GTX 275 896 MB or GTX 285 1 GB

[ESzczesniak 128]

I'm going to building an all new computer and I think the only thing I'm left with is to decide on the video card. It looks like there will be a $100 between a GTX 275 with 896 MB of RAM and a GTX 285 with 1 GB or RAM. The various posts I've seen suggest that not a lot of improvement will be had with the GTX 285 over the 275 and I probably wouldn't even be asking if I could find a 275 with 1 GB or RAM. So bottom line, how much difference will I find?For the time being, my monitor is not being upgraded and will therefore leave the resolution at 1280x1024. However, I do see an upgrade at somepoint in the future. I have no plans for massively high resolution, but would like to be able to think about 1600x1200. And ultimately I will use AA and AF through nHancer at whatever setting will work with the chosen card. I just don't want to buy a lesser card that I won't be happy with and then have to buy an all new card again (although I'm upgrading from an 8600 GT, so I imagine both will look great).The rest of the new system will be:Intel i7-920 (plans to overclock to 3.6ish GHz)Asus P6X58D Premium MotherboardCorsair XMS3 3x2GB 1333 RAMCorsair 750W PSU2xDVD/DVD-RW3x7200 RPM SATA HDWindows 7 64 bit (still deciding between Home and Professional)And then either:GTX 275/895 or GTX 285/1Thanks for any input. My feeling at the moment is that I will go for the 275 given the $100 price difference, but I could use some input to help with this decision.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

As much as I like my GTX 285, the $100 price difference between it and a 275 isn't easy to justify. Of course when I bought my card almost a year ago the 275 wasn't available so the gap between NV's flagship single GPU part and the next closest card was much larger. At your current monitor's resolution of 1280x1024 you will not be able to take advantage of the slight extra processing power and bandwidth of the GTX 285. Also, they don't make GTX 275s with 1GB of video RAM due to the bus width of the memory controller being 448-bit vs. the GTX 285's 512-bit. A 448-bit bus needs multiples of 448MB of video RAM, which is why you see GTX 275s only being equipped with either 896MB or 1792MB video RAM.

[ESzczesniak 128]

As much as I like my GTX 285, the $100 price difference between it and a 275 isn't easy to justify. Of course when I bought my card almost a year ago the 275 wasn't available so the gap between NV's flagship single GPU part and the next closest card was much larger. At your current monitor's resolution of 1280x1024 you will not be able to take advantage of the slight extra processing power and bandwidth of the GTX 285. Also, they don't make GTX 275s with 1GB of video RAM due to the bus width of the memory controller being 448-bit vs. the GTX 285's 512-bit. A 448-bit bus needs multiples of 448MB of video RAM, which is why you see GTX 275s only being equipped with either 896MB or 1792MB video RAM.

I've been suspecting as much. Hopefully I'll get some other input, but my guess is that I'll go with the 275.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

The performance differences between the two options becomes less of a factor if the 275gtx you choose likes to be overclocked. I chose the EVGA version I have (see my specs) after reading about how well it performed (sorry, can't find the link) after extreme overclocking with the EVGA Precision tool. Milage will vary of course, but the card and my system seem to like each other well enough to provide solid trouble free performance.Some will say, perhaps correctly, that the extra ram is useless for FSX and I would be better of, or at least have the same performance, with 896mb instead of the 1792. Don't know, but it sure runs well and is stable at 721 clock speed, 1599 shader clock and 1175 memory clock. I could probably squeeze out a bit more but am very happy with what I got. Both cards may be quite antiquated when the 300's come out fairly soon though.Stephen

[red1 0]

I've also been trying to get the EVGA 275 card (the 896 version) but it seems they are sold out EVERYWHERE. Anyone know whats going on with it or where I can purchase one?

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Nvidia's GT200b chips, the chips used to make GTX 275/285/295, have been EOL'd (end of life) by Nvidia (unofficially). AIB partners (card makers like EVGA, BFG, XFX, etc.) can no longer obtain these chips in significant quantities. Therefore, it is almost impossible to find any of these cards. There are still a good number of overstock GTX 260's out there though. If you can find an overclocked 260 it isn't too far off from a stock 275. I'm contemplating replacing my volt-modded o/c'd 8800 GTS 512 in my backup gaming computer and upgrading to either a massively overclocked 260, or a mildly overclocked 275. I'll let you know what I decide on.

