun...
HUGE POTENTIAL, and it's already something to behold.
hk6900 - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
I really hope that you get curb-stomped. It'd be hilarious to see you
begging for help, and then someone stomps on the back of your head,
leaving you to die in horrible, agonizing pain. *beep*
Shut the *beep* up f aggot, before you get your face bashed in and cut
to ribbons, and your throat slit.
JarredWalton - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Or for $50 more you can get a GTX 295 instead of the 4870X2. I'd be more inclined to go that route, personally. I don't think the importance of drivers and multi-GPU driver profiles can be overstated on the single card dual-GPU solutions.Goty - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
The GTX295 would make sense if it weren't NVIDIA's practice to shove out a halo product with issues and then stop supporting it entirely farther down the road a la the 9800GX2.Thar - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
These reviews left me a little confused. Where you comparing a single card to configurations with two cards in crossfire and or two cards in SLI? If I see SLI or X2 at the end of a card name am I to assume the test bed was running two cards and if I don't see it assume a single card was used?In your conclusion you say the 295 has captured the Halo yet not one bench mark showed it at the top. The only thing I could figure is you were benching a single 295 against 2 card SLI and Crossfire set ups.
Toolius - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Would it be possible to update the results with 4870x2's in Crossfire ? I mean a GTX295 SLI setup is over a 1000 $ and a GTX 285 SLI setup is close to 800 $ . Considering that 4870x2's in Crossfire also cost just about the same , Can we have some figures for 4870x2's in crossfire as well PLEASE ?? Pretty Please ? With a Cherry on top :)Thar - Friday, January 16, 2009 - link
Head over to Tom's Hardware for 4870's in Crossfire. A good review that makes it clear how many cards are running in each test.Best I could tell this test on Anandtech did not have the GTX295 in a dual card SLI setup, and while they completly failed to mention it I do believe the GTX 285 and 260 were both in a two or maybe 3 card SLI setup.
IKeelU - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Third sentence should probably read: "As we weren't able to get power tests done on time..." instead of: "As we weren't able to get power tests done time..."