Published in Reviews

Gainward GTX 295 single PCB tested

by on06 July 2009

Index



TestBed

Motherboard: MSI P45D3 Platinum ( Provided by: MSI );
Processor: Intel Core 2 QX9770 Extreme edition at 3.6GHz ( Provided by: Intel );
Memory: Corsair Dominator 12800 7-7-7-24 ( Provided by: Corsair);
HDD: WD VelociRaptor 300G 10,000RPM ( Provided by: SmoothCreation );
Driver: 186.18_desktop_win7_winvista_32bit_english_whql.exe
Vista 32 SP1

Futuremarks

We decided to start light and see how the new PCB card handles 3DMark testing.

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The old 3DMark06 reports the performance difference between the single GPU and dual GPU cards as so small that it’s negligible. However, the new card excels in overclocking, and we had no trouble pushing it to 675MHz, which is a 100MHz higher than reference.

On the driver CD we found a small overclocking tool called ExpertTool, and we ended up using it as it allows for overclocking of the GPU, memory and shaders as well as regulating fan speed. We set the memory to 1200MHz (2400MHz effectively), and the shaders to 1460MHz. You can check out the overclocked single PCB GTX 295 results in the following tables.

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We’ve seen that after a 17% overclock, test results are better by about 17% in average. We recorded the highest result improvement in Vantage Xtreme test where the results jumped by 19.6% after an overclock.


Gaming


The results of a couple of games we’ve tested suggest that single and dual PCB GTX 295 are pretty much identical.

It was overclocking to the rescue again, and the results immediately confirmed the overclock. We found it interesting that the single PCB version runs much cooler than the dual-PCB card, as the single PCB version never exceeded 80 which can’t be said for the dual PCB version as it easily went over 90°C. The single PCB version’s idle mode was impressive as well, as we recorded seriously cool 36°C. Low temperatures in idle mode are a direct result of automatic downclocking to 300MHz core, 601MHz shaders and 300MHz memory.

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Conclusion

Gainward GTX 295 single PCB is something you’ll have to check out if you’re scouring for the fastest cards around. Of course, if you already own the dual PCB version then there’s no need for change, but if Quad SLI is your game then we’d recommend Gainward’s GTX 295 single PCB card. Our testing reveals that while performance is pretty much identical, the new card runs cooler and a bit quieter, not to mention that it overclocks nicely.

Gainward’s GTX 295 card will allow for gaming at all the highest resolutions with no hiccups, and Nvidia is trying hard to ensure smooth SLI for this card as well. If you are after the latest greatest, then you can consider this one, and upgrade from GTX 280 or GTX 285 would definitely boost the performance.

This card can beat HD 4870 X2 and single core HD 4890 but note that it is also bit pricier. In comparison to dual PCB card, the temperatures tends to go down as much as 10 degrees Celsius and it also overclocks nicely as you can gain 17+ percent at some high resolutions and settngs.

Without a doubt Gainward GTX 295 single PCB is a good one and surely worth buying.  

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Last modified on 06 July 2009
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