EVGA GeForce GTX 285 1GB SSC Edition Review

Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well. Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.


Unlike the GTX 260 55nm we tested a few weeks ago, the GTX 285 actually seems to show some great improvements when it comes to power efficiency over the outgoing card. Idle power consumption is actually right in line with the 55nm GTX 260 while under load it consumes 14W less than the GTX 280. Not too bad at all considering the overclocks this card is carrying.

Game Power Consumption

In games we are able to see that due to the higher overclocks on the EVGA GTX 285 SSC, it is still able to either match or beat the GTX 280 in terms of power consumption.

Folding Power Consumption

This is a test that I was hoping would run in the GTX 285’s favour and I wasn’t disappointed at all. On average it takes a good 30W less than a stock GTX 280 and considering the PPD jump the overclocked shaders are bound to give you, the GTX 285 should be near the top of your list of possible Folding cards.