Early NVIDIA GTX 295 benchmarks impress, raise suspicions

NVIDIA still hasn't gotten official with the less-than-secret card, but it looks like China's IT168 website has already gotten its hands on an actual GTX 295 and gone ahead and published some early benchmarks, which now seem to have not so mysteriously disappeared. This being the internet, however, there's already been screenshots taken, and while the benchmarks certainly impress, they're also rightfully leading folks to wait for some slightly more official numbers. If they are accurate, however, it looks like the GTX 295 will trounce ATI's top-end HD 4870 X2 in a number of tests, including a stunning 100% boost in performance in Dead Space, all while boasting a considerably lower power consumption too boot (hence the suspicion). We won't have to wait too much longer to put things to rest, however, as the card is expected to be officially unveiled at CES, with a whole slew of benchmarks inevitably set to follow shortly thereafter.

[Via The Inquirer]

[Waveblade @ Dec 17th 2008 5:46PM]

ATI better hope they have something else ready to be on top!


Or undercut Nvidia by price cutting to hell

[Mike @ Dec 17th 2008 5:48PM]

The general consensus is that it's two 55nm GTX260s on one card, and knowing that the GTX260s still aren't exactly cheap, I'd say seeing this for anything less than $650-$700 is unlikely. But hey, I've been wrong before ;-)

[The Walrus @ Dec 17th 2008 5:54PM]

I will gladly take the latter :)

[1234321 @ Dec 17th 2008 6:23PM]

1. price tag $650
2. ATi releases 4970 X2
3. price cut to $450
4. ???
5. profit

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 17th 2008 6:44PM]

4. People play Crysis

[Chin-Poh @ Dec 17th 2008 5:46PM]

But can it play GTA4?

Seriously, it has lower power consumption than the 4870X2? Now that I want to see.

[nerdtalker @ Dec 17th 2008 6:06PM]

But can GTA4 run on anything? Worst. Engine. Period.

Honestly. Ugh.

[Ridgecity @ Dec 17th 2008 6:12PM]

GTA4 has an engine? , I always feel it is still running on horses. And I got a fairl recent machine and it only hits 30-40 fps, while Crysis runs a little above 70 fps. I think it's just a rushed game, and will get better in the next year.

[Game_playa @ Dec 17th 2008 6:42PM]

How do you get 70FPS? My Q6600 @ 3.2GHz(Doing 3.8 soon) 48501GB gets only 40 and as low as 30 sometimes? What's your GHz??

[loocas @ Dec 17th 2008 7:06PM]

48501GB?! o_O That's some amount, dude! Me droolz111one

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 17th 2008 7:33PM]

DUDE! My BBQWTF887 gets 8923 Teraflops of pwnage, coupled with a 515kW power supply, beotch.

[loocas @ Dec 17th 2008 7:37PM]

@ phanbouy fan fan

Ur m@c|-|1n3 1z t3h r0xxorzz!!!1111oneeleven

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 17th 2008 8:29PM]

Teh 1337ne55 of this thread hurts my brain...

[loosely_coupled @ Dec 17th 2008 8:49PM]

Yeah, I dont understand how that can be possible. Does the current 65nm GT200 use less power than a single RV770? Even at 55nm, that chip is freaking HUGE! How in the world can it use less power than the much smaller RV770?

[Kurian @ Dec 17th 2008 11:17PM]

No it won't run GTA4 as it has only 896MB, and that will be further cut in half because its SLi.

[Oli D @ Dec 17th 2008 5:48PM]

AG what?
P?

What the hell is AGP?

Oh, yeah like that old PCI but with a little hook... I remember that.

From the 90s.

[kjb434 @ Dec 17th 2008 5:54PM]

I freaked out on the AGP thing too!

Really, is someone trying to bring this back?

PCIe had shot way past AGP and it is standardizing.

[Oli D @ Dec 17th 2008 6:00PM]

Some talk of a religious sect, who still develop USB 1.0 devices, use Serial ports and dial up modems.

Some say they go by the name of iCistercians...

