Galaxy Dual GTS 250 Accelerator Tested

[btarunr]

Galaxy's graphics card in the works that uses two GeForce GTS 250 GPUs has finally taken shape. Galaxy designed this card out of NVIDIA's specifications, from scratch. The company also designed a cooler that uses two GPU heatsinks, each with spirally-projecting aluminum fins, with its own 80 mm fan, and a heatsink over other parts of the card such as memory and VRM. The card draws power from two 6-pin power connectors. It has 512 MB of GDDR3 memory per GPU.

Out of the box, the card comes with clock speeds of 600/1500/1000 MHz (core/shader/memory). With the bundled Galaxy Magic Panel HD software, it can be overclocked further. In a certain test, clock speeds of 675/1000/1696 MHz were used. A 3DMark Vantage run with Performance preset yielded a score of P13964. In the pictures, the piece of PCB sticking out next to the PCI-Express interface is a rudimentary spacer. It won't be present on retail cards.



Source: Expreview

[wolf]

So correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like a single PCB 9800GX2, with 55nm G92's. It still has 512mb per GPU, not even 1gb, and the clocks seem identical. Again correct me if I am wrong....

I can't help but think this is a desperate move to get rid of G92 cores, could work if the price is maybe 25-40% more than a GTS250.

[JrRacinFan]

Dependent on price, I see this card being VERY competitive if its a sub $200 card.

[arroyo]

I cannot find any reason, why they made card like that. I don't believe it would be cheap, it would be power hungry and it would have less GPU power than GTX275 or HD4890. I think this card would be epic fail. It's like 9800GX2 on single PCB.

[DarthCyclonis]

Originally Posted by wolf

So correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like a single PCB 9800GX2, with 55nm G92's. It still has 512mb per GPU, not even 1gb, and the clocks seem identical. Again correct me if I am wrong....

I can't help but think this is a desperate move to get rid of G92 cores, could work if the price is maybe 25-40% more than a GTS250.

No your right. Nvidia's partners are bogged down with the G92 chips and have to find new and inventive ways to get rid of them.

[arroyo]

Originally Posted by DarthCyclonis

No your right. Nvidia's partners are bogged down with the G92 chips and have to find new and inventive ways to get rid of them.

Let's rename them Let's call them GTS 250X or Fermi 250

[Zubasa]

This card makes the 5830 looks like a winner.

I mean, not even GTS 250 Clocks?
Given the 55nm die shrink of the G92b, it should be quite easy.
Thus just gives an insight of the level of engineering Galaxy is capable of.

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

I has one question, why?

[Velvet Wafer]

if its dead cheap, i would buy it. but it has to be REALLY cheap then

[newtekie1]

It has been a long time since W1z has had a 9800GX2 in the reviews, but looking back at the older reviews, it looks like this card should be right around the HD4890/GTX275 performance range, so definitely better than a HD5830(minus DX11 of course).

If the price is right, $200 or less, it will be in a good position. The ~$200 price point is pretty empty right now, the HD4890 being really the only card there that is worth the money, the GTX260 is overpriced at $200, and this card should be right with the HD4890 performance wise.

[Cheeseball]

If it's around $175, it'll be worth it.

[TIGR]

Originally Posted by Cheeseball

If it's around $175, it'll be worth it.

If I can find it for $125 I'll replace my 9800GX2s (and a couple other cards) with it.

[Frick]

Originally Posted by TIGR

If I can find it for $125 I'll replace my 9800GX2s (and a couple other cards) with it.

Then even I might get interested. :P

[TIGR]

Originally Posted by Frick

Then even I might get interested. :P

Maybe on Ebay a year after release.

I kind of wish they would get desperate with those G92s and just sell these cards extra cheap to get rid of them. They're still great for folding, which is exactly what I want them for. I got my GX2s for $110 each and feel that was a good deal, but wouldn't pay the $150-$200+ they go for now.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by TIGR

If I can find it for $125 I'll replace my 9800GX2s (and a couple other cards) with it.

Sorry to break it, the card cannot multi-GPU. No SLI header.

[TIGR]

Originally Posted by btarunr

Sorry to break it, the card cannot multi-GPU. No SLI header.

That's just a shame.

[Zubasa]

This is what makes even the 5830 a better buy.
The bios of the 9800GX2 is different, and it looks like Galaxy did not pay nVidia what ever it takes to get that.

[Fourstaff]

Hmm, sounds like a good folder and nothing else.

[raptori]

IT score as much as my single GTX260+ .

[KainXS]

I would rather see a dual GT240, dual GTS250 dosen't make much since to me, all I see is them trying to get rid of G92 cores they have in stock from old projects probably.

it would be as fast as a GTX275 though but i can't see it under the GTX275 price.'

and LOOK at the GPU-Z shot, it says 65nm, thats not a GTS250 core, thats an old 8800GTS 512/9800GTX core, . . . . . .

they're only dumping old cores on people thats all

[kaosII]

I don't have a 9800gtx or 250 too check but was'nt gpuz having probs reading (differentiating) those apart at one time?........Where has the time gone?

[popswala]

Not to into the whole nvidia re-branding instead of moving forward. Why don't they just mass produce a bunch of gts 250 or 9800gtx. since they'll be heavy in stock they can lower prices to get rid of them instead of spending time and money coming up with new cards that aren't really new when the card level is well pass the 250 and 9800's. jmo

It is a nice idea but only 512mb on there? dual card w/ no 1gig or more. even a single gts 250 has either 512 or 1gig. I don't see the point of having this near $200 unless the 250's come down in price and this is round $150-170. then maybe it won't b lookin to bad. lol

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by btarunr

Sorry to break it, the card cannot multi-GPU. No SLI header.

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/10-01-20/125a.jpg

Not a big loss, us folders would still make great use out of two or three of these. I don't think Quad-SLi really scaled that well anyway...

Though maybe SLi over the PCI-E bus...but who would want to do that...

Originally Posted by KainXS

I would rather see a dual GT240, dual GTS250 dosen't make much since to me, all I see is them trying to get rid of G92 cores they have in stock from old projects probably.

it would be as fast as a GTX275 though but i can't see it under the GTX275 price.'

and LOOK at the GPU-Z shot, it says 65nm, thats not a GTS250 core, thats an old 8800GTS 512/9800GTX core, . . . . . .

they're only dumping old cores on people thats all

I'm sure you've been around here long enough to know that GPU-z labels all the G92 cores are 65nm, as it has no way of telling the difference.

[SeanG]

Im still waiting for the razor 260 they made to materialize in a store.I doubt you will ever see this for sale.

[OnBoard]

Originally Posted by KainXS

it would be as fast as a GTX275 though but i can't see it under the GTX275 price.'

and LOOK at the GPU-Z shot, it says 65nm, thats not a GTS250 core, thats an old 8800GTS 512/9800GTX core, . . . . . .

they're only dumping old cores on people thats all

Originally Posted by kaosII

I don't have a 9800gtx or 250 too check but was'nt gpuz having probs reading (differentiating) those apart at one time?........Where has the time gone?

I had a 9800GTX+ and it said 65nm on GPU-Z.

Specs wise it has same amount of memory, same rops and 16 more shaders than GTX 280. Scores more than I did with P45, but less that I do now with P55. Performance seems good, depending on what system was used.

If the price is under GTX275 then it's ok, if price is GTX260 range then it's good. What comes to GTX 260 price being too much or not, can't tell. There isn't any GT200 available in Finland and I take that has to be same for most of the world too.