GTX 285 x2 SLI Review

Factory Overclocked GTX 285 x2 SLI Review Here is a quick review of GTX 285 x2 SLI: First, lets take a look at the graphics cards. MSI GTX285 1GB Overclocked Edition (GPU/Memory/Shader Clock): 680MHz/1250MHz/1476MHz XFX GTX285 1GB Black Edition (GPU/Memory/Shader Clock): 690MHz/1300MHz/1476MHz Test Setup: Intel Core i7 920 (Overclocked @ 3.36 GHz) Cooler Master V8 Cooler Asus P6T Deluxe Kingston HyperX 3 x 1GB DDR3 1600MHz Nvidia Geforce GTX285 SLI, 1GB x2: MSI Geforce GTX285 OC Edition 1GB (Factory Overclocked) XFX Geforce GTX285 Black Edition 1GB (Factory Overclocked) Cheetah® 15K.5 SAS 3Gb/s 146.8-GB Hard Drive (Primary) Western Digital 600GB Caviar Black (Secondary) Samsung DVD Writer Master 22x Enermax Galaxy 1000W DXX Silverstone FT01 Windows Vista Business 32 Bit ViewSonic VX2433wm 23.6 LCD Monitor (1920x1080) 3Dmark Vantage: Single MSI GTX 285 Overclocked: Running both @ same speed, both Clocked @(GPU/Memory/Shader Clock): 680MHz/1250MHz/1476MHz What if they run @ different clock speed? What happens to the performance? MSI GTX285 1GB Overclocked Edition (GPU/Memory/Shader Clock): 680MHz/1250MHz/1476MHz XFX GTX285 1GB Black Edition (GPU/Memory/Shader Clock): 690MHz/1300MHz/1476MHz Overclock both @(GPU/Memory/Shader Clock): 725MHz/1420MHz/1560MHz Enough of Graphics Benchmarking, time to Look @ real game benchmarking. I will be comparing a Single GTX 285 vs GTX 285 x2 SLI. Street Fighter IV GTX 285 GTX 285 x2 SLI Good Performance Increase Devil May Cry 4 Settings GTX 285 GTX 285 x2 SLI Good Performance Increase The Last Remnant GTX 285 GTX 285 x2 SLI Little Performance Increase Crysis Warhead GTX 285 GTX 285 x2 SLI Excellent Performance Increase Company of Heroes Settings GTX 285 GTX 285 x2 SLI Poor Performance, worse than single card running Enough of Benchmarking, Lets take a look of the next important thing: PowerConsumption Average Laptop, X60s GTX 285 GTX 285 x2 SLI Normal Usage: Its about 260W, 13x of your Laptop @ max! Idle Temperature @ Low fan speed:
Running @100% Load hits as high as 90C when running @80% fan speed for 15mins Conclusion: Adding on another GTX 285 is indeed powerful enough even for the most demanding games, allowing you to play at max settings. Having GTX 285 in 2 way SLI really beats all the most powerful single consumer graphics card in the current market, whether is GTX295, Radeon 4870x2. However, is such power needed? Do take note that not all games will improve performance, some even decreases its performance. Take example, although company of heroes claims that it supports SLI, the results prove otherwise. The fps drops drastically to give you average performance. We also have to take note of the power consumption and noise. SLI doubles up your noise, much noiser than GTX295, since there are 2 fans running. SLI is also power hungry. Lastly, the price/performance ratio is also very low, compare to HD4850 x2, HD4770 x2 Crossfire or GTX260 x2 SLI. The bottomline: Unless you are PC enthusiast, or you want to Tri SLI to get the most powerful configuration, having a GTX 285 x2 SLI is not worth. Get another GTX 285 to SLI in the future when GTX285 becomes cheap or when you come across a 2nd hand GTX 285 at low price.
Pros:
Able to handle any PC games in the current market, allowing you to play @ max settings in Full HD Good for breaking benchmark records
Able to handle any PC games for the next 2 years
Cons:
Very Expensive, Not worth the money to buy another first hand GTX285 in the current market High Power Consumption, you need a good PSU