When the NVIDIA GT200 GPU was first released, people said it would be impossible to ever build a dual-GPU card based on these chips. NVIDIA got around this dogma by releasing a new version called GT200b, which is made in a 55 nm process reducing power and heat output (and chip cost). The GTX 295 has clearly been designed to take the performance crown and hold it for a while - probably for the better part of this year. ATI's HD 4870 X2 is close in performance, but behind by a few percent. However, with the economic crisis hitting people left and right, it is questionable if a $500 product can succeed in today's market. I looked at Newegg and saw only two GTX 295 cards listed, while there are dozens of cards in the cheaper segments.
Nevertheless, if you have the cash, this is the card to get. It delivers amazing performance and will let you use that big screen of yours with all the eye candy turned on. You have a monitor that does 1900x1200 or better? No? Then you may be better off improving your display first. Also don't forget to pair this monster with a proper CPU. This is the first review that we did on our new Core i7 based VGA testing setup, the older E8400 was just too slow to let the GTX 295 show its full potential in many benchmarks.
Should you still not be satisfied with the performance of the GTX 295 you can overclock it considerably - our sample did, by about 20%! Another option is to get a second GTX 295 for some quad-SLI action.
I really like what Zotac has been doing with their package. The included HDMI cable, full game and 3DMark full version definitely add to its value, without increasing the price beyond NVIDIA's MSRP of $499.