Final Words & Conclusion
Alright, time to wrap up this review. First off, we would like to thank Point of View for supplying this product at very short notice, this product can't even be found in the stores just yet.
Much like any of our GeForce GTX 295 reviews, we can only conclude that the GTX 295 single PCB graphics card pwns. Really it's a 480 shader processor encounting raw fricking compute monster, I liked the first model when it was released, and I like this version just as well.
Granted though, when you compare everything back and forth with both the old and new versions, for me there are no real big pros or cons to mention (in-between the two models). Everything is the same when it comes to performance, price, features and specifications. Is there an advantage to be found over the previous model then? Well physically no not really, and that does make this release a little awkward. But looking at the bigger picture, there is a big plus to be mentioned. NVIDIA did what they needed to do, with this release they can create and increase volume availability at the original MSRP. In the end you guys are going to benefit from that, and here's why...
Right now, the dual-PCB version GTX 295 card is a hard thing to find, as such the prices are artificially inflated upwards by the stores and shops. Currently I see shops sell a 499 USD product at 599 USD, because of limited availability. Better availability (higher volume) will create a more competitive environment among the e-tailers, and that in the end will drive the price down. This is why I welcome the new single PCB GeForce GTX 295 as, in the end, the price will go down.
Now I can't help thinking that NVIDIA might have missed a bit of an opportunity here. Why not clock the card a little higher? Or configure it with two partitions of 1024MB, 1GB per GPU? Positioned slightly different, the product might seem even a little more interesting and appealing to the end-user, whereas now it's just more of the same. Not that the same is bad, to the contrary... this is such a kickass product.
Either way, we liked the GTX 295 ever since it was introduced, and this revised model does not make that conclusion any different. If you want to be a total freak and go quad-SLI, you can mix and match the old GTX 295 with this new one, not a problem either. Also, and I have to mention this, form A to Z testing this product, we did not run into any driver related issues. Surely we tested with more common and and modern titles, and NVIDIA is very keen on monitoring our benchmark suite making sure things work, but we have had no problems with a game kicking back to one GPU or anything like that. That is just very nice to see. It installed and it worked straight out of the box, as simple as that.
NVIDIA nowadays releases a new driver whenever a new big game title is released. That will also mean that nearly instantly your games are fully supported. If not... make a game profile yourself in the drivers and chances are pretty good that you'll have the game up and running with two GPUs in very little time.
Point of View's offering will be interesting, though the product of course is 100% reference, they top it off with an okay bundle and a three year warranty. Next to already offering a reduculous amount of raw gaming performance, you can overclock it pretty darn good as well. Pretty soon you'll be able to find this product for roughly 400~450 EUR in e-tail. It surely is a lot of money but we feel it is a fair price for what you are purchasing.
Be sure to give the guys from Point of View a visit.
So there you have it you guys, the conclusion is not a bit different compared to the initial dual-PCB version release. This single-PCB release might be different... yet it's not. Right, back to H.A.W.X., what a nice game that actually is.
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