Saturday, December 13th 2008
More GeForce GTX 295 Details Trickle-in
Slated for CES '09, the GeForce GTX 295 would spearhead NVIDIA's quest for performance supremacy. The dual-GPU card consists of two G200b graphics processors working in an internal multi-GPU mode. VR-Zone collected a few more details about this card.
To begin with, the two GPUs will offer all their 240 stream processors unlike what earlier reports suggested. On the other hand, the memory subsystem of this card is peculiar. The card features a total of 1792 MB of memory (896 MB x 2), indicating that the memory configurations of the cores resemble those of the GeForce GTX 260, while the shader domains resemble those of the GTX 280 (240 SPs). The entire card is powered by an 8-pin and a 6-pin power connector. The construction resembles that of the GeForce 9800 GX2 in many aspects, where a monolithic cooler is sandwiched between two PCBs holding a GPU system each. The total power draw of the card is rated at 289W. The card has a single SLI bridge finger, indicating that it supports Quad-SLI in the same way the GeForce 9800 GX2 did (a maximum of two cards can be used in tandem).
Source:
VR-Zone
To begin with, the two GPUs will offer all their 240 stream processors unlike what earlier reports suggested. On the other hand, the memory subsystem of this card is peculiar. The card features a total of 1792 MB of memory (896 MB x 2), indicating that the memory configurations of the cores resemble those of the GeForce GTX 260, while the shader domains resemble those of the GTX 280 (240 SPs). The entire card is powered by an 8-pin and a 6-pin power connector. The construction resembles that of the GeForce 9800 GX2 in many aspects, where a monolithic cooler is sandwiched between two PCBs holding a GPU system each. The total power draw of the card is rated at 289W. The card has a single SLI bridge finger, indicating that it supports Quad-SLI in the same way the GeForce 9800 GX2 did (a maximum of two cards can be used in tandem).
51 Comments on More GeForce GTX 295 Details Trickle-in
Is it possible than nVidia permanantly reduced the memory bus on the G200b to just 448-bit to help reduce die size, and production costs? I mean, it isn't like the 512-bit bus really helped these cards all that much.
Edit: Nevermind, I just saw the news on the GTX285 that will have the 512-bit bus.
But these in Quad SLI will kill!
1.) nVidia has been doing the dual GPU cards for longer than ATi has. nVidia started it with the 7900GX2 which came out more than a year before ATi's first dual GPU card. And even then, it wasn't actually an ATi card, it was just a Sapphire exclusive designed by Sapphire.
2.) nVidia has taken their original idea, and continued to refine it. The dual PCB design of the 7900GX2 has evolved into GTX295. ATi has done the same.
3.) Yes, the GTX295 is similar in design to the 9800GX2, but how different is the HD4870x2 from the HD3870x2? Look at this picture, and tell me which is the HD4870x2 and which is the HD3870x2.
4.) ATi has been the one that has needed to create dual GPU cards to take the performance crown. For the bast 2 generations, this has been the only way ATi has been able to outperform nVidia's single GPU cards.
The Fury Maxx is such an artifact.
www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/crossfire/radeon_maxx.jpg
Anyways wish both companys would hurry up and bring the next lot of cards in like the 5870 and 380?.
The 7950's were ok, but nowhere near as good as the single 8800GTX i picked up. Ever since then the 2slot gfx cards have become a standard and with the new X58+ series motherboards we come to realize that the loss of that extra slot is a waste.
Ye, ye, im happy for the 295GTX, and i suppose ill be picking up a pair of them 2, but the fact remains that it will suck, like the 4870x2 sucks. We are many many many years away from decent gfx cards. Please keep inmind that my perception of decent may vary from your own.
Would there be some TPU guys at CES next year?
1. Video ram/ram dac is still shared. Yes, having a total texture pool of near 2gb is helpful, but more so in theory, not in practice. If it was independent, thus being true 2gb, that would be another story. I'm wondering when dual processed GPUs are going to break that trend.
2. The most previous dual process solution, the 4870 X2(yes 4850 is more 'previous' sue me...)is, nothing to shake a stick at, but I've said it before and will always continue to say it - for the amount of horespower under it's hood, I feel it almost falls completely on it's face. It should perform twice as well as it does; but like a vehicle motor, slapping on a super charger can only take you so far, while the rest of the factory parts drag you down or limit your potential and real-world performance.
I don't think this Nvidia product is going to break either of those trends. It might be fast, in fact I'm fairly certain it will be, but if it doesn't perform at least 1 1/2 the amount of a normal 280, then...bleh.
Of course 7950's are not going to be as good as a single 8800GTX, the 8800GTX is a generation newer, why would you expect the 7950s to even hold a candle to the 8800GTX?