The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 is currently the fastest single chip graphics card around. It was just launched on 15th of January this year, and the launch was particularly interesting since many partners already had their overclock versions of the cards. We have seen that the GeForce GTX 285 is faster than the previous GeForce GTX 280, which is a direct result of the 46MHz overclock, and the card now runs at 648MHz. With the 55nm manufacturing process in motion, NVIDIA was encouraged to overclock their cards as the aforementioned process results in a die shrink. And which in turn, results in better thermal properties and lower power consumption, and that is benefical to the overall performance. - FudZilla

Inno3D GeForce GTX 285 OC 1GB Video Card Review

Apart from the shrinking aspect, the GT200 chip hasn't changed much during the transition process. And we still have 240 stream processors, 32 raster operating units and GDDR3 memory with a 512-bit memory interface. Compared to the GeForce GTX 280, the new GeForce GTX 285 is more efficient as it packs more punch at lower consumption levels. It features 1GB of fast memory running at 2484MHz effectively and the shader speed has been dumped to 1476MHz as well. As far as bandwidth and data processing power go, the new card has the upper hand thanks to its new and overclocked 55nm based GT200 graphics core.

Inno3D, whose GeForce GTX 285 video card is on our today's menu, has wasted no time in jumping onboard the overclock wagon, as they overclocked their card from reference 648MHz to 700MHz. Note that shader speeds are left at reference 1476MHz. Mistakes happen, though it's not a big deal as an updated BIOS can easily remedy this. So we tried overclocking it and the card ran stable at shader clocks of 1600MHz, which might be a tad too much for core speed of 700MHz, but we tend to like round numbers and so we gave it a shot. In fact we could overclock the core even further to around 720MHz which is just great.

The Inno3D GeForce GTX 280 OverClock edition looks quite appealing in its gold black color scheme. The cooler is the same reference dual slot, and it performs nicely. Note that the GeForce GTX 285's graphics processor runs cooler than on the GeForce GTX 280, in spite being overclocked, which is a result of the die shrink to 55nm. Thanks to the design of the cooler, the hot air doesn't stay within the case but rather gets pushed out via the outlets. Apart from standard SLI configurations, these GeForce GTX 200 series support 3-way SLI as well, so you can run three of these side by side using multi GPU technology.

With the revamp under the hood, namely the 55nm graphics chip, their older GeForce GTX 280 turns into a GeForce GTX 285. As far as speed goes, the new card is 46MHz faster and it helps it in beating the previous version. Although it’s a much more durable graphics processor that runs cooler and consumes less, factory overclocking tops off at 700MHz, as partners deemed this the appropriate maximum for their warranties. And Inno3D did just the same thing launching their GeForce GTX 285 OverClock edition running at 700MHz. Unfortunately, we didn't particularly like the fact that shader speeds were left unchanged.

This Inno3D card beats the reference GeForce GTX 285 by about five percent in average. After some additional overclocking, we managed to score a result of over twenty percent better than the reference GeForce GTX 280 card and about ten percent better than the GeForce GTX 285. The card looks nice with Inno3D's golden sticker on a black cooler, but note that everything else is just reference design. The cooler is dual slot and performs well with no exceptionally loud noise levels. Inno3D will treat you to two bundled games, Company of Heroes and Warmonger, and you will be off to a great gaming start with these.

Of course, this board will serve you well afterwards as well, as it packs some serious muscle. The GeForce GTX 285 is the fastest single GPU card that has the Radeon HD 4870 X2 for competition, but if you prefer NVIDIA and the dual chip based GeForce GTX 295 is too pricey for you then this is the fastest card you can currently buy.