Galaxy GeForce GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card

Galaxy has taken the time to overclock the GTX 285 and we see exactly what this does for the cards performance.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Galaxy
12 minutes & 22 seconds read time

Introduction


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card



Just the other day we looked at the GTS 250 from Galaxy. But today we're looking at something a bit more higher up in the market, NVIDIA's number two card and the fastest single GPU graphics card on the market; the GTX 285.

Galaxy has taken the time to get a bit down and dirty with the card and squeeze some extra MHz out of it. We're going to find out just how these extra MHz affect overall performance when compared to a card that follows the reference clock speeds.

Before we get into that, though, we're going to take the time to have a closer look at the package and see what Galaxy has included inside. From there we will have a closer look at the card and and the clock rates Galaxy has chosen to use.

The Package




Galaxy has opted for a longer box that doesn't sit quite as tall. We can just see in the photo that the top left corner has the Galaxy logo while the right makes mention that the card is overclocked. We also have a picture of a spider and web down this side of the box.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Across the bottom we have the model mentioned along with some of the main features like 1GB of GDDR3 memory on a 512-bit bus. Next to that we have a sticker of some of the main features of the actual GPU and to the right we have a couple of NVIDIA logos representing some more of the features.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Turning the box over, we have a heap of information regarding some of the cool things a GTX 200 series card can do. To the right of the package we have the minimum requirements of the card and we also have some information on SLI and what's needed to get it up and running.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


As far as paperwork goes there isn't a whole lot going on. We have a user manual and a quick start guide. As far as software goes we've got a DVD which has a driver and user manual on it as well.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


In the cable department we have a fair bit going on. There are two dual molex to 6-pin PCI Express power connectors, component-out convertor, DVI to VGA and DVI to HDMI convertors, S-Video out cable and an S/PDIF loopback cable that isn't pictured here; this helps get sound through the aforementioned DVI to HDMI convertor.

The Card




As with all GTX 285 cards we've looked at since its release, Galaxy hasn't done anything to the cooler. We can see that it manages to take up the whole card from left to right and top to bottom.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


On the right side we can see the fan that pushes the cool air over the GPU while Galaxy has of course added their own spice to the unit with the help of a sticker that lets us know the brand, model and has a similar picture to what we saw on the front of the box.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


With the cooler looked at, it's time to have a closer look at the card itself. Towards the back of the card we have our power connectors which come in the shape of two 6-pin PCI Express connectors. Next to these we can see a smaller connector; this is for the S/PDIF loopback cable so that you can get sound through the HDMI convertor that is provided.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Moving closer to the front of the card, we have two SLI connectors which allow us to have a maximum of three of these cards running together. We have learned from
our Tri-SLI tests that this is the fastest VGA setup you can have.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Checking out the I/O side of things, we find two Dual-Link DVI connectors and a TV-Out port. Above these connectors we can see the vents that let the hot air escape from the card, helping keep the GPU as cool as possible.


Specifications

As we saw mentioned on the front of the Galaxy box, this GTX 285 is of course overclocked. We can see that Galaxy has given us a core clock of 695MHz which is up on the stock 648MHz clock that we see on cards following the reference speeds.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


We can also see the shader clock has moved from 1476MHz to 1500MHz and the 1GB of GDDR3 memory sitting on that 512-bit bus moving from 2484MHz to 2500MHz.

Test System Setup and 3DMark Vantage


Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel i7 920 @ 3.8GHz (190MHz x 20)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (Supplied by Noctua)
Motherboard(s): GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)
Memory: 3 X 2GB OCZ Technology PC-12800 DDR-3 8-8-8-24 (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)
Hard Disk(s): Western Digital 300GB Velicorapter (Supplied by Western Digital)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2, Windows Vista SP1 64-Bit
Drivers: Forceware 182.06


As we'd previously mentioned, we're going to put the Galaxy GTX 285 overclocked against another GTX 285 and this one is from GIGABYTE which carries with it the default clock speeds. Let's not delay any longer and get stuck straight into it to see what the extra MHz that Galaxy has offered does for overall performance.


3DMark Vantage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here




3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.

3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


In our first test we can see that the increase in clocks adds a little bit of performance in both our tests.

