Nvidia is famous for its graphics cards. She annually releases several new models, and thousands of fans frantically save money for the latest versions of graphics adapters.
And it is worth saying that it has always been so. The manufacturer’s popularity has never subsided, and there are practically no competitors in the market. Each model finds its customer. The same thing happened with the GTX 275, whose characteristics were contradictory.
The fight for the championship
Despite the fact that Nvidia almost never had competitors, AMD fans will definitely argue with this statement. It is worth saying that the “red” company does sometimes release cool solutions, but more often it remains only catching up.
This is happening now, and it was then, in 2009. Nvidia has decided to release two models on the new GT200 chips. They were developed using the 55 nm process technology and have proven to be beneficial components for the system.
To everyone’s surprise, AMD remained aloof, not responding with anything worthy, but later nevertheless made an important announcement. In order not to lose primacy, Nvidia decides to release another model of the GTX 275 series. The characteristics of this video card were competitive and were able to bring the model to competition.
Video card presentation
While no one knew about the characteristics of the GeForce GTX 275, the manufacturer "fed" the audience with big words. The company presented the adapter as a device with the latest GPU, which received the best performance and acquired unprecedented functionality. In fact, the familiar GT200 chip still appeared before the user. But some innovations were nevertheless introduced.
About graphics card
The novelty received an increased number of active execution units and new clock speeds. The characteristics of the GTX 275 allowed the video card to take a place between 260 and 285 versions. The main competitor in this segment was the model from AMD - Radeon HD 4890. The cost of new items from Nvidia was $ 260.
Graphics Accelerator Features
As mentioned earlier, the model is built on a GT200b chip. It is made according to the 55 nm manufacturing process. 1.4 billion transistors work inside. The core frequency is 633 MHz.
We equipped the model with technology that carried out stream processing of vertices and pixels. There was also support for version 10 of DirectX. The Shader Model function handled the generation of geometry and recording intermediate data.
The interface model had all the necessary ports: DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.
Reference graphics card
The Nvidia GTX 275 features proved to be an excellent solution for mid-range systems. The core frequency, as mentioned earlier, was 633 MHz, while universal processors worked at an indicator of 1404 MHz. The number of the latter totaled 240 pieces.
There were 80 texture units and 28 blending units. The effective memory frequency was 2268 MHz, and its type was GDDR3. The video card worked with a capacity of 896 MB and a huge number of useful features.
Modifications
As always, the specifications of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 interested other manufacturers. Therefore, a fairly large number of modifications came out. As usual, they differed in appearance and, accordingly, in packaging. Also, a slight difference could be seen in the configuration of the devices.
Some manufacturers decided to overclock the factory, so new items were sold with an already increased frequency. Otherwise, the same reference model was taken as the basis.
The most popular were modifications from Zotac, Asus and Palit. Although other, lesser-known manufacturers worked with this graphics accelerator.
Zotac
The model was delivered in a rather bright package. The manufacturer, as always, posted the image of the company dragon, and also indicated in front the main advantages of buying this product.
In addition to the characteristics of the GTX 275, there was also a surprise for buyers here. The box supplied the game Race Driver GRID. On the back of the information was even more. The manufacturer even gave a little instruction on installing the adapter in the PC case.
Inside the box was everything you needed to connect a device. The manufacturer did not spare several adapters from DVI to other ports. There was also a cable for mixing sound. Also in the box you could find a warranty card, a disk with drivers and software, as well as a sticker with the company logo.
Externally, the model also differed from the reference. Despite the fact that the Nvidia board was taken as the basis, the plastic casing received a new design. On top there is a sticker with the image of a dragon, as well as the name of the model. Nearby you can see the hole in which the cooler fan is located.
Removing the top cover, you can see the cooling system. It consists of a two-chamber radiator, heat sink tubes and a copper plate. Nearby is a compact fan.
