[Robilar]

EVGA is now selling a Backplate cooler that will work with all reference board GTX295's (which are all that are currently available).

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...401-EV-1234-01

Price: $19.99 USD

Part Number: 401-EV-1234-01

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/4503...ce-tested.html

Audiofreak has done some tests with and without the backplate and posted results in his thread.

Here is the link for the Danger Den waterblock (retailing for $190 USD)

http://www.dangerden.com/store/produ...87&cat=0&page=

 

[Robilar]

Here are some pics:

 

[bloodmack]

Ok well I just did a quick benchmark to help out a bit. I have a EVGA GTX 295 at 1.1V 660/1423/1100 Did a furmark benchmark, during the benchmark i reahced 70/60 (could of went higher, when i did my stablity test I reached a max of 79/68 it wouldnt go any higher. Ill post my results for you guys to look at

 

[Nelson2011]

I would love to get one of these cards but i know they will be new ones in a couple of months

 

[losttsol]

Here is the thread I started a while ago on GTX 295 water blocks. Copy product links here if you want. There are at least 4 companies with blocks available currently. EK has 4 different versions of their block.

I've gotten my GTX 295 Plus version (594/1026) up to 670/1154 stable so far. I think the core is about topped out, but I didn't really push the memory too hard so it should have plenty of room left. The backplate did nothing for my temps. Looks good, that's about it. I'll get some screen shots of some benches and post them here. The Plus card was limited in quantity so I'd like to see how it compares to other cards. The small clock gain over stock versions make me think that other cards won't perform any worse than this one.

 

[Makav3li]

XFX also makes one. Double lifetime warranty, requires registration 30 days after purchase date.

 

[arkheii]

Robilar you always have the latest GPU setups. I'm envious of you.

 

[Robilar]

I still have two of my X2's and love them. I just figured I was due to test another nvidia product.

 

[suphiceto]

Have you tested out your new card yet? Cant wait to see your results! when you put your benchies, can you also put 4870x2 ? I just wonder how it does with your EP45 and with your C2Q compare to 4870x2.

 

[nuclearjock]

Rob,

I've been running 2xGTX 295 for ~10 days now.
Just installed 182.05, (from 181.22) and all's well. Actually the cards are pretty impressive (~38k in vantage) with my i7 @3.8 ghz HT disabled.
Clocks on the 295's are 728/1600/2400 @1.15v gpu using the EVGA voltage tuner.

Both cards are EVGA. Just ordered the plastic back plates which are supposed to lower temps with the stock cooler.

I found my 1kw Silverstone was ok to run the cards to ~650mhz gpu clock, but the psu gave out above 650 mhz. For the time being, I'm running one of the 295's on a separate Corsair 750w psu.
I have a PC Power & Cooling 1200w psu on order, hoping that will be sufficient to power the whole rig properly.

Looking forward to other user's input.

 

[Robilar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by suphiceto Have you tested out your new card yet? Cant wait to see your results! when you put your benchies, can you also put 4870x2 ? I just wonder how it does with your EP45 and with your C2Q compare to 4870x2.

I'll post matching results with the same board (UD3P) and my Q9650 clocked at 4ghz to elminate bottleneck. The card is in at the supplier, I am picking it up tomorrow morning so some results will be pending tomorrow.

 

[Robilar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuclearjock Rob, I've been running 2xGTX 295 for ~10 days now. Just installed 182.05, (from 181.22) and all's well. Actually the cards are pretty impressive (~38k in vantage) with my i7 @3.8 ghz HT disabled. Clocks on the 295's are 728/1600/2400 @1.15v gpu using the EVGA voltage tuner. Both cards are EVGA. Just ordered the plastic back plates which are supposed to lower temps with the stock cooler. I found my 1kw Silverstone was ok to run the cards to ~650mhz gpu clock, but the psu gave out above 650 mhz. For the time being, I'm running one of the 295's on a separate Corsair 750w psu. I have a PC Power & Cooling 1200w psu on order, hoping that will be sufficient to power the whole rig properly. Looking forward to other user's input.