Benchmarks - PT Boats: Knights of the Sea


PT Boats: Knights of the Sea

Version and / or Patch Used: Benchmark Demo
Developer Homepage: http://en.akella.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.pt-boats.net/





PT Boats: Knights of the Sea is a naval action simulator that places gamers in charge of a mosquito fleet of the Allied Forces, Russia or Germany during the height of World War II.

Using the latest Direct X 10 technology PT Boards - Knights of the Sea manages to apply a lot of stress to the components of today which in turn gives us quite an intensive benchmark.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Across the board we can see both cards perform quite close to each other with very little difference being seen.

Benchmarks - CINEBENCH R10


CINEBENCH R10

Version and / or Patch Used: Release 10
Developer Homepage: http://www.maxon.net/
Product Homepage: http://www.maxon.net




CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite that assesses your computer's performace capabilities. MAXON CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winning animation software, CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

MAXON CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores and is available for Windows (32-bit and 64-Bit) and Macintosh (PPC and Intel-based).


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Under CINEBENCH we again see that both cards perform very close to each other. It's quite well known, though, that CINEBENCH doesn't really make use of SLI or VGA overclocking.

Benchmarks - World in Conflict


World in Conflict

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.0.5
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.massive.se
Product Homepage: http://www.worldinconflict.com





World in Conflict is a real-time strategy video game by Massive Entertainment and to be published by Sierra Entertainment for Windows (DX9 and DX10) and the Xbox 360.

The game is set in 1989 where economic troubles cripple the Soviet Union and threaten to dissolve it. However, the title pursues a "what if" scenario where, in this case, the Soviet Union does not collapse and instead pursues a course of war to remain in power. It is an intensive new game is sure to put plenty of stress on even the latest graphics cards and we use the built-in benchmarking for our testing.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Across the board we see an extra 1 FPS in most of our tests here.

Benchmarks - Crysis Warhead


Crysis Warhead

Version and / or Patch Used: unpatched
Timedemo or Level Used: Airfield
Developer Homepage: http://www.crytek.com
Product Homepage: http://crysiswarhead.ea.com/
Buy It Here




Crysis Warhead updates and refines the gameplay of the original game through a sidestory plot involving Psycho, one of previous protagonist Nomad's allies. The game is a parallel story that follows Sergeant Michael "Psycho" Sykes, a character from the original Crysis, as he faces his own trials and challenges on the other side of the island during the time period of the first game.

It also showcases a new, enhanced and optimized version of CryEngine 2 using full DX10 extensions and is the first game developed by Crytek's Budapest studio.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


At all resolutions we see a slight bump in performance; nothing huge, but the clocks offered by Galaxy do give us a small, yet consistent bump in performance.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2


Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01
Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/
Buy It Here




The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


As we've seen in most of our tests thus far, we get that small but consistent bump from the Galaxy card thanks to the extra MHz on offer.

Benchmarks - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky


S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.5.07
Timedemo or Level Used: Custom Timedemo
Developer Homepage: http://www.gsc-game.com/
Product Homepage: http://cs.stalker-game.com/en/
Buy It Here




S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, is the stand-alone prequel for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, a first-person shooter computer game by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World.[3] The game consists of a roughly 50/50 mix of new areas and old, remodeled areas from the previous game. The X-ray graphics engine has been updated to version 1.5 and includes DirectX 10 support (later patch 1.5.06 included DirectX 10.1). Additionally, the AI received an overhaul to accommodate the new faction wars feature.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Clear Sky paints the same picture we've seen all along; we get a small increase in performance across all resolutions.

Benchmarks - Left 4 Dead


Left 4 Dead

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Custom Timedemo
Developer Homepage: http://www.valvesoftware.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.l4d.com/
Buy It Here




Left 4 Dead uses the latest version of Valve's Source engine, with improvements such as multi-core processor support and physics-based animation to more realistically portray hair and clothing, and to improve physics interaction with enemies when shot or shoved in different body parts. Animation was also improved to allow characters to lean realistically when moving in curved paths.

Rendering and artificial intelligence were scaled up to allow for greater number of enemies who can navigate the world in better ways, such as climbing, jumping or breaking obstacles. Lighting has been enhanced with new self-shadowing normal mapping and advanced shadow rendering that is important to convey information about the environment and player actions.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Left 4 Dead across the board sees a small jump in performance with the Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF


High Quality AA and AF

Our high quality tests let us separate the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls. If the cards weren't struggling before they will start to now.


