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BFG GTX 295 Review: Dual-GPU showdown - PAGE 1
Kevin Spiess - Thursday, January 8th, 2009 Like ShareWhen it comes to the aeons old struggle between Nvidia and ATI, each new video card that comes out is a battle, and each successive generation is a war. Taking the top spot -- the bragging rights of the 'fastest card' -- is a key victory in each of these wars. Even if it has less to do with profits, and more to do with pride; claiming the performance crown is a goal that both companies continually joust for.
Most of the time, it comes down to who built the fastest GPU -- but not all the time. Such as the current generation, for example: the GT200 GPU powered Nvidia's flag-bearer, the GTX 280 video card, and it could best anything put up against it, including ATI's quickest, the RV770 (powering the HD4870.) But ATI probably wasn't all that psyched out by the GT200, as you might have guessed. Instead, they were confident because they rushed forward the production of the dual-GPU HD4870X2. All they had to do was pair a set of RV770s together, and presto, voila, they had the fastest card on the block: the HD4870X2.
Sales have slid towards ATI in the last year; the HD4870X2 was a big part of that. So was the HD 4850, and the HD 4870 -- no one could say that it hasn't been a good year for ATI. But in the same breath, no one who knew what they were talking about would dismiss Nvidia for being somehow out of the race, in anyway beyond temporarily. Of course they would be back, many Nvidia fans thought.
And back they are today indeed: today we are looking at another dual-GPU monster card, the GTX 295. Our particular GTX 295 comes from the fine folks of BFG Tech. Following the old hardware adage 'Why not double the processors?', the GTX 295 pushes the envelope of contemporary video card performance, and it'll most certainly be quite fast indeed.
But how fast? We gathered some likely GTX 295 arch-rivals, such as the duo-friendly Palit HD 4870 X2 and Sapphire HD 4850 X2, to see what we could see. Not for casual gamers, the powerful -- if expensive -- GTX 295 will be putting up some big numbers in our benchmarks, and we intend to see if these numbers are large enough to move the performance crown of off the head of the current reigning champ, the HD 4870 X2.
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I've kicked Crysis to the curb now. Instead, *surprise surprise* it will be replaced with Crysis Warhead, for all the new benchmarks.
I'm also adding a demoscene demo, 'Raiders of the Lost Art', which makes a good bench. So that'll be 12 total benchmarks, which is where I want to be.
But ya, short story is: It's all my fault.
I really do think Crysis (though substituting in Warhead isn't a bad idea) is an important benchmark (and will be, for a while), since it has bloated requirements.
I mean, for pretty much every game on the list, the FPS when the resolution is maxed out, with AA, is just gravy. You're, for the time being, paying extra for legligble performance gains. Just because the best card gets like, 30 or more FPS over the worst performer, doesn't mean much when the worst performer gets enough FPS that it produces smooth gaming.
Crysis (and to a lesser degree Warhead) is a GPU pounder. Being able to run Crysis at high resolution, with AA, and good FPS performance would allow this GPU to show it's worth (assuming it could do that with Crysis, which you think it would be able to).
But you couldn't help it, what with Crysis DRM not playing nice >_>