Today, EVGA is announcing a new addition to their lineup of videocards. This will be known as the GTX 295 “Co-Op Edition".
Some questionmarks remain above our heads as we're not quite sure why it would be referred to as a Co-Op edition? When it comes to marketing terms we can only assume that this refers to the GPUs cooperating together on the same PCB, but seriously...
The pictures of this card and many others like it from other Nvidia AIBs have been all over the internet and as such a picture of this card isn’t really anything new. The devil lies in the details, as the old saying goes. This card will have the exact same amount of memory as the previous GTX 295 and it will also be able to SLI with the previous GTX 295 without any problems - feel free to mix and match single- and dual-PCB cards.
Since many people have experienced a huge pain recently in obtaining a GTX 295 graphics card this new single PCB design should be a good solution for your anxiousness. The only problem that we find is actually cooler design. Unlike the previous part that primarily focused on exhausting the heat from the back of the case and used the side part of the card as a "secondary exhaust", Co-Op will now exhaust heat into your case even more - the fan is now located smack dab in the middle of the card.
Stock, these cards should run at 576 MHz core, 1242 MHz Shader and 1008 MHz DDR [2.02 GT/s] memory clock. Memory-wise, this card brings a small boost when compared to the previous version - which featured a 1998 MHz memory clock - single-PCB design means memory can be raised by 9 MHz DDR, e.g. 18 "MHz" [Marketing Hurtz, or MT/s - million transfers per second].
In addition to that, this card will not have native HDMI connector on the card which means that you will be limited to having only 2 DVI connections on the card and that’s it. Other than that, this card should consume less power and create less heat and possibly even run cooler if the cooling solution is as efficient - if not more as the previous GTX 295.
Finally, this card should be available for EVGA's step-up scheme to those who have been waiting for weeks if not months to stepup to a GTX 295.
