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NVIDIA's 55nm GeForce GTX 285 Launched
Visceralini writes "NVIDIA is launching yet another high-end 3D graphics offering, an optimized version of their top shelf GeForce GTX 280 single GPU card, dubbed the GeForce GTX 285.
This new GeForce is a
55nm die-shrunk version of the legacy GTX 280 with lower power consumption characteristics that don't require an 8-pin PCI Express connector, rather just a pair of more standard 6-pin plugs.
Performance
metrics are shown here in a number of the latest game titles including
Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2 and Mirror's Edge. The new GTX 285 is
about on par or slightly faster than a GTX 280 but with
less power draw and some room for overclocking over the reference design."
Or you know you could go with a 9600GSO which uses about 45W PEAK and plays most modern games at decent framerates (Crysis 1280*1024 medium, 20fps). I use Rivatuner to underclock the card by 50% at windows startup and run it at about 20% overclock with game profiles. Since my PC is running Mediaportal and is on 24x7 this saves me quite a bit over the course of the year.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Hate to reply to myself but I just figured out what they did, they pulled the specs from an OC 8800GT G92. The 9600GSO has a single 6pin PCIe power header which means absolute power draw is limited to 75W(cable)+17W(slot) or 92W, and it would likely be unstable well before hitting that since power lines don't like to be pulled to their limit.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
I wonder if he has tried NOT overclocking the card or changing the fan speed? :D
Overclocking is the stupidest, stupidest thing people can do on modern hardware. By designing a graphics card or CPU that overclocks you're pandering to the statistics freaks who want to get that extra 1% performance increase and therefore "more bang for their buck".
What a f**king ridiculous market. Processors and graphics chips go through sorts and testing for a good reason; they're not rated to go any higher because there is a very good chance they WON'T. Depending on the exact chip you get, at which time in production it was made, and the quality of the PCB it's soldered to (especially if you're overclocking a memory bus, which also relies on the quality of the memory) every card can and will be WILDLY different. Sometimes overclocking by 20MHz is going to completely screw things even though some guy said he got it past 200MHz on some review site.
Simply stop doing it and guess what, the chip won't overheat, and the graphics card will get broadly the same performance give or take a frame per second in some game that your monitor is not fast enough to even display anyway :)
Sometimes you have to put down your money, be happy with what you've got, and enjoy your 1-year statutory warranty which clicking ANY of those overclocking buttons automatically voids.
The PSU requirement is apparently 550 Watts, and you can usually save a lot of money when you drop from 700 Watts to 550-600, however, I remember seeing a 700 Watt PSU at NewEgg for $50 after rebate, which is about what I paid for my 500 Watt at Christmas (after rebate - I'd planned for 600+, but PSU and a few other things fell to budget axe).
If you're building a system from scratch you may be able to save additional money with a lower power draw card. Also, waste heat from the PSU is lower with smaller PSUs.