nVidia based video cards have gone through some revisions as of late. The most basic changes come in the form of a smaller, more efficient series of Graphics Processing Units (GPU) using a 55nm fabrication process. This GPU can be found in nVidia’s second revision GTX 260 with the 216 Core, GTX 275, GTX 285, and GTX 295.
Fabricating smaller GPU die typically improves all around performance and lowers power consumption which equates to lower heat produced by the video card. Ideally, this should result in keeping the price of video cards down or at least offer a more affordable product for the price. Lower thermal properties mean we don’t need any massive, new GPU cooling solutions which almost always drive the price of any video card up. A good example of the new improvements reside in the ZOTAC Geforce GTX 275 896MB Video Card. Can we actually see these improvements at work? Let’s have a look.
Features and Specifications
The Geforce GTX 275 is the base model in the ZOTAC arsenal. The other is the Geforce GTX 275 AMP! which is their factory overclocked edition. The reason for two is very simple: Some users want an overclock with a warranty while others want to earn it themselves and don’t care too much for the warranty. Different strokes for different folks. We’ll be looking at the non “AMPED” version today.
The ZOTAC GTX 275 here offers 896MB of 448 bit GDD3 video memory, 240 Stream Processor Cores, 633 MHz Graphics (Core) Clock, and a 2268 MHz Memory Clock frequency. It also consumes a maximum of 219 Watts. Obviously, the card is a small step up from the GTX 260 placing more closely with the GTX 280.
To put this all in perspective, the frequencies and power consumption are better than the previous 65nm GTX 280 except for the small drop in memory. The GTX 280 offers 1GB whereas the GTX 275 offers 896MB. Testing will reveal what kind of performance impact, if any between the two cards. That’s right. It’s a GTX 280 vs. GTX 275 duel to the death!
The ZOTAC GeFORCE GTX 275 is backed by ZOTAC’s lifetime warranty and should hit the shelves for about $249 US.
The Video Card Bundle
Typically, what separates one nVidia video card from one manufacturer to another is how they lay out the value added bundle that comes with the card. Inside the ZOTAC themed box is a well preserved Geforce GTX 275 in all its splendor. Included in the box is the standard User Manual and Driver Disc for getting your new video card up and running.
You’ll also receive extra PCI Express power cables that adapt any 4-pin Molex to power your video card just in case it lacks the PCIE power connectors. Not everyone’s PSU is up to speed and offers at least two 6-pin PCIE power cables. However, if you are buying this card and you DON’T have PCIE power connectors on your video card, then you might want to check if maybe you have the right connector on your motherboard, and not an AGP connector. Not having the PCIE connector (or two) on your power supply is pretty old school these days.
Other extras include an S/PDIF audio input cable for digital audio output through HDMI, a VGA to DVI adapter and an HDMI to DVI adapter. Also included is the latest version Racedriver GRID for the PC. Finally, a game that you might actually want to play and that can show off the abilities of this video card.
Going in for a Close Up…
The reign of the monstrous video cards continues with GTX 275. It is essentially the same exact size as the older 9800 GTX series. It sports a super shiney black fan shroud over the entire length of the card that takes up two PCI slots. You can’t see any of the components on the PCB except for the back side however, the black PCB continues to be a nice touch and a welcome departure from the old school green.
Video cards use to offer their own heat sink design with a cool theme. Nowadays, they all look the same except for the stickers on the fan shroud, and maybe different colored DVI ports. As you can see, it can be hard to tell one manufacturers card from another these days. An LED fan wouldn’t be a bad idea for adding a little video card differentiation. Dare I say, the days of the custom GPU coolers are missed?
Dual DVI Monitor and SLI support continues to be supported like many other current nVidia based video cards. If you feel so inclined, one could easily add another GTX 275 and enjoy much higher frame rate averages with the power of SLI.If you’re wondering what kind of average that would be, This formula might save you from wasting your money on another video card: Simply calculate the average between the highest and average frame count.
In other words, if your card offers a 40 frame per second (FPS) average and tops out about 80 FPS high frame count, then realistic SLI performance will be some where in the area of 60 FPS. Sometimes your best bet it to buy one really good card rather than two, but at least you have that option. Oh, and the SLI connectors have included rubber covers to protect them if you don’t end up using them.
Installation and Setup
The ZOTAC GeFORCE GTX 275 is a fairly decent sized card so in addition to making sure that it clears everything, and make sure that it sits in the slot all the way. You can tell that it’s installed right by making sure the PCI frame of the video card sits down on the I/O PCI frame of your case. Anything less and you’ll likely encounter all kinds of issues. Other than that, just make sure your power supply is up to snuff and that you’ve got two PCIE connectors (or use the MOLEX adapters) and you’re set to go. If you don’t have a decent power supply, you’ll know because the drivers will taunt you with a popup screen, underclock your card and the performance will suck.
