Final thoughts and rating
As our original articles states, the GeForce GTX 285 is the fastest single-GPU card around, building on the erstwhile champ, GeForce GTX 280, by clocking in faster on every front. The cooler's a touch quieter and the initial batch of cards overclock well.So why aren't we jumping up and down with uncontainable joy at the Inno3D GeForce GTX 285 OVERCLOCK 1GB, considering it fulfils all the statements made above?
For a start, the Inno3D card, albeit well-overclocked on the core and memory, ships with a default shader speed of 1,476MHz, which is kind of surprising but no deal-breaker.
The Achilles Heel for the GTX 285, on the day after launch, is pricing. Stock-clocked cards are selling for around £315 and pre-overclocked models, like Inno3D's, for around £340.
Bear in mind that pricing is similar on all partners' cards and we're not singling Inno3D out here, but they're simply too expensive in the face of pre-overclocked GeForce GTX 280s selling for £275 and the dual-GPU Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 for around £260. The HEXUS.bang4buck spells this out clearly on the previous page.
Here's a case of good, solid technology, backed up by a decent ecosystem of supporting software, that's just too expensive to recommend. We know the pricing will come down in a week, just as it did for the range-topping GeForce GTX 295, and the Inno3D card will make a lot more sense when, and if, etailers chop the asking price by at least 15 per cent, to <£290.
Bottom line: a faster, better card than GeForce GTX 280, in any flavour, Inno3D's is the first pre-overclocked effort we've seen, and it glides through the benchmarks in serene fashion. High on speed but relatively low on value - a situation, it seems, out of partners' control - we urge readers to wait until pricing drops significantly.
The good
A better card than the GTX 280 in every way
Decent pre-overclocking on the core and memory
Reasonable bundle, including two full-game titles
The not so good
Priced at almost £350, it's simply too expensive to
recommend. This is largely extraneous to Inno3D however, as all
partners pre-overclocked cards cost the same.
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 and, indeed, GeForce GTX 280 offer better
value
No shader-based overclocking
HEXUS Rating
HEXUS.net scores products out of 100%, taking into account technology, implementation, stability, performance, value, customer care and desirability. A score for an average-rated product is a meaningful ‘50%’, and not ‘90%’, which is common practice for a great many other publications.
We consider any product score above '50%' as a safe buy. The higher the score, the higher the recommendation from HEXUS to buy. Simple, straightforward buying advice.
Inno3D GeForce GTX 285 OVERCLOCK 1GB
HEXUS Where2Buy
The Inno3D GeForce GTX 285 OVERCLOCK 1GB card is available for £319.99, including VAT at ebuyer.co.ukHEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
