Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 896MB Review

Under the Heatsink

Once what seems like a million screws are removed from the card, the heatsink slips free and we are able to get our first look at what makes the GTX 275 tick. What we have is the usual large grey IHS placed directly over the GT200 core to better dissipate its heat and the GDDR3 memory ICs placed in a typical 64MB x 14 pattern.


As with all 55nm cores on GTX-200 series cards, this one has a metal retention plate placed around it to provide additional stiffness. Interestingly, there aren’t any identifiable markings on the core which normally note a product number.

The memory ICs used are Samsung’s K4J52324QH-HJ08 modules that are rated to run at a latency 0.833ns. Unfortunately, due to the low latency their rated speed is somewhat less than we are used to seeing at 1250Mhz and considering they are "only" running at 1134Mhz, we expect a good amount of overclocking headroom.


In the picture above we have the GTX 275 above and a GTX 285 below. Other than the differences in the memory layouts, it seems like the new GTX 275 is using a lower-end 6-phase PWM design rather than the 8-phase design used on the higher end card. There are also additional capacitors placed near the SLI connector and a generally simpler PCB design on the new card.