Test: Zotac GeForce GTX285 AMP! Triple-SLi

Konklusion

Så har vi fået kigget lidt på Triple-SLi med Zotacs herlige GeForce GTX285 AMP! grafikkort i alle 3 hovedroller. Og hånden på hjertet, har vores oplevelse med triple-SLi, ikke været hvad vi havde håbet på. Generelt er ydelsen ikke højere end med 2-vejs SLi; faktisk en anelse lavere nogle steder, hvilket ikke lige er hvad man håber på med et system så dyrt som dette.

På den anden side, er ydelsen i eksempelvis 3DMark Vantage og Crysis helt fantastisk, med en effektivitet på skaleringen på over 80%! Dette vil sandsynligvis gå igen i andre spiltitler - men generelt set bør man gå efter de programmer nVidia har optimeret til SLi, hvis man vil have noget ud af alle 3 kort.

Støjmæssigt og opsætningsmæssigt, har det været en ganske fin oplevelse. 

Innovation/Teknologi - 3
Som sagt, er der intet overraskende nyt ved kortet, udover at der er tale om et betragteligt fabriksoverclock. Nvidia har blot valgt at skyde de sidste opgraderede printkort af, før de lancerer et nyt topkort om nogle måneder. I skrivende stund findes der ikke andre GTX285'ere herhjemme, der er clocket tilsvarende højt. Derimod er der muligheden for SLI og Tri-SLI, PhysX og Cuda. Jeg synes dog det er møghamrende ærgerligt, at der mangler nytænkning i form af HDMI.

Triple-SLi er der heller ikke så meget nyt i, i sig selv. Tilmed har både AMD/ATi og nVidia multi-GPU-løsninger med 4 GPU'er; selvom disse løsninger givetvis ikke er hurtigere.

Bundle/Tilbehør - 4
Zotac kvitterer her med et forventeligt, omend en tand for skrabet efter min smag, bundle med kun de allermest fornødne strømstik og drivers. Ganske vist finder jeg bundlen tilstrækkelig, men ikke direkte spændende. Det trækker dog op fra middelkarakteren, at der er en licenseret udgave af 3DMark og en fuld udgave af et spil med. Når man køber 3, er der naturligvis 3 af hver ting med, hvilket jo ikke er så spændende. Men så må man jo dele ud af gaverne.

Design/Layout - 4
Det nye printkort, sikrer sammen med den gamle køler nogle tilpas gode temperaturer. Og den gør det godt. Den kunne holde et GTX280 kørende, og var dermed mere eller mindre selvskrevet til at blive valgt for GTX285. Støjmæssigt lægger man ikke mærke til kortet, før det bliver presset udover Zotac's fabriksoverclockede hastighed eller flere timers torturerende gaming. At man nu kan holde kortet kørende med to 6-pins PCIe strømstik, gør dog at jeg føler Zotac's AMP! her er et 4-tal værd.

Man skal dog være opmærksom på, at Triple-SLi vanskeliggør brug af indstikskort, fordi 3 kort optager 3x2 slots, grundet kølernes højde. Det er derfor en god idé at anskaffe sig et bundkort, med et layout hvor PCIe x1 slottet er den første port.

Software/BIOS - 3
Nvidia løber her afsted med et 3-tal for deres driver og medfølgende software. Vi føler ikke, at hverken ATI eller Nvidia overgår hinanden på dette punkt, hvilket udløser denne karakter. Jeg savner at se noget overclockingsoftware fra Zotac, som jeg ved de ligger inde med til f.eks. deres Nitro boks. 

Ydelse - 5
Samlet set, må jeg sige, at jeg ikke er imponeret over ydelsen af Triple-SLi. Zotacs GeForce GTX285 AMP! yder i sig selv ret godt, men at sætte hele 3 kort sammen, er ret svært at retfærdiggøre.

Sagen er at Triple-SLi primært er for "über-g33kz", der går utroligt meget op i benchmarking og overclocking. For tager vi 3DMark Vantage, er der virkelig smæk på, så her vil man hente en del med det 3. kort. Men i de fleste spil, vil ydelsesfremgangen over 2-vejs SLi næsten være ikke-eksisterende - ellers skal man i hvert fald sørge for, at være en flittig bruger af de spiltitler, som efter nVidias eget udsagn, er optimerede til SLi.

Og sidst, men ikke mindst, er det ikke en dårlig ide at have en kick-ass-processor ved siden af. Vores Core2 Quad ved 3,6GHz er forholdsvist hurtig, men det er nok mest hensigtsmæssigt at have sig en Core i7 eller en overclocket Phenom II, hvis man vil udnytte kortene fuldt ud - og måske en endnu større skærm.
Løsningen høster dog stadig et 5-tal for at være den hurtigste løsning på markedet i skrivende stund (givetvis sammen med 2x GTX 295).

Pris - 2
2650 kr. pr. styk er prisen, hvilket vil sige knap 8000 danske kroner for hele setup'et - og det er ganske enkelt for meget for et sådant setup. Kigger vi ift. de direkte konkurrenter med GTX285, er kortet faktisk et hæderligt køb, taget i betragtning, at konkurrenternes tilsvarende kort, der er clocket omtrent ligeså højt, koster nogle hundrede kroner mere. Men ser man i det større perspektiv, kan man eksempelvis få et GeForce GTX275 til 1800 kroner, hvis ydelse ligger relativt tæt på.