[dan @ Dec 17th 2008 6:12PM]

I use serial ports every day at work! They won't be dead for a long, long time...

[bobartig @ Dec 17th 2008 6:47PM]

More than "like" PCI, AGP is a specialized implementation of the PCI bus.

@dan: You're not alone. When we received the very first batch of PS3 (Yes, as in PLAYSTATION 3) dev kits, they had a MASSIVE array of I/O options, but the only way to update the firmware and get the hardware to boot was through humble serial bus and a terminal app. This of course took a while because the IT dept only had a handful of serial cables, I think 2.

As quick as we are to condemn legacy technology, the dead-simple, "it just works" nature of serial will ensure that it is around for a long time yet.

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 17th 2008 7:34PM]

ZOMGT! me three! Tee hee!

[loosely_coupled @ Dec 17th 2008 8:51PM]

Speaking of serial ports.... They should make a new low-complexity direct-connection like the old serial ports, but give the damn thing a MODERN CONNECTOR! It should be about the size of FW800 or smaller!

[dotAaron @ Dec 17th 2008 5:50PM]

"lower power consumption too boot"

I see a typo :D

[Xerloq @ Dec 17th 2008 6:09PM]

That's right, it should be represented as a colloquial phrase by the indicative quotation marks, er go "ta-boot!" or "tuh buut" or some such thing.

I'm glad we have sharp eyes to keep us on topic.

Just joshin' ya man. It's almost time to go home...

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 17th 2008 6:46PM]

I see a sticky keyboard. Don't eat apples and type at the same time.

[Smileypanda @ Dec 18th 2008 3:44PM]

But apples are delicious, and what else am I supposed to do while playing WebKinz?

[Kris120890 @ Dec 17th 2008 5:56PM]

Well now ATI are ready to switch the the manufacturing process 40 NM and the fact they're giving partners the chance to make their own designs I'm expecting brand new ATI cards in the next 6 Months that will kick ass. Not to mention they're gaining new partners from nvidia like XFX. I expect ATI cards to fall in price soon.

[amiga rulez @ Dec 17th 2008 6:02PM]

low(er) power consumption? Why would yo do a grilled cover but to dissipate an inmense amount of heat?

just my opinion

[Xerloq @ Dec 17th 2008 6:13PM]

Same reason car manufactures hide their next year's lineup under black plastic for test drives - it let's us experience the power without revealing the design.

I actually prefer this over cartoon dragons, space-ships or not-quite-real buxom beauties stenciled on the fans. Simple. Elegant.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 17th 2008 6:38PM]

" cartoon dragons, space-ships or not-quite-real buxom beauties stenciled on the fans. Simple. Elegant."
Because you have your graphics card laying on your table for everyone to see..??

[Decoy @ Dec 17th 2008 6:54PM]

Cartoon dragons, space-ships or not-quite-real buxom beauties stenciled on the fans.

Hear hear. That kind of packaging - does it do anything for anyone? I bet most people who buy graphics cards buy purely on the specs. We don't need shiny boxes with horrible manga/poser mashup artwork embossed on it! A nice white box with RADEON 4870 written in 16 point Courier would be enough to have me foaming at the wallet.

[Wolfticket @ Dec 17th 2008 7:19PM]

For me, no huge passive heatsink, no sale.

[dustandechoes91 @ Dec 17th 2008 6:06PM]

These cards just keep getting bigger and bigger. They are going to need a new form factor soon. Either that or they will start throwing "GTX **0 compatible" labels on cases. This thing better be two 260's because its the size of the 9800GX2, which has dual pcb's.

[kellogs908 @ Dec 17th 2008 8:44PM]

I am also rather concerned about the size as well as the overall design, why is the outer shell perforated unlike anything we have ever seen on a video card, if it was really for better cooling why did they keep part of it solid so they could put the nvidea graphic there either its all for looks, or they would rather have their graphic on there than have a better performing card, am I wrong?

