Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 896 MB

Released three months after the GTX 275 has similar specs to the GeForce GTX 285. What's the extent of the difference between the two cards, and how does the 275 stand up to the new Radeon HD 5000s?

Size, noise and heat generation

The card is fairly big - 26.7 cm (10.5") long and with a double-decker cooler. Fan performance is mixed. It wasn't too noisy in intensive 3D use - barely 54.5 dB(A) by our readings -, but was very audible at idle, at 43.6 dB(A). In 2D use, we measured a very good 43°C, which made us wonder why the fan stayed at 40% of its maximum speed. There seems to be plenty of margin for slowing it down to cut down on noise. Temperature during 3D use was fairly high, at 92°C.

Energy consumption

While not the best performer in this department, the GeForce GTX 275 is fairly economical. At idle, we measured a power draw of 98 W, which puts the card in the top category. It also performed well during intense 3D activity, at 360 W. Remember that these numbers are for the entire computer and not just the graphics card. The card uses two 6-pin PCI-E connectors.

Gaming performance

With the current crop of games, the GTX 275 does fine at mid-resolution (1680 x 1050), but can also handle high-res (1920 x 1200) displays. Generally speaking, it performed below the level of the Radeon HD 4890, and was quite a way down on the HD 5850.

First bench up was ArmA 2 at 680 x 1050 without filters. The 275 scored an average framerate of 38 fps, while the 4890 delivered an average 50 fps. Slowdowns were much less frequent with the ATI model, and you're better lowering the settings on the NVIDIA GTX. Moving on, with Fallout 3 at 1920 x 1200 with texture filters activated, we clocked an average 57 fps for the GeForce and 64 fps for the Radeon.


But the tables were turned in some cases - for example, with Far Cry 2, where the NVIDIA scored an average of 39 fps at 1920 x 1200 with filters enabled compared to 32 fps for the ATI. One last bench, to compare it to the Radeon HD 5850: BattleForge, at 1680 x 1050 with filters. The average was 26 fps for the 275 and 37 fps for the 5850. The two cards just aren't in the same league.