Far Cry 2

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Turning on AA and AF, we continue to see that same small boost in performance from the Galaxy card.


World In Conflict

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


WIC also manages to see a small 1 FPS gain in both the minimum and average department.


Left 4 Dead

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Finally, we leave with L4D which also sees a small increase with the overclocked GTX 285 from Galaxy.

Benchmarks - World in Conflict - XP


World in Conflict

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.0.5
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.massive.se
Product Homepage: http://www.worldinconflict.com




World in Conflict is a real-time strategy video game by Massive Entertainment and to be published by Sierra Entertainment for Windows (DX9 and DX10) and the Xbox 360.

The game is set in 1989 where economic troubles cripple the Soviet Union and threaten to dissolve it. However, the title pursues a "what if" scenario where, in this case, the Soviet Union does not collapse and instead pursues a course of war to remain in power. It is an intensive new game is sure to put plenty of stress on even the latest graphics cards and we use the built-in benchmarking for our testing.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Moving to XP, we continue to see that small FPS increase that we've seen all along from the Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2 - XP


Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01
Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/
Buy It Here




The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


The extra few MHz increase Galaxy has implemented on its GTX 285 allow the ability to break that 30FPS minimum we like to see at 2560 x 1600.

Benchmarks - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky - XP


S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.5.07
Timedemo or Level Used: Custom Timedemo
Developer Homepage: http://www.gsc-game.com/
Product Homepage: http://cs.stalker-game.com/en/
Buy It Here




S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, is the stand-alone prequel for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, a first-person shooter computer game by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World.[3] The game consists of a roughly 50/50 mix of new areas and old, remodeled areas from the previous game. The X-ray graphics engine has been updated to version 1.5 and includes DirectX 10 support (later patch 1.5.06 included DirectX 10.1). Additionally, the AI received an overhaul to accommodate the new faction wars feature.

Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Leaving our benchmarks with Clear Sky, we can see that same small FPS increase is being seen at all resolutions in both the minimum and averages.

Temperature and Sound Tests


Temperature Tests



With the TES 1326 Infrared Thermometer literally in hand we found ourselves getting real-world temperatures from the products we test at load (3D clock speeds).

There are two places we pull temperature from - the back of the card directly behind the core and if the card is dual slot and has an exhaust point we also pull a temperate from there, as seen in the picture.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


Using the same reference cooler as the GIGABYTE, there isn't much of a difference in the temperatures at all.


Sound Tests



Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


The same minimal difference is seen in the noise department.

Power Consumption Tests






Using our new PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum - only a 7,200RPM SATA-II single hard drive is used without CD ROM or many cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.


Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked Graphics Card


It was interesting to see that the Galaxy GTX 285 Overclocked managed to suck a bit more power out of our power supply.

Final Thoughts




While the Galaxy GTS 285 doesn't offer a huge increase in clock speeds, the extra MHz on offer does give us an extra few FPS here and there. There's not a whole lot you can fault with the Galaxy GTX 285; the extra speed on offer gives us a little bump in performance and the overall bundle, while lacking a game, is still pretty good.

The GTX 285 is an all round pretty good card; it currently helps towards giving us the fastest VGA setup possible in the form of a Tri-SLI GTX 285 setup. Its single card performance is also great and it is currently the fastest single GPU graphics card on the market.

Galaxy's version while drawing a bit more power does perform very well and exactly how it should, which means that overall it's a very fast graphics card and is capable of running games at resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600.

While a few more MHz on the card would have been nice, since we know it still has more breathing room, the clocks on offer are enough to help it consistently beat out a stock model.

If you're looking for a bit of extra grunt without breaking the bank open, the Galaxy GTX 285 is a good option.

What do TweakTown awards and ratings mean? Click!

PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.

USUnited States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com

UKUnited Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.co.uk

AUAustralia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com.au

CACanada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.ca

DEDeutschland: Finde andere Technik- und Computerprodukte wie dieses auf Amazon.de

Shawn takes care of all of our video card reviews. From 2009, Shawn is also taking care of our memory reviews, and from May 2011, Shawn also takes care of our CPU, chipset and motherboard reviews. As of December 2011, Shawn is based out of Taipei, Taiwan.

Newsletter Subscription
We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.