[red1 0]

Yea, after looking everywhere for a few days for the evga 275, I had to turn to ebay. Bought a lightly used one for 209 from a seller with very high ratings. That's a hell of a bargain in my books. (the 260 in my computer now is just temporary)

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Most people here don't live in the U.K., so I'm unsure your links will be helpful.

[red1 0]

Look here:http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190157http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct....amp;subcat=1410

Appreciate the help, but as mentioned, I don't live in the UK. I ended up getting the EVGA 275 from ebay for a bargin, should be here in a few days.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

The performance differences between the two options becomes less of a factor if the 275gtx you choose likes to be overclocked. I chose the EVGA version I have (see my specs) after reading about how well it performed (sorry, can't find the link) after extreme overclocking with the EVGA Precision tool. Milage will vary of course, but the card and my system seem to like each other well enough to provide solid trouble free performance.Some will say, perhaps correctly, that the extra ram is useless for FSX and I would be better of, or at least have the same performance, with 896mb instead of the 1792. Don't know, but it sure runs well and is stable at 721 clock speed, 1599 shader clock and 1175 memory clock. I could probably squeeze out a bit more but am very happy with what I got. Both cards may be quite antiquated when the 300's come out fairly soon though.Stephen

Here is one of the overclocking articles on the 275gtx but not the one on the EVGA card I was looking for. This one performed as follows:Our final and stable overclock results:Core Clock: 743MHz vs. 632MHz standard Shader Clock: 1605MHz vs. 1404MHz standard Memory Data Rate: 1282MHz (2564 effective) vs. 1134MHz standardHere is the linkGuru3d GTX275 Overclocking GuideSo Max, is Nvdia just creating a controlledl market shortage to keep demand and price high up until their 300 series is released and generally available? Stephen

[windycloud 30]

As much as I love my new 275, I can't tell the performance difference from my 9800GT, in FS9 or FSX. But the card (MSI) is the best built 275 in the market and it runs smooth and cool. After awhile you kinda forget about the $$$ you spent and just enjoy the fact that you have an excellent and powerful card at play. BTW rest of my machine is E8400@3.78 and 4GB 1066 ram.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

So Max, is Nvdia just creating a controlledl market shortage to keep demand and price high up until their 300 series is released and generally available? Stephen

Precisely. GT200b is a very expensive chip to manufacture due to its sheer size, as are the components necessary to create a product which can be sold in the form of a GTX 200 series graphics card. GTX 285 prices bottomed-out about a year ago. I picked up my XFX GTX 285 in February 2009 for $340 on Newegg. At the time it was the cheapest 285 (with the best bundle - Farcry 2 + Call of Duty World at War). Since then, prices for the GTX 285 have stabilized and even risen slightly. As we can see by checking stock at various etailers and retailers, GTX 285s are very scarce, most resellers have limited to no availability and the average price has risen closer to $400. Since Nvidia has not officially discontinued the GT200b chips, and TSMC, the manufacturer of these chips is having no difficulties with its 55nm silicon manufacturing process, we can only assume that this is an artificial shortage created by NV to keep prices high enough so that they and their AIB partners do not lose money on each GTX 200 series product sold. I actually just picked up a GTX 275 for my backup PC @ Micro Center last night - it was one of only two left in-store. BFG OC model for $255. A little more than I wanted to pay but it's a good card and delivers 90-95% of the performance of a stock GTX 285 for almost $100 less, hard to pass up on that. Of course I've overclocked my GTX 285 nicely, to the clockspeeds of 702MHz (core), 1584MHz (shaders), and 2754MHz (RAM) achieving a healthy ~10% speedup in most games/synthetic benchmark tests I've run. Not sure yet what speeds the 275 will reach but I'm shooting for similar clocks on the core and shaders, but expect to achieve less on the RAM.

[red1 0]

As much as I love my new 275, I can't tell the performance difference from my 9800GT, in FS9 or FSX. But the card (MSI) is the best built 275 in the market and it runs smooth and cool. After awhile you kinda forget about the $$$ you spent and just enjoy the fact that you have an excellent and powerful card at play. BTW rest of my machine is E8400@3.78 and 4GB 1066 ram.

I guess that all really depends on how much bells and whisles you have enabled. I saw a dramatic change when i put in my 260 (had an overclocked 8800gts 512mb), esp when flying is heavy weather, with PMDG and add-on airports. My lowest fps went from 20ish to mid 30s...and locked at 60 is all other situations.