First Look: Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB

Initial Thoughts...

We've only had a short time with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 295, but it looks set to take the performance crown from the Radeon HD 4870 X2. However, that performance crown won't be held in a dominant manner like we witnessed back in August when AMD launched its dual-GPU monster.

There are some early driver issues we've seen here though and, from the conversations we've had with Nvidia, there is still some work to be done on the driver side before they're ready for the January 8th launch.

Our biggest disappointment in the testing we've done so far though is how the card performs at higher resolutions with AA enabled - there are scenarios like the one we've shown you here in Fallout 3 where the card just runs out of steam at 2,560 x 1.600 with 8xAA.

This doesn't happen with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and we believe a lot of this is down to the decision to launch with a lower than expected memory speed, but it does leave room for partners to release cards with memory speeds above 2,300MHz in the future. At that speed, some of the GTX 295's memory bandwidth restrictions should be alleviated, but they will not disappear completely.


In some respects you could make the comparison to the GeForce 9800 GX2 here because that also sacrificed on the memory bandwidth front (if you compare it to the GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra) in order to get a pair of GPUs into a single PCIe slot. But we actually think the GeForce GTX 295 is a much better card than the GeForce 9800 GX2 ever was because the memory bus width is pretty wide to start with and partners can add a bit more memory bandwidth into the fray on their overclocked versions. Let's hope they're listening.

Nvidia has been quite clear in its intentions - the sights are locked right on the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and its planning to not only outperform it in the majority of cases, but also to hit the same price point. A quick look at Newegg reveals that the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is sitting at about $489.99, and Nvidia says it expects the GeForce GTX 295 to be available for under its MSRP on release day.

Based on past experience, hell will freeze over if that happens but I am prepared to be proven wrong. We'll have to wait and see what happens come January 8th I guess.

As for a UK price, we've heard whispers of somewhere between £350 to £400. We hope its nearer the bottom end of the range, but reality suggests that it's more likely to be towards the top end of that scale given the current economic climate and the weakness of our beloved pound.