Board analysis

Top of the EVGA card

While it is based on NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 285 reference board design, EVGA's GeForce GTX 285 SSC Edition isn't your typical GeForce GTX 285 card. It's actually dramatically faster thanks to its factory OC'ed clock speeds.

So how high does EVGA go with this card? How does 702MHz on the graphics core sound? That's 54MHz higher than stock, or an improvement of 8%. The board's stream processors are then clocked at 1584MHz. This is 108MHz higher than the stock GeForce GTX 285 (7%). Finally, the board's memory is also overclocked, running 81MHz higher than the stock GTX 285 at 1323MHz (+6% over stock).

These are the fastest speeds of any GeForce GTX 285 card that's available on the market today. Obviously other NVIDIA board partners will be gunning for the SSC clocks with their future GTX 285 cards, but if you want the absolute best clocks and performance right now, the SSC is your card.

Officially the MSRP for the EVGA GeForce GTX 285 SSC is $439.99, although Newegg is already carrying it for $10 less at $429.99. At $430, that puts the SSC awfully close to EVGA's faster GeForce GTX 295 Plus which we reviewed last week, but you're always going to pay a premium for this kind of performance. If you want to save a little money, EVGA offers two additional GeForce GTX 285 SKUs that run at lower clock speeds, the bone stock 648MHz GeForce GTX 285 (Part Number 01G-P3-1281-AR) and the GeForce GTX 285 SC Edition (Part Number 01G-P3-1285-AR), which runs at 675MHz on the graphics core, while its memory operates at 1269MHz.

EVGA GeForce GTX 285 SSC SLI

Another shot of the cards

These GeForce GTX 285 boards are currently selling for $389.99 and $409.99 on Newegg right now.

Of course, neither of these cards are guaranteed to run at the SSC's clock speeds. As always with OC'ing, your mileage is going to vary from card to card. Like all EVGA cards, the GeForce GTX 285 SSC is also backed by EVGA's very comprehensive lifetime warranty.

The GTX 280 is completely enclosed while the bottom of the GTX 285 PCB is exposed

So basically EVGA's binning their cards with the best chips going into SSC cards. They're taking the guesswork out of the equation for you. Is this worth the price premium? For some gamers, the answer is definitely yes, but if you're looking to stay beneath the $400 threshold, fortunately there are alternatives out there for you.

EVGA Precision

If you want to push your EVGA card even further, the company also includes their Precision utility with the card's driver CD. Precision provides built-in tools for overclocking and hardware monitoring your graphics card.

EVGA Precision

Unlinked clocks

Inside Precision you'll find sliders for adjusting the GPU, stream processors, and memory speeds. Precision also includes a slider for manual fan control. You can see the current settings for all of these to the right of the sliders. There you can also see a “Link” button. When clicked, this allows you to set the clock speed of the stream processors independent of the graphics core speed.

Helpful descriptions

Fan speed toggle

Precision also provides helpful descriptions that describe what each setting does. Simply hold your mouse over a setting for a few seconds, and a nifty description of the setting will pop up.

Hardware monitoring is adjustable too

Precision also provides built-in hardware monitoring functionality. On the left side of the app you can see aspects such as GPU temperature and core/shader/memory clock speeds. You can setup Precision to monitor these aspects over time at whatever polling rate you'd like, and you can even have Precision monitor your current frame rate (similar to FRAPS). Those of you with LCD-equipped Logitech keyboards can have all of this data exported to your keyboard's LCD screen while gaming.

Precision supports custom profiles and if you get tired of the same look all the time, adjustable skins. A couple of different options shipped with our card, including a custom GTX 285/295 skin, which is the default setting when you install Precision.

Precision skins

Violet skin

Default skin for most EVGA owners

Blue skin

Our only gripe with Precision when compared to NVIDIA's own System Tools utility (which provides similar functionality), is that Precision doesn't currently support independent clock speeds when running multiple cards in SLI. You can only tweak the clock speed settings for one card. With NVIDIA's utility you can set each of the cards to run at different speeds, so if one card can OC further than the other, you can bump up its clocks a little more and get the added performance. For instance, a Quad SLI setup using NVIDIA System Tools would have four different GPUs available for OC'ing. With Precision you'd just have one.

Fortunately this is something EVGA could easily address in a future update of Precision EVGA users could then download off the website.

Bundle and accessories

EVGA skips bundling a game with the GeForce GTX 285 SSC, instead you'll find the usual assortment of hardware accessories and the driver CD.

Inside the box EVGA includes a DVI adapter, HDMI adapter, and two 6-pin PCIe power adapters. EVGA also includes the SPDIF audio cable you'll need for passing digital audio over HDMI.

EVGA finishes the bundle off with a Quick Start guide and dedicated manual, as well as an EVGA case badge.