As in the reference model, there are only 896 MB of memory, which is typed by Samsung chips. Nominal frequency 2.4 GHz. A feature of this model is that Zotac independently overclocked, so the adapter operates at a frequency of 702 MHz. Shader pipelines also accelerated to 1512 MHz.
Asus
Modifications from this manufacturer are always distinguished by quality, but also by high cost. Asus GTX 275 specifications have not changed. This video card was delivered in a company box, on which there was all the necessary information for the buyer.
The manufacturer did not spare for his fans and various adapters. Of course, I put my signature sticker on the case in the box.
The appearance of the modification is very similar to Zotac. A hole is visible on the plastic casing, through which the cooler fan is noticeable. Nearby there is a sticker on which the knight is depicted and the model of the device is indicated.
Despite the high expectations of users, the adapter settings remained unchanged. Before us is a practically reference model, only in a new “wrapper”.
The video card works with a GT200 chip, which is active at a frequency of 633 MHz. The memory frequency also remained the reference - 1130 MHz. The device supports multi-processor operation, has 240 universal processors, 32 ROPs and 80 texture processors.
The accelerator works with a capacity of 896 MB, which is distributed on 14 Hynix chips. Type of memory GDDR3. It is believed that the frequency of the chips can be increased to 1250 MHz, but Asus decided to leave this business to enthusiasts who like to experiment with overclocking.
Palit
Another manufacturer that could not get past the characteristics of the GTX 275 graphics card. The modification was delivered in a bright corporate box on which the frog is displayed. The manufacturer has placed a loud slogan that could give hope that this model is a game.
On the front of the package are the main parameters of the adapter: frequency, size and type of memory, technologies used. At the back, the manufacturer indicated more accurate characteristics of the device.
Inside the packaging, Palit spared nothing for the buyer. Although, as practice shows, such a configuration was considered standard. In addition to the video card, inside it was possible to find instructions, a disk with drivers and software. Also had all sorts of adapters and SPDIF cable.
This modification is significantly different from the previous appearance. She got an improved cooling system. Despite the fact that more than 7 years have passed since the release of this version, even today the plastic casing looks stylish.
It is immediately evident that it covers a powerful cooling system, which consists of a radiator grill, copper tubes and a core, as well as two fans. This time the fans turned out to be much larger, and besides, there are two of them now, which means that there is a chance that the modification can be dispersed without worrying about overheating.
Palit decided not to experiment with factory overclocking, but to leave this business to customers. Therefore, all indicators remained benchmarks. The adapter from the box runs on the GT200 core, with a frequency of 633 MHz and a memory capacity of 896 MB. The memory frequency does not exceed 1134 MHz.
Some users, of course, have tried overclocking. This was facilitated by a high-quality cooling system, which allowed to increase the voltage. As a result, the core frequency became 715 MHz, and the memory - 1.3 GHz. Of all the options reviewed, this is by far the best and most promising option.
Advantages and disadvantages
The characteristics of the GeForce GTX 275 graphics card were not bad for their time. The company managed to patch up holes in its lineup and wipe its nose with a competitor.
The advantages of this model include test results. Despite the skeptical expectations dictated by the quick release of this video card, it was ahead of the Radeon HD 4890 in some respects.
The graphics accelerator has acquired good core and memory frequencies. 896 MB even avid gamers had enough with their heads. I was also pleased with the possibility of overclocking the device and the good results of factory overclocking.
But there were some cons. The GTX 275 is a clear marketing miscalculation for the company. Selling this model, the manufacturer almost completely “buried” the GTX 285. Of course, the latter has a slightly higher frequency, but its cost is also much higher.
While the GTX 275 is much cheaper, and overclocking can give a similar result. But this state of affairs is quite familiar to Nvidia, which is trying in every possible way to take the lead, and sometimes in a hurry makes marketing mistakes.
By cons include not always successful modifications. It is worth recognizing that the most striking version was from Palit. In addition to its stylish design, this model has great potential, as it has acquired a powerful cooling system. All this led to excellent overclocking performance.