Review: Inno3D GeForce GTX 275 Overclock: battling hard against ATI's HD 4890

Final thoughts and rating

When we first looked at the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 vs. ATI Radeon HD 4890 comparison four weeks ago we gave NVIDIA the slightest of edges, mainly due to a better etail price for a bone-stock card. Since then ATI's partners have released pre-overclocked cards and dropped the price, to the extent that both GPUs are formidable performers at £200. Indeed, they render the GeForce GTX 285 practically pointless.

Inno3D's GeForce GTX 275 Overclock card arrives on the scene with higher-than-reference clocks that give it a ~five per cent performance advantage over the basic card, and it comfortably matches a glut of Radeon HD 4890 OCs, as well. The only blot on the performance landscape is just how well cheaper multi-GPU setups currently do, and soon we'll take a look at two Radeon HD 4770s (£75 each) and GeForce GTS 250 512MBs (£95 each), to see if they're a better solution for <£200.

A solid card wrapped in a good package, the Inno3D card will do well if pricing remains at around £220, taking into account how the competition is shaping up. Any higher and it loses shine rather quickly.

Pros

Solid performance from a decent pre-overclock
Bundle is better than average
Makes GeForce GTX 285 redundant

Cons

Competition is very fierce at this price point. GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 provide excellent price-to-performance metrics.

HEXUS Rating

We consider any product score above '50%' as a safe buy. The higher the score, the higher the recommendation from HEXUS to buy. Simple, straightforward buying advice.

The rating is given in relation to the category the component competes in, therefore the card is evaluated with respect to our 'high-end components' criteria.

Inno3D GeForce GTX 275 Overclock 896MB

HEXUS Awards

Inno3D GeForce GTX 275 Overclock 896MB (at £220)

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Inno3D GeForce GTX 275 OC 896MB is currently available from Ebuyer for £218, including VAT and delivery.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

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All these cards over the £160 mark don't offer good value. When you can get a £100 card now to play nearly any game at high detail on a 22" monitor, whats the point in spending more than you have too. The market for graphics cards over £100 is getting very very small.

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All these cards over the £160 mark don't offer good value. When you can get a £100 card now to play nearly any game at high detail on a 22" monitor, whats the point in spending more than you have too. The market for graphics cards over £100 is getting very very small.

Larger monitors, higher resolutions, high settings…

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Larger monitors, higher resolutions, high settings…

What percentage of gamers who want these cards do you think have anything over 22" for a monitor?

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What percentage of gamers who want these cards do you think have anything over 22" for a monitor?

What percentage of gamers don't even have a need for a £100 card?: The majority. Outside of the majority there are different groups with different needs- some of which will be met with a £100 card, and some of which will need a £160 or greater card. If Hexus only ever catered for the majority then you could expect nothing but reviews of integrated chipsets :p

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What percentage of gamers don't even have a need for a £100 card?: The majority. Outside of the majority there are different groups with different needs- some of which will be met with a £100 card, and some of which will need a £160 or greater card. If Hexus only ever catered for the majority then you could expect nothing but reviews of integrated chipsets :p

But so why does a card like this only get a review score of 70% - Because you have to take into account value. Any card over £160 does not represent good value because a £100 card can do pretty much everything a £160 card can do for 99% of people.

And I don't think any proper gamer really uses integrated graphics on a chipset.