[dustandechoes91 @ Dec 18th 2008 12:12AM]

I probably should have looked at the other pictures on the source. Yea its dual pcb. I have doubts about the heatsink though. The fan looks pretty big, but im guessing this thing gets really hot, really loud, or both.

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-12-16/1b.jpg

[Justin Cooper @ Dec 17th 2008 6:10PM]

If the benchmarks are continually that high, nVidia has a real performer on their hands.

Despite that, I'm an ATI fan right now. ATI's drivers are much more stable on Vista (x32 and x64), and in the bang for the buck department, they're great. I'm also one of those unlucky people to have a defective laptop GPU, which is causing me lots of grief (the replacement cooling assemblies and boards have issues after 2 months. I'm on my 4th board).

[boe @ Dec 17th 2008 6:16PM]

The big question is - does it sound like a vacuum cleaner? I can't figure out why they don't just by silencers from Scythe or another company. Sure it can play Crysis but if you can't hear the game, it isn't nearly as fun.

[Oliver Sayers @ Dec 17th 2008 6:48PM]

Yeah true that, my GTX280 at 100% fan speed is unbearable, shame to, I get a really decent overclock out of it.
It almost runs GTA4!

[boe @ Dec 17th 2008 7:01PM]

Oliver - sorry to hear that, if it makes you feel better I hear the 4870x2 is unpleasantly loud as well. nVidia and ATI could probably get a huge discount on good coolers from some of the better manufacturers and this would make it so much easier than replacing the stock GPU cooler. Seems kind of silly for them not to pay another $10 on a $500 card to make it as quiet as possible.

[Decoy @ Dec 17th 2008 6:58PM]

It looks like a VHS tape got riced.

[KilgoreTrout @ Dec 17th 2008 7:15PM]

You goodfornothin' kiddos!
Wasting all that perfectly good computing power just to play games.
Hopefully sooner or later some hairs will start growing up under your belly too.

[suprxtragrav @ Dec 17th 2008 8:12PM]

you spelt "awesome" wrong.

[chansthename @ Dec 17th 2008 8:33PM]

What's up with the design?

It takes two PCI slots - That's fine
But why is the fan and outlet grill on the bottom PCI slot?

good luck getting airflow down there when you have your card blocking most of the airflow above and below.

[gonintendo @ Dec 17th 2008 10:13PM]

its a dual pcb card, meaning that the fan is sandwiched in between the two pcb's (1 gpu per pcb). if you mean why the the fan sticks out of the bottom rather than the top, its because it would hit the southbridge/ sata ports on many mobos.

[jordan @ Dec 17th 2008 10:31PM]

right, you're assuming that the connections on top actually mean that the board is *right there,* which isn't even necessarily true: remember, you can mount the connections via ribbon cables (which might be the preferred method here to save as much space on the board as possible; also, it allows for standard headers with multiple possible connection type determined at production/assembly time)

[gonintendo @ Dec 17th 2008 10:59PM]

http://www.vadim.co.uk/images/9800BFGWATERuse.jpg
9800gx2 should be similar.

[chansthename @ Dec 17th 2008 8:36PM]

@'Awsomeperson'

Shut the F**k up, you almost make iEye and Fuzo look good, retard!

[Charlie Calhoun @ Dec 17th 2008 10:05PM]

to boot, not "too boot"

[ZZ @ Dec 18th 2008 12:29AM]

Check this out
http://cache.baidu.com/c?m=9d78d513d9d437ae4f9ce3697c62c0161c4381132ba6a3020fd3843893732c41506692ee61680705a3c5776016ae394b9af121033c1450bc8cbb8c5ddccb85582a9f5442676d815663a20de88b182a9b66d618feae6afaa7b275c3f08992854353bd08437984fa9c5a77459730ed1433e1ac844b155c17a7ed3267f55a772a982146b246fbe6256e70c0ac9b0312&p=c0769a46bad811a05bacdd6f44&user=baidu

[Gradius @ Dec 19th 2008 9:31AM]

Finally a card good enough for 1920x1200 (60 fps at least).

This will be my future video card, no doubt.