EVGA GTX 295 1792MB GDDR3 Video Card Review

A Closer Look at the EVGA GTX 295

In the GTX 295 preview we remarket how plain this card looks and not much has changed; even with a few EVGA stickers here and there. It remains a massive black monolith with a perforated aluminum heatsink shroud and a total length of 10.5” which puts it equal to most other high-end graphics cards.


Unlike the last Nvidia dual GPU card -the 9800 GX2-, the GTX 295 does not have a full coverage heatsink but rather leaves one side of the bottom PCB open to the elements. This is probably due to the fact that there are no memory ICs located on the back of either PCB.


The cooling system used on this card is intricate to say the least. Basically, air is drawn in through the top and bottom of the card and then pushed out through a number of ventilation openings. One of these vents is located on the side of the card which means the majority of hot exhaust air will be blown into the bowels of your case. This is slightly better than blowing the hot air directly at your motherboard but it is still less than optimal for overall system temperatures.


The power connectors are exactly what we usually find on a high end card; a single 6-pin and lone 8-pin connector. EVGA has used this area to attach a bit of advertisement but this is ok with us since the sticker is subtle without calling too much attention to itself. The S/PDIF input is also located on the side of the card while the backplate gets the usual dual DVI connectors and the lone HDMI output.