On the example of the reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 2x896MB DDR3 (575/1240/2000 MHz).

Features:

• GPU: 2 x GeForce GTX 280 (GT200)
• 2 x 896 MB GDDR3 SDRAM in 14 Hynix chips on both sides; 1250 (2500) MHz peak clock rate
• Interface: PCI-Express x16
• GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 575/1240 MHz (nominal)
• Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal)
• Bus width: 2 x 448-bit
• Vertex processors: -
• Pixel processors: -
• Unified processors: 2 x 240
• Texture processors: 2 x 96 (BLF/TLF)
• ROPs: 2 x 32
• Size: 270x100x33 mm (the latter is max. width)
• PCB color: black
• RAMDACs/TDMS: on the separate NVIO chip
• Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), HDMI
• VIVO: -
• Multi-GPU: Hardware SLI, Quad SLI

This card is not just dual-GPU, but dual-PCB as well, according to NVIDIA's tradition. I.e. this is a 'sandwich' of two cards, each of which carries own GPU and memory, connected by a SLI bridge.

At that, while each PCB has 448-bit layout the dimensions are rather small, so we suppose that NVIDIA has tried to compact PCBs and that has increased their cost.

This card features GTX 280 GPUs (though made using the 55nm process technology). But if those are designed for a 512-bit bus, they don't use it fully, as the PCB has 448-bit layout and there's 896MB of memory instead of 1024MB.

Remember that the card is 270 mm long, like 8800 GTX/Ultra, so your enclosure has to have enough space for it. Also note card cover width that remains the same along its length. For this reason, the motherboard should have no ports or high capacitors within 30mm behind the PCI-E x16 slot (and this implies the neighbouring slot as well).

This card can receive an audio stream from a sound card to transmit it via a DVI-to-HDMI adapter. If this feature is important for you, make sure the adapter is bundled.

This card requires two additional power connections: 1 x 6-pin and 1 x 8-pin. This was made possible by the less consuming 55nm GPU core.

This card features an original TV-Out interface, so an adapter is required to output video via S-Video or RCA. Such adapters are usually bundled.

This card requires a DVI-to-D-Sub adapter to be connected to an analog monitor with a D-Sub interface.

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz maximum refresh rate
• 2048 x 1536 x 32bit @ 85Hz Max - analog interface
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz Max - digital interface (all Dual-Link DVIs)

The HDTV review is available here.

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