Nvidia GTX 295 Performance Preview

Essenar · Dec 19, 2008

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-295,2107.html

Now things are going to get interesting.

The GTX 295 is clearly faster than the 4870x2 in the games they tested. And in all honesty, Nvidia is right about the titles they selected. Those are the games people are playing right now. Dead Space, Call of Duty: World at War, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead. Tomshardware and Anandtech's old bench line up was a little TOO outdated.

Now here's the big question:

ATI knew Nvidia would try to respond with more than just a price drop and a refresh of the 260 (Core 216). They knew Nvidia would pull out the big guns at some point. So what is ATI's plan?

1) The 4870 GPU is way cheaper than the G200 GPU, but GDDR5 is expensive and not as available. Do they cut the price on the 4870x2 by $50-100 and release something a little more challenging at the high end? 4970 maybe? (Die shrink, better yield?)

2) Do they simply cut prices and throw the 4850x2 out from more board manufacturers and focus on driver implementation? I wouldn't be surprised to see it.

liftedcj7on44s · Dec 19, 2008

i bet a die shrink and higher core clocks and memory clocks.

Firestrider · Dec 19, 2008

AMD won't be releasing 40 nm die shrink on GPUs until Oct 2009.

In the meantime they are increasing the core/memory clock speeds and adding more shader processors / TMUs to their current 4800-series cards to be released in March-April 2009. These should be slightly better than the GTX 280.

On the driver side they really need to work on Crossfire scaling, SLI seems to be superior in scaling given the benchmarks you showed. Also in some benchmarks the 4870 holds its own against the GTX 280, namely Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, and Crysis. This probably has something to do with a lot of driver optimizations, as I remember they were all Nvidia dominated games when they were first released.

EarthDog · Dec 19, 2008

ATI will be on their "tock" and produce a die shrink in ~3Q09.

They wont need to drop their price on the 4870x2 at first b/c the 295 will be selling above the MSRP.

Essenar · Dec 19, 2008

Caligula420 said:
ATI will be on their "tock" and produce a die shrink in ~3Q09.

They wont need to drop their price on the 4870x2 at first b/c the 295 will be selling above the MSRP.

This sounds about correct.

I do see a 4870x2 drop imminent though because even if the GTX295 is higher priced, they'll want to steer consumers away from Nvidia.

I think ATI should really focus on Crossfire driver performance. Their single card performance is top notch and when Crossfire scales (COD4, Bioshock) it scales really well, 10 to 20% higher than SLI.

What SLI has in its favor is of course, better relationships between the GPU manufacturer and the game studios to make games run better on select hardware. As Toms' stated, Nvidia doesn't do anything to hurt ATI's performance in games, but does keep month long meetings with producers to increase the performance in driver updates.

The RV700 GPU is very beautiful in design. What it needs is software strength behind it. Crossfire forced profiles sounds like the way to go.

Wiggy Fuzz · Dec 19, 2008

proper driver implementation, totally.

there has to be some fight left in my twin hd 4850's that some driver optimisation can eke out

EarthDog · Dec 19, 2008

Everyone's hope for better performance are drivers. Its too bad that most drivers only improve a couple to a few games and are not broadcast imrpovements.

If I had a dollar for every ATI fan that was dreaming of (significant) improvements out of the 2900xt, I could retire early... :attn:

Expect what you see, and if you get more, enjoy, if not, well, stop dreaming. (Can you tell Im a glass half empty kind of guy? :beer:

)

EarthDog · Dec 19, 2008

Essenar said:
This sounds about correct.

I do see a 4870x2 drop imminent though because even if the GTX295 is higher priced, they'll want to steer consumers away from Nvidia.

Oh yes, it has to be, especially considering the early benches of the 295.

Considering on newegg at least, the cheapest 70x2 is $469 with MIR. I have a feeling we will see this drop to $429ish by the end of january...

Essenar · Dec 19, 2008

Caligula420 said:
Everyone's hope for better performance are drivers. Its too bad that most drivers only improve a couple to a few games and are not broadcast imrpovements.

If I had a dollar for every ATI fan that was dreaming of (significant) improvements out of the 2900xt, I could retire early...

Expect what you see, and if you get more, enjoy, if not, well, stop dreaming. (Can you tell Im a glass half empty kind of guy? )

Yeah, because we all know the performance of the 4850, 4870, CF 4800's and 4870x2 is the same now as it was when they were released. Oh wait....

Yes the 2900XT left a lot of people waiting, but ATI's painting a different picture with the 4800 series cards. The reason we know that is because on the games where Crossfire isn't impressive, quite simply Crossfire isn't working.

The issue they need to resolve is getting Crossfire to work when it isn't. That's it. The performance of the 4800 series cards is stellar enough as it is, they just need it to work on games it doesn't.

EarthDog · Dec 19, 2008

In most games it doesnt change. Look at the change logs. That why I posed it to imrpove a couple to a few games (should have said several...LOL)

Crossfire performance is broken in some games, that can be fixed, but driver release after driver release I have been waiting for improvements in...............X3 Conflict.. none to be seen. They hit the most popular ones, which is the most important though. I have been impressed with both teams drivers lately really. Nice and stable, and the performance boosts happen to be in the games I play (for once).

glenster · Dec 21, 2008

The Radeon 40nm die shrink is expected in 1st half of 2009 but not Jan.
The HD 5870, GDDR5, is due near the end of the year when Windows 7 is released.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/020/1050020/ati-s-hd-49x0-coming-soon-ish

The RV775XT, the best of the next ATI 55nm batch, will come out in Jan.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firs...Cards-to-Surface-in-January-2009-100026.shtml

huskernation · Dec 24, 2008

ill take one

Rich'[ard] · Dec 24, 2008

COME ON ATi! bring back the dominATIon

wonder if we'll be able to crossfire the updated 4850 with the current 4850. like a 4950/4850 crossfire.

DOMIN[ATI]ON!!!!!!!!

I♥GFX · Dec 25, 2008

^...-_-

Rich'[ard] · Dec 25, 2008

^LOL!
maybe i was higih or something yesterday. or very excited...cos i just got AUSTRALIAN OPEN tickets from mum as christmas present.

like you could've thought of it. it popped up in my head as soon i was about to write the word 'domination'. nVidia sucks, cos can't make one out of it. and ATI is domination

I♥GFX · Dec 25, 2008

Yeah, corny fanboy thinks nvidia sucks, so it must suck.

Rich'[ard] · Dec 25, 2008

^ LOL again.
nah, i don't hate them. i just don't want them to come back on top. i used to own nVidia. just ever since 4000 series i've like them. and my friends always bag me at lans - "ATi users should sit on the ground, where they belong"
the host never has enough tables.

so i hold this grudge against them now.

I♥GFX · Dec 25, 2008

Wow I like both Nvidia and ATI and when someone says one sucks I generally have no clue why!? Must be a rivalry thing lol

AngryArtichoke · Dec 25, 2008

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU5OSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Another review here, with some more comparisons.

Rich'[ard] · Dec 28, 2008

I♥GFX;5917735 said:
Wow I like both Nvidia and ATI and when someone says one sucks I generally have no clue why!? Must be a rivalry thing lol

lol. i'm not one of those that makes up $#!+ about the thing i hate. i just have like one side i prefer and go for - like Federer v Nadal for instance :thup:

Nadal is crazily good, but i will always go for Federer.

and you don't know how serious ppl get in some forums. i was searching some stuff on PS3 vs 360 and some info on the new "xbox 720" and ppl go crazy.

Nvidia GTX 295 Performance Preview

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