Inno3D GeForce GTX 275 review

Inno3D's latest graphics card uses Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 275 chipset.

It's almost as powerful as the £300 Asus ENGTX285 card we reviewed in What's New, Shopper 255, but at around £100 less the GTX 275 provides an impressive level of performance at a far more reasonable price.

Its specifications are surprisingly close to those of its more expensive sibling. It has slightly less memory, at 896MB versus 1GB, and slightly slower core and memory clock speeds. These differences aren't nearly big enough to justify the extra £100 for the GTX 285, though, making the GTX 275 the most attractive card in Nvidia's range. However, this card arrived in our offices only a few days after Sapphire's Radeon HD 4890 card (above). It soon became clear that both cards were closely matched for performance and price.

In our tests, the GTX 275 was marginally faster than the HD 4890. It scored 39.4fps in our demanding Crysis benchmark at a resolution of 1,680x1,050 with 4x anti-aliasing - just 1.4fps faster than the HD 4890. The Call of Duty 4 benchmark results were similarly close, with less than a single frame dividing the cards. You can't see these differences while playing. The GTX 275 pulled ahead in 3DMark Vantage, though, so it may be better able to run demanding games over the next couple of years.

Both cards can handle today's games at high resolutions and detail levels, but if you require yet more speed, you can overclock them to squeeze out a little extra performance. We managed to push this card's core clock speed to 729MHz. As with the HD 4890 we got a handful of extra frames in Crysis for a score of 43.1fps. Alternatively, you could always add a second GTX 275 using Nvidia's multi-card SLI technology.

The internal temperature sensors on both cards showed us that the GTX 275 runs hotter. However, we found that the card itself remained remarkably cool to the touch, even under heavy use, compared with the red-hot HD 4890. It seems that the GTX 275's heatsink is better at directing heat out through the port on the rear of the card. This is great news, as it means the heat is removed efficiently from the case. We also found the GTX 275 quieter while playing games.

The GTX 275 doesn't beat the HD 4890 in every area, though. It's bigger, for starters, measuring 265mm rather 240mm, although it offsets this by having its power connectors positioned conveniently on the side. It also lacks the HD 4890's built-in audio controller, so outputting digital audio through an HDMI adaptor will be harder. You'll need to connect an S/PDIF header on your motherboard or sound card to the S/PDIF input on the GTX 275.

These are minor quibbles, however, and are unlikely to bother most users. For gamers who want a powerful new graphics card, the GTX 275 is narrowly the better choice. Its higher 3DMark Vantage score is complemented by superior heat management, so it wins our Best Buy award.