Fastest setup? Quad SLI GTX 295 or Tri SLI GTX 285

[Amaury]

So now that both reviews of GTX 295 and 285 are in, it seems quad-sli GTX 295 is faster than tri-sli GTX 285. correct me if i'm wrong. GTX 285 wins in memory bandwidth and GTX 295 wins in shader processing.

[CaptNKILL]

285 also has more memory.

[walterman]

Shading power:

4 x 1242 MHz = 4968 MHz
3 x 1476 MHz = 4428 MHz

12% win for the quad SLI.


Bandwidth:

4 x 448 bit x 1000 MHz x 2 = 448000 MB/s
3 x 512 bit x 1242 MHz x 2 = 476928 MB/s

6% win for the tri SLI.

I guess that with some overclocking, the Tri GTX285 SLI could end faster in shading power too. It should be more easy for the driver to control 3 GPUs, rather than 4. And the larger frame buffer should help with high resolutions & AA levels.

[Amaury]

I was wrong. I compared guru3d's reviews of both quad-sli 295 vs tri-sli 285.

Far Cry 2 2560x1600 8xAA 16xAF HQ DX10. Quad 295 68fps, Tri 285 71fps
COD WAW 2560x1600 4xAA 16xAF HQ. Quad 295 92fps, Tri 285 90fps
Brother in Arms HH 2560x1600 HQ. Quad 295 79fps, Tri 285 81fps
Crysis Warhead 1920x1200 2xAA 16xAF DX10 HQ. Quad 295 58 fps, Dual 285 71fps
Mass Effect 2560x1600 HQ. Quad 295 181 fps, Tri 285 152fps
Fallout 3 2560x1600 8xAA HQ. Quad 295 91fps, Tri 285 92fps
Dead Space 2560x1600 4xAA HQ. Quad 295 256fps, Tri 285 243fps
Left 4 Dead 2560x1600 8xAA 16xAF HQ. Quad 295 93fps, Tri 285 110fps
3dmark Vantage GPU score: Quad 295 27,940 pts Tri 285 29,580 pts

Power: Quad 295 TDP 289 watts x 2 = 578, Tri 285 TDP 183 watts x 3 = 549
Price: Quad 295 $500 x 2 $1000, Tri 285 $380 x 3 = $1140.

Why didn't Guru3d test Crysis Warhead with Tri 285 rather than dual or was that a typo at 1920x1200? 2560x1600 is still unplayable.

Interesting to know which setup produces the least amount of microstuttering, if at all. To me, it seems having the chips share the workload right on the card's pcb rather than through the motherboard's pci-x slots would produce less stuttering?

[Amaury]

And then in 3-4 months it's outdated by the GT212 and trumped by the GT300 at the end of the year. We need CHFA - computer hardware fanatics anonymous

[Amaury]

F' that. I'm stickin my pair of Voodoo 2s back into my machine. Back to some Quake 2 CTF lovin.

[Amaury]

back on topic. so the uber "jackup" setup will be to get (3) EVGA SCC GTX 285s in Tri-SLI overclocked.

[Amaury]

I keep reading how how very overclocker friendly the evga ssc 285 edition is. Core up to 750 and 2.85 - 3ghz on the ram. Tri-SLI on these. Yep that's the uber setup to have.

X 3

[Blkout]

Originally Posted by Amaury

I keep reading how how very overclocker friendly the evga ssc 285 edition is. Core up to 750 and 2.85 - 3ghz on the ram. Tri-SLI on these. Yep that's the uber setup to have.

Almost all the 285's are clocking in that range, not just the SSC's. Your'e paying almost $40-50 more for a BIOS with higher clock speeds with the SSC. Save your money, go with the vanilla and overclock it with many of the available software utilities.

[Monnie Rock]

Do the SSC has different voltage values?
Can you alter the voltage of the GTX 285 from within the BIOS?


Thank you,
Monnie

[Uberpwnage]

Originally Posted by Monnie Rock

Do the SSC has different voltage values?
Can you alter the voltage of the GTX 285 from within the BIOS?


Thank you,
Monnie

I believe the SSC is indeed volt modded from EVGA, there's a thread over at XS, and some users have tried the SSC bios with no effect. So it must have some hardware modification as jAkUp said. I haven't seen anything about BIOS vmods, judging from past cards and the GTX 295, I would assume not.

[Muppet]

Originally Posted by Monnie Rock

Do the SSC has different voltage values?
Can you alter the voltage of the GTX 285 from within the BIOS?


Thank you,
Monnie

You can with this.

http://www.mvktech.net/component/opt...rent,category/