The Card

Moving onto the card, there isn't a whole lot to see when compared to the GTX 280. We see the same design on the card with the right side giving us a fan that pushes air out the back of the case. We can also see here that GIGABYTE has placed a sticker in the middle.

The other half of the card gives us a giant sticker that lets us again know once again the model of the card and also the brand. We also again see the same female character that was on the front of the box.

Looking around the card, we see a lot of points that are very similar to the GTX 280, but paying closer attention gives us a small difference. Towards the back of the card we have our two 6-pin PCI E connectors, which for most is considered better than the 8 + 6 pin configuration the GTX 280 had. Next to these connectors we also see another connector that is used to get the audio going out of the HDMI connector that is included.

Moving to the front of the card, we have our two SLI connectors. Having two unlike the GTX 295 means that we can have three of these cards together, giving us a grand total of three GPUs.

Moving to the I/O side of things, unlike the GTX 295 there isn't a HDMI connector. Present is two Dual-Link DVI connectors along with a single TV-Out port. Across the top of the card we have a number of vents which help let the hot air escape.

Specifications

The biggest change that comes to the GTX 285 is the move to the 55nm fabrication on the GPU; this move is the main reason for the loss of the 8-pin PCI E connector. The smaller die size also brings with it lower power consumption and less heat. What this results in is the card being able to be over clocked higher than the GTX 280.

What we have is a core at 648MHz (GTX 280: 602MHz), shader clock of 1476MHz (GTX 280: 1296MHz) and the 1GB of GDDR3 carrying a 2484MHz clock (GTX 280: 2214MHz). The aim from NVIDIA was to get an extra 10% performance out of the card. Whether or not this happens, only time will tell.