Thanks for the info Nuke

Couple of things:

Are the EVGA backplates not made of aluminum? (you mentioned that they are plastic).

In summary, you feel that your Silverstone is insufficient to power two of the cards when heavily overclocked?

 

[losttsol]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuclearjock Rob, I've been running 2xGTX 295 for ~10 days now. Just installed 182.05, (from 181.22) and all's well. Actually the cards are pretty impressive (~38k in vantage) with my i7 @3.8 ghz HT disabled. Clocks on the 295's are 728/1600/2400 @1.15v gpu using the EVGA voltage tuner. Both cards are EVGA. Just ordered the plastic back plates which are supposed to lower temps with the stock cooler. I found my 1kw Silverstone was ok to run the cards to ~650mhz gpu clock, but the psu gave out above 650 mhz. For the time being, I'm running one of the 295's on a separate Corsair 750w psu. I have a PC Power & Cooling 1200w psu on order, hoping that will be sufficient to power the whole rig properly. Looking forward to other user's input.

I couldn't get my core clock that high and have it pass an artifact scan. That sounds like a very good overclocking card.

 

[yellowtoblerone]

why hasn't any companies released an overclocked version of this card?

This leads me to believe that this card's already at its thermal limit, and therefore may have durability issues in the long run.

If this is the case, better go with eVGA or BFG.

 

[losttsol]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowtoblerone why hasn't any companies released an overclocked version of this card? This leads me to believe that this card's already at its thermal limit, and therefore may have durability issues in the long run. If this is the case, better go with eVGA or BFG.

EVGA released the Plus Edition at first, because I got one on step up for some reason, probably mistake by them. The clocks aren't much higher than the regular version though.

 

[nuclearjock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robilar Thanks for the info Nuke Couple of things: Are the EVGA backplates not made of aluminum? (you mentioned that they are plastic). In summary, you feel that your Silverstone is insufficient to power two of the cards when heavily overclocked?

My bad Rob, the backplates are in fact aluminum.

I can run a single card @728/1600/2400 @1.15v (evga voltage tuner) no probs.

When I add the second card, I can't surpass 660 mhz gpu clock. I've swapped cards and singly they both clock at 728/1600/2400 @1.15v.

Further, running the second card off of the auxillary 750 watt psu allows me to run both cards at 728/1600/2400 @1.15v. So I'm thinking this implies the psu is marginal.

I've already offloaded all my water cooling (pump and fans) to their own dedicated psu, so I'm a bit surprised, but yea, it looks like my 1kw Oly is coming up a bit short for these two (four) cards.

2x GTX 285, no probs.

You'll also find the 55nm die shrink results in noticably lower temps which is always nice.

The EVGA voltage tuner was brand specific (EVGA) when released last Saturday and limited to 1.183v (I think) max. But there already is a hacked version out there that removes the brand specificity, and raises the voltage limit to 2.00v should one be so inclined.

PC P&C 1200 is on it's way. I'll let you know if it does the trick.

 

[ljason8eg]

For those of you that have this card...how bad is the microstutter with just one of them, not quad SLI, i know that's pretty bad, but how does just one of them do in that respect?

 

[Robilar]

I think it depends on the app. My HD4870X2 is excellent in that regard and the reviews I have read have been fairly dismissive of any noticeable stutter with the GTX295 as well.

One of the things that swayed me to this card is COD. I play COD4 and COD WAW (to a much lesser extent) pretty much exclusively.

Of the 6 reviews I found, all posted not only higher FPS in the Call of Duty games but in a couple of cases noted higher minimum FPS (which was the most important thing to me). This of course at 1920x1200 which is the res I play at.

Here are some samples:

 

[losttsol]

I just took nuclearjock's advice and raised the voltage with the EVGA tuner. It allowed me to get up to 720 on the core stable now in Furmark. I ran Vantage again at 720/2400 and gained 867 points to 24509 so that's not bad.