EVGA GeForce GTX 285 SSC review

[Barrok]

Seems to overclock a decent amount over the 280. Ordering parts for a new PC today, but I can't decide on 280s or 285s!

I picked up two BFG vanilla 280's for $285 ($570 total) from newegg two days ago. I figure if the msrp's drop I can just "trade up" if its worth it financially but even so, the performance two 280's offer for $570 is amazing compared to the performance two 285s offer for close to $780 (380 each with around 10 bucks shipping for each).

I hope I made the right decision

[GoldenTiger]

Well some people like me will probably never buy a dual GPU solution mainly cuz there's:

1) Some microstuttering still present. I know it's very minimal by now but it's not completely gone either.
2) Very driver dependent as some games might show next to no increase over a corresponding single gpu solution if they don't have proper support.

Those issues aren't present in a single GPU solution and IMO is worth some $30~40 bucks. It's not an NV vs ATI thing, I wouldn't buy a dual-gpu/pcb solution from neither company no matter how fast it would be.

Just wait for other 285 GTX cards too and prices will probably settle a bit still (~$350?) but an entry price of $379 without any rebates is very good, I was expecting them to show up at $399 pricetag on newegg at launch.

100% agreed, I almost went for a 2xGTX280 setup now to upgrade from my single 280, but instead am going for a 285 for a much lower upgrade cost ($50-60 once I sell my old card, vs. a new PSU ($100) and GTX 280 ($210))... I figure with how well these appear to overclock, I should end up with good performance at 2560x1600, especially for Crysis and Warhammer Online which don't scale well with SLI. Newegg has the XFX 285 for $350+10 shipping with a free copy of Far Cry 2 which I can sell for $20-30 or just play (with promo code XNZDFF30 ) . (EDIT: I decided I want the step-up so I cancelled it and went for a BFG from Frys with overnight shipping on the cheap, just in case something uber launches within the 100 days).

Awhile back I ran 2x 8800GT 512's and found the scaling horribly inconsistent + it had microstutter and still low minimum framerates which impacted gameplay much more than the maximum ones (which skyrocketed). I switched to a single GTX 280 after going back to a single 8800GT 512 for awhile.

[NapalmV5]

anyone have any info on xfx/asus/zotac/others top gtx285 ?

particularly the memory @ evga ssc.. any other top gtx285 to carry same/higher memory ?

or is the evga ssc gonna be the highest clocked gtx285 ?

why im asking.. memory is the more important.. the gpu ill take care of it myself

[onethreehill]

Consolidated

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3501
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...rmance_review/
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforc...iew--3way-sli/
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...on-review.html
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=16843
http://hothardware.com/Articles/NVID...-285-Unveiled/
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=660
http://lab501.ro/placi-video/nvidia-...-ianuarie-2009
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/cms/artik...on=show&id=676
http://hartware.net/review_892.html
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,67...a-Grafikkarte/

[GoldenTiger]

The highest I got it for a 3DMark06 run was 3.12Ghz but it didn't pass the torture test needed to be deemed a "stable" overclock so it wasn't included.

Awesome . Thanks for the great review yet again... looking forward to mine coming in, yours is the only one I can find with minimum framerates offhand which really tell the tale. I don't care if it has 120fps average if it dips to 10-20fps during any actual action. It's good to see how the cards really handle.

[NapalmV5]

looks like ssc is/will be the badest gtx285 around..

will this be the highest clocked evga gtx285 ?

[ChinStrap]

the guru3d review, Hilbert says he gets the mem up to like 1460 due to the fact he *thinks* the bios has been voltage tweaked.

Now there was one exception to the rule, eVGA has tweaked the BIOS and likely applied some higher voltages to ensure more stable overclocks. As a result their product overclocked disproportional higher on memory and slightly more on the core/shader domain:

*

745 Core | 1681 Shaders | 2928 Memory (effective).

to me, 1400+ mem is like WHOA.

[Barrok]

http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx2851024ocxe.aspx

Looks to be really similiar in speed

[metachronos]

I wanna see some Tri-Sli + physX GAMING benches, not this 3dmark stuff.

[Frananta]

what a name.... Super Super Clocked

[T_Flight]

Mem clocks are cool, but the shaders is where it's at on these cards. These are outstanding cards. They really are. My 280 SSC has been oustanding and is clocked even higher than factory, and it folds 24/7.

I'm really liking the looks of those shader clocks.

[onethreehill]

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16229
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...-gtx-285-1gb/1
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/ind...=671&Itemid=27
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.p...raphics_card/1
http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi..._engtx285_top/
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/nvidia_gtx_285_295/
http://www.tbreak.com/articles/40/1/...ion/Page1.html

[Garrett]

Thanks onethreehill... now I know that fullcover blocks for the 260/280 won't fit on it... saves me a question
I like everything on one side of the pcb, I don't like backside cooling

You can't SLI the 285 with the 280 can you?
Maybe I'll get a 280 now for cheap, just to try tri-sli...

[davidoff619]

Is this worth the upgrade from 260 192core sli to two of these in sli? That's what I would like to know or should I just get a another 260 what's the better upgrade. I can get another 260 for £100 off ebay brend new thanks in advanced

[NapalmV5]

right off the bat oc

[RPGWiZaRD]

^ But how stable is it? Lightsmark isn't very picky about stability

Nonetheless it's great numbers, I hope good samples would allow such 24/7 clocks and even for the not so much pre-clocked versions.

1750MHz shader clock is also what I'm running my 8800GT at.

[NapalmV5]

stable? lol i just got it minutes ago.. yes stable.. but im just looking for highest right now

core ~775
shader ~1815
memory ~1555

i need more voltage to make all 3 happen at once

[SKYMTL]

And some people were calling BS on my 3Ghz memory clock.....

[T_Flight]

And some people were calling BS on my 3Ghz memory clock.....

That my freind is called contempt prior to investigation. Blasting other people's work before they actually *know* what the card will do. Could also be a pack of fanboi's mucking up stuff too.

I tend to take people at their word. There are some out there that you just have to laugh at. Pay them no mind...they are insignificant.

[dan7777]

stable? lol i just got it minutes ago.. yes stable.. but im just looking for highest right now

core ~775
shader ~1815
memory ~1555

i need more voltage to make all 3 happen at once

thats crazy clocks man i might upgrade my gtx260-216 sell it on ebay i think and get 285ssc edition price ? looking good

[Flinch]

I received mine earlier, but four hours of Psychology got in the way. Later this evening I'll slap it in and see what kind of numbers I get.

[BuBBle.D]

Thats some insane memory clocks folks, nice! cant wait for my EVGA GTX285 to arrive.

[dan7777]

Thats some insane memory clocks folks, nice! cant wait for my EVGA GTX285 to arrive.

BUBBLE.D they are already here...http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/d...ml?s=gtx%20285. all editions ive just ordered the SSC edition sorry misread ya comment tired!

[Biker]

Any of you lucky folks who already have the EVGA SSC wanna post up the bios?

I want to try them in a vanilla to see if they help me to push the clocks slightly higher

It's probably a vmod if anything but you never know

[Flinch]

This is the first clocks tried so far, and all is 100% stable.

I didn't touch the mem, my uses won't have me bottle necked there.