iXBT Labs - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 - Page 9: Games, conclusions

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Performance in games

Testbed:

Intel Core2 Extreme QX9650 (3000 MHz) CPU
Zotac 790i Ultra motherboard on NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra
2GB DDR3 SDRAM Corsair 2000MHz
WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA hard drive
Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
Windows Vista 32bit SP1, DirectX 10.1
Dell 3007WFP 30-inch monitor
ATI CATALYST 8.12beta (8.561.3); NVIDIA 181.20 drivers
VSync disabled

Benchmarks:

Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) -- DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky 1.507 (GSC Game World/THQ) -- DirectX 10.0, maximum quality settings (dynamic lighting enabled); demo, copy files to the savegames folder, run the game, load level 'ixbt4', and type "demo_play ixbt4" in the console. This game does not support AA.
3DMark Vantage 1.02 (FutureMark) -- DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, multitexturing, 'Extreme' settings.
CRYSIS 1.2 (Crytek/EA), DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, 'Very High' settings, 'Rescue' level; batch file, e-mail us to obtain the timedemo.
CRYSIS Warhead (Crytek/EA), DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, 'Very High' settings, 'Cargo' level; batch file, e-mail us to obtain the timedemo.
Company Of Heroes Opposing Fronts (Relic Entertainment/THQ) -- DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, maximum settings; batch file, run the game, invoke graphics settings and click the test button.
World In Conflict 1.007 (Massive Entertainment/Sierra) -- DirectX 10.0, shaders 4.0, 'Very High' settings with adjusted AA and AF; run the game, invoke graphics settings and click the test button.
Devil May Cry 4 (CAPCOM) -- DirectX 10.0, 'Super High' settings with adjusted AA and AF; Scene 1.
Lost Planet Extreme Condition Colonies Edition (CAPCOM) -- DirectX 10.0, 'Super High' settings (with adjusted AA and AF); Scene 1.
Left 4 Dead (Valve) -- DirectX 10.0, 'Super High' settings.

Note that performance charts are located on dedicated pages.

Conclusions

Even though GTX 295 hasn't demonstrated ultimate performance in certain tests, it's apparently a king of 3D graphics, the fastest graphics card these days.

Our tests have also proved that the technology of uniting two GPUs by means of drivers or other software has lots of underlying potential problems. For example, we added a number of new tests, and it immediately turned out that HD 4870 X2 had problems with CrossFire, when it just wouldn't work in a new game. Fortunately, NVIDIA has been doing better in this respect so far. There are still some problems (SLI does not work in our special version of RightMark 2.0, but it's partially our fault). However, NVIDIA programmers have apparently overdid it in one test, having added optimizations for GTX 295 and forgotten to do so for other products. As a result, GTX 295 outperforms even GTX 280 SLI -- this just cannot be true. :)

Another warning for those willing to get the most powerful solution: be ready that your dual-GPU card won't be lightning-fast in a new game just because its driver does not support this game yet. We hope that programmers from NVIDIA and AMD will promptly add support for all new games into their drivers.

NVIDIA GTX 295 gets our Original Design award:

We express gratitude to
NVIDIA Russia and Luciano Alibrandi
for the provided graphics card.

PSU provided by TAGAN,
Monitor provided by NVIDIA.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295

Performance in games

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky

World In Conflict

CRYSIS, Rescue, DX10, Very High

CRYSIS Warhead, Cargo, DX10, Very High

Far Cry 2

Company Of Heroes

3DMark Vantage, Graphics MARKS

Devil May Cry 4, SCENE1

Lost Planet EC Colonies, SCENE1

Left 4 Dead

Conclusions