Test System Setup
In order to thoroughly trash…I mean…test the ZOTAC GeFORCE GTX 275 video card, I assembled a test system with the following mix of components:
- Intel I7 965 3.2 GHz Quad Core Extreme
- GIGABYTE EX58-Extreme Ultra Durable 3 Motherboard (F5 BIOS)
- Kingston HyperX 6GB 2000 MHz DDR3 Triple Channel Memory
- Kingwin Mach-1 1000 Watt Power Supply
- Western Digital 2 x 250GB SATA II Hard Drives
- Zotac Geforce GTX 275 (182.50 Driver)
- Zotac Geforce GTX 280 (182.50 Driver)
- DangerDen Torture Rack
We also installed a range of benchmarks which included 3DMark Vantage, Crysis, Farcry 2, World at War, and Left 4 Dead. All driver settings were set to default with Vertical Sync was disabled. Resolution was set at 1920 x 1200.
After powering up the system, a fresh driver installation was performed to ensure complete compatibility and stability between the OS and video card. If you’re replacing a dated video card, make sure you uninstall the old driver first. Then it’s worth it to run as many 3D applications for the next hour to ensure it’s stable. Besides, it’ll give you and excuse to play some sweet video games.
Taking the Geforce GTX 275 for a spin
When checking to see how a video card performs and where it stands in comparison to other video cards, a decent game title is often required. System eating games really stress the capabilities of a video card as well as keep the gaming industry on its toes. When the latest and greatest game no longer slows the system down, it’s time to make a better one. (Hopefully, that newer title will make better use of multi-core processors. *HINT HINT*)
3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage is obviously the newest synthetic 3D benchmark utility from Futuremark. It measures a video card’s processing capabilities especially in relation to the CPU. Here, the GTX 275 isn’t much slower than the GTX 280. It’s the 280’s extra memory that keeps it just ahead.
Crysis
It’s the extreme game physics in Crysis that keep video cards chugging at less than 100 frames per second. The GTX 275 still manages to offer a very playable gaming experience at 1920 x 1200 even with Ultra-High settings.
Farcry 2
A lot of video memory is committed to the gaming experience in Farcry 2. Its expansive mapping and game play still remain quite playable. There’s a lot to see in this game and the Zotact GTX 275 does a fine job of making that happen.
World at War
Even though this is a semi-aged gaming engine, it’s still a popular title that gamers still like to see in action. If you’re playing COD4, you should expect very similar results. The card produces some decent frame rates despite the extreme chaotic fight scenes.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 Won’t Be Left 4 Dead…
Left4Dead isn’t exactly a state of the art game engine, but the video card’s resources get pushed to its limits in those hair raising subway crash scenes when adding a mob of zombies and some burning rail cars. Either way, the benchmark shows the effects of the GTX 280s video memory beating the GTX 275 by a mere two frames. You can pretty much expect the same from other games using the same engine. Left4Dead is also a heckuva lot of fun so why not include them to make a benchmarking session more enjoyable?
Final Thoughts
Comparing results of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 show that the average frame rates of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 show the two cards being very close in performance. The GTX 275 is far from being an underperformer. In many instances, the GTX 275 is within just a few frames even with a slightly lower amount of video memory. This is no doubt a result of the higher clock, core, and memory frequencies used to access the 896MB of video memory.
Under a 1920 x 1200 resolution, game play continues to move pretty smoothly through most if not all benchmarks thrown at it. The same is results are achieved even with 4X AF and 16X AA enabled in the drivers and video games. The GPU does a pretty effecient job of producing 40+ frame per second averages throughout the volley of benchmarks. This is probably the card’s sweet spot when it comes to extreme gaming. Fan noise is almost non-existent and maintains a relatively quiet (19db) during maximum use. This is partially due to the lower heat produced by the new 55nm core.
The area that the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 896MB Video Card stands out in is the price tag. While the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 (as well as many of it’s other GTX 280 brethren) carries a $330 US premium price tag, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 will only set you back a measly $249 US. This price difference is a real game changer when searching for a GTX 2xx level video card. Couple that with the fact it requires less power than its sibling and it makes it a very tantalizing choice indeed.
Clearly, the lower amount of memory doesn’t hold it back. In fact, I’d call it a non issue in our test. With such great performance, I enthusiastically declare this the new elite budget gamer’s video card of choice.
Pros
- Improved power consumption
- Respectable frame rates
- Very low fan noise
- Has some overclocking headroom
- Good cost to performance ratio
- 896MB of fast DDR3 448 bit memory
Cons
- The huge black fan shroud is getting old
- Needs something that separates it from the rest of the pack
Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
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ZOTAC GeFORCE GTX 275 896MB Video Card Photo Gallery
