First viewed less than a month ago, the new twin GPU based GeForce GTX 295 is NVIDIA's latest flagship card. Its conception follows closely that of NVIDIA's earlier dual GPU offering, the GeForce 9800 GX2, and that can be seen from the GeForce GTX 295 two PCB design. Rather than follow ATI's lead and squeeze two GPU's on a single PCB, what NVIDIA is doing instead is to squeeze two PCB's, one GPU each into a single card. It would therefore not be wrong to call the new GeForce GTX 295 card a sandwich. The GeForce GTX 295 employs two GPU's that boast specifications that are in between their current single GPU flagship, and as such doubles up the game processing power. - Hardware Zone

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 Comeback Kid Card Review

For those who missed out on our preview, this is what the new GeForce GTX 295 looks like. Unlike cards of old, the GeForce GTX 295 is mostly perforated so as to help keep it cool. And it also features something NVIDIA calls soft touch paint, which gives it a rubbery feel and matte look. Now those who know a thing or two about cars will no doubt know that matte stickers are all the rage these days, especially on exotics. Could this is be where NVIDIA got their inspiration for soft touch paint from? As you'll see later from our temperature reporting, the heatsink might not look like much but it works though needs quite some power.

In our past articles, we noted that the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 were capable of some incredible overclocking, and the GeForce GTX 295 didn't disappoint. Although it couldn't overclock to the same levels as its less powerful siblings, 640MHz at the core and 2200MHz at the memory is nonetheless a significant increase, especially when you consider we have two GPU's. To say that NVIDIA hasn't been having the best of times would be something of a gross understatement. After losing some market share to ATI and their popular Radeon HD 4800 series of cards, they were subsequently dealt a harsh blow.

However fighting back they did and it could be said that they have mounted a somewhat successful comeback. Their refresh of the GeForce GTX 260 with 216 stream processors looks good, especially with the new driver upgrades. And recently, Apple has decided to employ NVIDIA's new GeForce 9400M GPU's on their MacBook series. The guys in green are certainly gaining steam, and the GeForce GTX 295 is continuing their fine form. Forgive us if we seem to be waxing lyrical about this new card, but this card is in all aspects better than the card it set out to beat. It runs faster, cooler and more efficiently, and is cheaper.

The guys in green are certainly gaining steam, and the GeForce GTX 295 is continuing Set to retail at launch for $499, this makes it slightly cheaper than Radeon HD 4870 X2 cards, which are going for around $520 on Newegg. Should you be expecting price cuts from ATI then? it would not be superfluous to say that NVIDIA has finally countered ATI's advances, and that the GeForce GTX 295 is at this moment the best graphics card money can buy. However, it remains to be seen how NVIDIA can transfer its successes in the enthusiast segment to its mainstream one but things are looking you this time around.

In the meantime, NVIDIA can rest assure that their new flagship will remain the fastest single graphics card for some time to come. In addition, NVIDIA has also announced the GeForce GTX 285, essentially a 55nm refresh of the GeForce GTX 280, and we can't wait to see how that turns out. Right now however, all eyes are on ATI if they are conjuring any counters, but from what we know to date, it's unlikely until the next refresh.