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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SiliconDoc - Monday, January 19, 2009 - link
Here, take a look at the power useage:.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews...">http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews...
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There you see the SICKNESS in all it's silicon cooking glory... the 4870x2, the 4850x2 AND the 3870x2 ALL COMSUME MORE POWER THAN THE GTX295(x2) .
Just look at that CRAP.....
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Now it's time to say WHAT HASN'T BEEN SAID:
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Since the 4870/4870x2/512/1024/2048 are all on a SMALLER silicon die - and all have a HIGHER core clockspeed, and ALL have mroe electricity surging through them, all causing MORE HEAT ... with those smaller cores FILLED UP WITH DATA and electricity more often at a DENSER level - guess what's coming ? !? !
It's only been 5 months- and SOON - the 4870 monsters - due to ELECTROMIGRATION - are going to start BURNING OUT...
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YES BURN OUT TIME FOR THE SMALLER ATI CORES IS COMING SOON TO A RIG NEAR YOU !
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lol - Another gigantic POINT - the raging reds have for 5 months never considered.... never brought up - never talked about...
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I can HARDLY WAIT till the failures start hitting hard.. in bigger and bigger numbers - it's inevitable.
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.
SiliconDoc - Monday, January 19, 2009 - link
The 4870 uses more power in idle - look at the power charts." No power savings" = 4870
Gosh I am really sick of the lies.
How did you manage to get yourself to spew that out ?
The 285 is lower in idle than a 260 which also beats the 4870.
"no power savings" = deranged redfan.
sam187 - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
I still would like to know if the GTX285/295 support Hybrid SLI -> Hybrid Power...Daeros - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
AFIK, the entire GTX2XX line dropped hybrid power. The only cards that support it are the high-end 9XXX cards.sam187 - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
The GTX260/280 also support it:http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli_desktop.ht...">http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli_desktop.ht...
Daeros - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
wow, I totally missed that. sorryAberforth - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
man, some of these reviews are getting very generic and boring day by day, you take pictures of a product at different angles and do the number game, maybe it's because the technologies and innovations these days are becoming so forced and profit oriented.GaryJohnson - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
As opposed to the before time or the long long ago when technology was all about mystery and wonder?Aberforth - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Yes