GeForce GTX 275 - what's the recipe?
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MBAn historical note
ATI's method of increasing single-GPU performance has been in adding a clock-speed jump to Radeon HD 4870. Looking at recent history, NVIDIA went down a different design route that has origins in age-old GeForce 8800 GTX, characterised by a large transistor budget and, at the time, irreproachable performance.
The latest derivation(s) of that excellent design is the GeForce 200-series, currently headlined by the single-GPU GeForce GTX 285 1,024MB that's etailing for around £300. Then there's the real monster, twin-GPU GeForce GTX 295, costing £400 or so. Point is, NVIDIA's 'big' design means that it has consummate single-GPU horsepower, better than ATI's, but at the inevitable cost of a more-expensive card that's, obviously, pricier to produce. ATI Radeon HD 4870 1,024MB is £165, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 1,024MB is £300: go figure.
But NVIDIA's brought down GT200 goodness to the mainstream, in the form of the GTX 260, currently costing £160. It's a decent-performing, value-for-money card, but there's an obvious gap between it and the next rung up, GTX 285. That's where the 'all-new' GeForce GTX 275 rolls in, taking a bit of both.
Recipe: a pinch of GTX 260 and a smidgeon of GTX 285
So how to engineer a part that fits in-between the GTX 260 and GTX 285? Simple, take a bit of both, mix, and deliver. Let's bring out another table....
