About just a week ago we brought you the scoop on the new GeForce GTX 295 graphics card from NVIDIA that utilized a pair of 55nm GT200 based GPU's on a single card to produce the single fastest graphics card on the planet. At the end we mentioned that NVIDIA was already telling the world about the upcoming GeForce GTX 285, the single GPU version of the same 55nm GPU that would essentially replace the old GeForce GTX 280 and offer slightly better performance with slightly lower power consumption. So right on time, and with before launch availability, NVIDIA has delivered on its promise and brought us the GeForce GTX 285 video card, to refresh our single GPU gaming experience. - PC Perspective

BFG GeForce GTX 285 OCX Graphics Version Review

What is essentially a die shrink update, the GeForce GTX 285 takes the same GT200 architecture and moves it from the 65nm process to the smaller, more power efficient 55nm process. This added power efficiency does lead to one strong positive for the new design, it no longer requires the extra 8-pin power connector and can now run on a pair of 6-pin connections instead. The shrink saves them money per die and also potentially increases the yield rates giving the company a bigger boost in the bottom line. That is actually what NVIDIA was after to keep track with ATI's products and its battle for price reductions.

As we said before, we got in a pair of GeForce GTX 285 graphics boards the day before launch, one of which is the new BFG GeForce GTX 285 OCX edition. The card and cooler design are basically identical to that of the previous GeForce GTX 280 cards released last year. Slight tweaks have been made for noise reduction, card spacing and installation issues though to prevent any possible motherboard incompatibilities.The card is overclocked and runs at 712/2484MHz from factory. These are some pretty significant overclocks on top of the default reference speeds on the GeForce GTX 285 that are already faster.

ASUS also sent over a new GeForce GTX 285 card featuring its overclocked TOP designation. The board obviously looks the same and has the same features as the reference boards and the BFG version. The ASUS card is also overclocked, and runs at 670/2484MHz from factory. These frequency increases aren't as high as the BFG model we saw before but any free speed is good speed in our eyes. We will see how well the benchmarks show the BFG card's advantages. If you already own a previous GeForce GTX 200 series based card, we don't think the GeForce GTX 285 is going to add enough performance to warrant the upgrade.

Both the BFG GeForce GTX 285 OCX version and the ASUS Extreme GTX 285 TOP cards are terrific examples of what the new 55nm GT200 chip can offer in terms of performance, features and flexibility. The BFG model was definitely the better performer but it will likely run you an additional $20-30 over the cost of the ASUS card that is available for $399 at the moment. With this release NVIDIA has taken back the single GPU performance crown, though from itself, and put the Radeon HD 4870 cards in a slightly tougher spot than they had been before. It looks like NVIDIA's torrent of releases this winter is finally at an end.