Og så er der jo selvfølgelig den langt større faktor, at udnyttelsen af det 3. grafikkort i mange tilfælde er for ringe til, at det kan retfærdiggøres at bruge penge på - for den gængse bruger.

Men er man en hardcore enthusiast, der primært holder sig til de programmer, man i forvejen ved understøtter SLi rigtig godt, såsom 3DMark Vantage og Crysis, så er der virkeligt også smæk på.

Test: Zotac GeForce GTX285 AMP! Triple-SLi

Innovation / Teknologi	3
Bundle - Tilbehør	4
Design - Layout	4
Software - BIOS	3
Ydelse	5
Pris	2
Samlet	70%

UK summary

We have been taking a look at Triple-SLi with the Zotac GeForce GTX285 AMP! videocard in all three lead roles. To put it quite honestly, our experience with Triple-SLi has not been what we had hoped for. In general, the performance isn't better than that of a 2-way SLi system - actually it's a bit slower in some places, which isn't exactly what anyone is hoping for, considering the price of a system like this.

On the other hand - the performance in 3DMark Vantage and Crysis is incredible, with an efficiency in scalability of more than 80% ! This will very likely be seen again in other game-titles - but in general, you would need to head for the "Optimized for Nvidia SLI" titles available on the storeshelves, if you wan't some bang for all of your bucks.

With respect to noise and the setup-part, it has been a fine experience.
 

Innovation/Technology - 3
There's nothing new and surprising to this video card, besides the fact that we're talking about a considerable factory-overclock. Nvidia has chosen to shoot-off the last couple of prints, before launching a new top-card in a couple of months. At the moment in Denmark - no other GTX 285's - sporting as high clocks as the Zotac GTX285 AMP! - have been available.
 
Still, there's the possibility for SLi, Tripple-SLi, PhysX and Cuda, but the missing HDMI really breaks my heart. There's really nothing new about Triple-SLi, since both AMD/ATi and nVidia have already made multi-GPU-solutions with a total of 4 GPU's available, eventhough these solutions probably aren't any faster. 

Bundle/Accessories - 4
The bundle is as expected, although I find it a bit too cheap, delivering only the most needed cable-adapters and drivers. There's nothing truly exciting about the bundle - although it pulls the grade upwards a bit, that a licensed edition of 3DMark Vantage aswell as a full-version game is included. Obviously, when you're buying three cards of the same sort, you'll be buying the same three bundled pieces of software aswell - I guess they're going to be giveaways.

Design/Layout - 4
The new PCB along with the old cooler assures okay temperatures. And the cooler is doing a nice job. It's the same cooler as that of the GTX280 and has therefore been a natural choice for the GTX285. When it comes to noise-levels, there has been nothing noticeable before the card is pressed beyond Zotac's factory-overclocked specs or before pushing the cards with several hours of torturing gaming. The fact that you're now able to get these cards to run by using only 2 x 6 pins PCIe cables, is what keeps the score for the design and the layout of the Zotac GTX285 AMP! above 3 points.

Of course you will have to keep in mind, that three of these cards in Triple-SLi will make it hard for you to use another plugin-card, since they're all dual-slot cards due to the rather large cooler, effectively taking up the place of 6 cards. That's why I will recommend purchasing a motherboard with the PCIe x1 slot being the top-most one, leaving you a little room before the triade of video cards.

Software/BIOS - 3
Nvidia manages to get away with a score of 3 points for the bundled drivers and software. Neither ATi nor nVidia, does a better job in this particular area, which is why this grade seems well-deserved. I'm missing some overclocking tools from Zotac, and I know they have their own Nitro box. 

Performance - 5
All-in-all, I'm not overly impressed by the performance of Triple-SLI. The Zotac GeForce GTX285 AMP! performs quite well sitting alone in a PC, but putting together 3 of these is very difficult to justify.

In the case of Triple-SLi, it's primarily justifiable for the "über-g33kz" mainly concerned with benchmarking and overclocking. If we look at 3DMark Vantage alone, there's quite a bit of performance to gain from the 3rd card, but in most games, the performance-benefit from the 3rd card won't be noticeable - unless you're specifically going for titles sporting the "Optimized for nVidia SLi" (as nVidia says) sticker.

Last but not least, it is not a bad idea to have a kick-ass processor in your system aswell as the three cards. Our Core2 Quad 3.6GHz is a rather fast processor, but it would be more appropriate to be the proud owner of a Core i7 or and overclocked Phenom II, if you want to take full advantage of all three cards - and maybe even a bigger monitor. Because the Triple-SLi solution is still the fastest solution on the market - probably alongside the performance of a couple of GTX295's - the solution still manages to get away with 5 points 

Price - 2
The price of a single of these cards is DKK 2650 or around € 355 - which means that you're going to spend around DKK 8000 or around € 1066 for the whole setup. Simply put - that's just too much for such a setup. If we're looking at the prices of the closest competitors to the GTX285, the card is actually a pretty decent purchase, considering the fact, that the price of similar cards from other manufacturers clocking their GTX285's just as high, is roughly €30 higher. If we're looking at the bigger perspective, a card like the GTX275 can be had for around DKK 1800 (€ 240) - and the performance is relatively close to that of the GTX285.

Besides that, there's the non-illusive fact, that the effectivity of running 3 cards of this, is pretty poor in most cases, so it's hard to justify spending that much money - for the regular user.

If you're a hardcore enthusiast, however, primarily focused on titles that you're already aware will support SLi well, such as 3DMark Vantage and Crysis, then there's quite a bang to be had.