Temps, Power, and Noise

GPU Temps

The Gigabyte GV-N295-18I-B rev2.0 ran considerably cooler than the GeForce GTX 295 reference board we received at the beginning of this year. Load temps on the GPUs were up to 19 degrees cooler on GPU1 and 14 degrees on GPU2. Even idle temps were reduced significantly on the second generation GTX 295 board.

Now granted, some of this may be attributed to improvements in TSMC’s manufacturing process, but considering how much cooler the Gigabyte board is running, it’s also likely that the new cooling is playing a role here as well.

Power Consumption

Power consumption is also down slightly in comparison to the first-generation GTX 295. Again, this could be attributed to improvements that have been made at TSMC, as our GTX 295 reference board is 7 months older than our Gigabyte board.

Noise

With the GPUs running cooler, the card’s fan doesn’t need to crank up to higher RPMs, allowing it to run quieter than the 1st generating GTX 295 board we tested.