XFX GTX295 PCIe Graphics Card

Conclusion

The 4870×2 has been dethroned. Despite a shaky start to our benchmarks with the 4870×2 having the upper hand at lower resolutions in the 3D Mark benchmarks, it became clear as our suite of gaming benchmarks progressed, the XFX GTX295 was the performance king.

When we first reviewed the ATI 4870×2, it was safe to say it blew us away. Much the same could be said of the GTX295 but to a lesser extent as the increase over the 4870×2, while big, was not as ground breaking as we had hoped for. It’s ability at high resolutions that astounds most, breezing through all but Crysis without skipping a beat. If you have a large monitor than it is clear which GPU you should aim for.

Thats not the whole story though as the GTX295 does all this but consumes less power. An amazing achievement indeed and although the GTX295 kicks out a little more heat than the 4870×2, the GTX295 will be cheaper to run, especially if you game in a small room as you won’t need that electric heater with this card installed! Joking aside, the GTX295 does the impossible in running faster, quieter than the 4870×2 while consuming less power. It’s a shame it runs hotter but 3 out of 4 isn’t bad.

Put simply the GTX295 is an amazing card. I encountered no micro stutter which is the weakness of dual GPU cards and I encountered very few driver anomalies. The noise was easily bearable, it looks great and as a package is nothing short of perfect. I do find it hard to recommend a £400 graphics card though but for gaming at this level, for a GPU of this magnitude, price always comes second to performance. Now where did I put that leaflet for ‘Sharky’s loans’….

The Good
– Unrivalled Performance
– Great Packaging
– Fantastic looks
– Sublime overclocking

The Mediocre
– No included HDMI adapter
– Difficult to add a waterblock
– Audible when idle
– Price

The Bad
– Nothing

Thanks to XFX for providing the GTX295 graphics card for todays review.  Please discuss in our forums.