Geforce GTX 275 CO-OP PhysX Edition has launched

Over the weekend, we had the privilege to head over to Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California with an invitation to Nvidia and EVGA’s exclusive Halloween Launch Party event.

Upon arriving in San Jose by Amtrak, we took a quick second look over the itinerary while taking a taxi to Nvidia’s campus for a better understanding of what we could expect from the party. Rest assured, the entire experience was very positive and came out to be exactly what had been written in the invitation. We arrived an hour early and stood in line with two other ardent enthusiasts whom we conversed with about past Nvidia events, including the splendid NVISION 2008. A friend decided that his patience was up with waiting for Fermi to release, so he decided to

" target="_blank">petition for a Fermi GPU while we stood around and watched Nvidia engineers walk in and out of the building, smiling covertly at us.



The line grew larger, and we eventually walked into the building, ten at a time, where a photographer took our pictures in 3D with the recently released Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1. Upon entering the main hall, the entire right side of the room was filled with a plethora of 3D monitors connected to mid-tower PCs equipped with EVGA’s latest and greatest surprise. In addition, there was a 3D theater to enjoy the latest games and movies in Nvidia Stereoscopic 3D with active shutter glasses. As far as food was concerned, the companies ordered giant amounts of pizza, drinks and desert for everyone. Our friend ApSykesThewolf from the EVGA Forums was kind enough to create a video montage of some

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After everyone had stuffed their faces with pizza for a while, our friend Tom Petersen, Nvidia Director of Technical Marketing, came out and hosted a Halloween costume contest for the numbered candidates who were audacious enough to dress up at a gamer party. Our impatient Fermi-loving friend decided to try out for the outfit. Video footage can be found

. Meanwhile, our other significant portion of the crowd involved of a contest of gamers battling for the top three highest scores in Batman: Arkham Asylum on the aforementioned PC systems. The top three winners would expect to win the top secret, EVGA exclusive graphics card, which we will now disclose.





During Nvidia and EVGA's Halloween Launch Party 2009, EVGA launched its exclusive GeForce GTX 275 CO-OP PhysX Edition graphics card (012-P3-1178-AR), marking the first time in history that two distinct Nvidia GPUs have been implemented on a single-PCB design. Yes, we know the name EVGA Geforce GTX 275 CO-OP PhysX Edition sounds like a mouthful, but it is important to note the significance of this card as a milestone in relation to the broad spectrum of GPU history. This card effectively combines the power of an Nvidia 55nm GT200b for graphics rendering with the power of an Nvidia 55nm G92b for PhysX rendering, all enclosed within a single convenient GPU model. Our friend Tom Petersen at Nvidia and Jacob Freeman, Product Manager at EVGA verbally demonstrated the technical specifications of the new card which we recorded:

Many of our enthusiast readers have been furling their eyebrows in wonder as to why EVGA inspired itself into embracing such a daunting project at this point in the year. In perspective, the Geforce 200-series has been available on the retail market for almost a year and a half since June 2008, while the 55nm GT200b refresh chips have been implemented in newer cards since the beginning of the year when the GTX 285 and GTX 295 were launched. Nvidia is well aware of these facts and has been carefully strategizing the release of its first 40nm-based desktop parts (Fermi/GF100/Geforce 300-series) for the very end of this November, if not the beginning of December. As of GTC 2009, the recent hype behind the upcoming Fermi architecture has undoubtedly shifted consumer perspectives from moderately passive and uncertain to confidently patient, thus timing expectations perfectly with Nvidia’s anticipation for holiday demand.





(Photos courtesy of Blizzie from the EVGA Forums)


We were initially led to believe that Geforce GT 240 would be Nvidia’s final 200-series product to fill the gap (November 17, 2009) before the 300-series arrives. However, EVGA has overlooked this corporate tactic and provided its loyal fans with an excellent combination (or makeshift product), fusing the popular Geforce GTX 275 with the Geforce GTS 250 for the upcoming Black Friday rush. Over the past few weeks, we conducted a field poll with several moderately informed gamers regarding which GPUs they were most looking forward to purchasing on Black Friday. The answer predictably resulted with a preference for the Geforce GTX 275, which is expected by many to face a significant price drop as the Geforce GTX 260 216-core models faced last shopping season.

The price of EVGA’s new combination card poses an interesting debate around its market niche, which will remain uncertain until the first week of sale. Before the card was announced last Friday, several journalists speculated that its estimated price could be between Geforce GTX 285 1GB and 2GB models at $349 to $419, positioning it directly against the Radeon HD 5850 and HD 5870. With a final launch price of $349.99, the card is actually placed in a position that makes it $60 dollars more affordable than going the standalone route with a discreet EVGA Geforce GTX 275 stock-clocked card (896-P3-1170-AR) and a discreet EVGA Geforce GTS 250 stock-clocked card (01G-P3-1158-TR).

While the technical aspects of internalized marketing strategies and NDAs limit the degree of our foresight, it is quite evident that Nvidia has been playing its cards right as of recent with the timed launches of its latest graphics processors for the enthusiast consumer market. We look forward with great anticipation to the adoption rates that November 2009 will entail, particularly as the holiday season makes its rounds and a new architecture is released to the public. Rest in peace Nvidia G80, 2006 – 2009. (Amen. sub.ed.)