NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 is an end-of-life graphics card built on the Tesla 2.0 architecture with the GT200B chip. Fabricated on a 55 nm process at TSMC, it packs 1,400 million transistors onto a 470 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 3.0M per square millimeter. Released on December 22, 2008, it sits at the 50th percentile of all GPUs in the database, indicating a median performance position. The card carries a launch MSRP of 359 USD. It interfaces with the system via PCIe 2.0 x16 and provides display output through two DVI ports and one S-Video connector. The card is a dual-slot design, measuring 267 mm or 10.5 inches in length.

How It Compares

The dataset lists no nearest rivals for the GTX 285, so direct comparisons against specific competitor cards are not available. Its percentileVsAllGpus of 50 places it exactly at the midpoint of the entire GPU population, meaning half of all GPUs in the database outperform it and half underperform it. This median standing is consistent with its role as a high-end card from the GeForce 200 generation that has since been superseded.

Relative to its predecessor, the GeForce 9 series, the GTX 285 represents a generational step forward in architecture and process node. The 55 nm process and Tesla 2.0 design provide the foundation for its measured throughput. However, without benchmark scores for the predecessor, the exact performance delta cannot be quantified from this dataset. The shift from GeForce 9 to the GeForce 200 generation is evident in the GT200B chip, which carries a substantial 1,400 million transistors on a 470 mm² die.

Looking toward its successor, the GeForce 400 series, the GTX 285 occupies a transitional position. The successor would bring newer features, but the GTX 285's own specifications, such as its 240 shading units and 80 texture mapping units, define its capabilities within its own generation. The production status of end-of-life confirms that this card is no longer in active manufacturing. The 50th percentile standing is notable for a card that was once a flagship, as it now sits in the middle of the historical database rather than at the top.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GTX 285 does not include any dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores; both fields are null in the specification data. This means the card relies entirely on its traditional shading units for all rendering tasks, with no hardware acceleration for ray-traced effects or AI-based upscaling. The API support reflects its era: DirectX 11.1 (feature level 10_0) and OpenGL 3.3 are supported, but Vulkan is not listed. The DirectX 11.1 support with a 10_0 feature level indicates that while the driver exposes the newer API, the hardware itself only implements the feature set of DirectX 10. This places practical limits on the visual effects available in modern titles.

The card's compute architecture is built around 240 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. These are the fundamental building blocks for its pixel and texture processing capabilities. The Tesla 2.0 architecture is a unified shader design, which was a departure from earlier separate vertex and pixel pipelines. Without tensor cores, any machine learning or DLSS-style features are absent, and without RT cores, ray-traced shadows, reflections, and global illumination are not hardware-accelerated. Users must rely on traditional rasterization techniques for all rendering.

Benchmark Performance

No benchmark scores are recorded in the dataset; the avgBenchmarkScore field is 0. Consequently, performance analysis must rely on the card's derived throughput metrics. The FP32 compute rate is 708.5 GFLOPS, which represents the card's raw single-precision floating-point capability. The pixel rate of 20.74 GPixel/s and texture rate of 51.84 GTexel/s indicate how quickly the card can fill the screen and apply textures. With 240 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, the card's parallel processing layout is defined.

The 50th percentile standing suggests that in aggregate benchmark suites, this card lands at the median, meaning it is neither a top performer nor a low-end part. The absence of benchmark scores prevents a direct percentage comparison against any specific rival, but the throughput figures give a sense of its computational ceiling. For a card from the GeForce 200 generation, these numbers are consistent with a mid-to-high-end product of its time. The FP32 throughput of 708.5 GFLOPS is a measure of its ability to handle compute workloads, while the pixel rate of 20.74 GPixel/s dictates how many pixels can be written per second. The texture rate of 51.84 GTexel/s shows the rate at which textures can be sampled and filtered, which is critical for detailed surfaces.

Power and Cooling

The GTX 285 has a thermal design power (TDP) of 204 W, which dictates its cooling and power delivery requirements. The manufacturer recommends a 550 W power supply unit, and the card draws power through two 6-pin PCIe power connectors. Its physical dimensions are 267 mm in length, or 10.5 inches, and it occupies a dual-slot width. This dual-slot cooler design is necessary to dissipate the heat generated by the 204 W TDP. The 550 W PSU recommendation is a baseline for system builders, and the two 6-pin connectors must be available on the chosen power supply.

The card's length of 267 mm should be checked against case clearance, as it is a substantial add-in board. The dual-slot width means it will block the adjacent expansion slot on most motherboards, which is a consideration for multi-GPU setups or users with other expansion cards. The 204 W TDP is a significant power draw for a card of this era, and it requires a power supply that can deliver stable power on the 12 V rails. The two 6-pin connectors are a standard configuration for high-end cards of the late 2000s, and users upgrading from older systems may need to ensure their PSU has the appropriate connectors.

Who Should Consider It

Given its 50th percentile standing and lack of ray tracing or tensor cores, the GTX 285 is best suited for users running legacy applications or older games that do not require modern API features. The 1024 MB VRAM capacity is a limiting factor for high-resolution textures, so the card is more appropriate for 1080p or lower resolutions with moderate settings. The DirectX 11.1 (10_0) support means that titles requiring full DirectX 11 features will not run at their highest quality. Users who need a functional card for basic desktop use, older DirectX 9/10 games, or as a placeholder until a modern GPU is available might find it adequate.

However, the end-of-life production status means no new units are being made, and the lack of Vulkan support excludes it from many modern cross-platform titles. The card's 204 W TDP also requires a capable cooling solution, so it is not ideal for small form factor builds. The 50th percentile performance indicates that it will handle older games at playable frame rates, but it will struggle with recent releases that demand higher VRAM and newer feature sets. For users with a legacy system that already has a 550 W PSU and two 6-pin connectors, the GTX 285 can serve as a stopgap measure. But for anyone building a new system, the lack of modern API support and the limited 1024 MB VRAM make it a poor choice.

Memory Subsystem

The GTX 285 is equipped with 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 159.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 1242 MHz, which translates to 2.5 Gbps effective data rate. The 512-bit bus is notably wide, allowing the card to move a large amount of data per clock cycle, which compensates for the relatively modest GDDR3 speed. For high resolutions, the 1024 MB capacity is the primary constraint; modern games with high-resolution texture packs can easily exceed this amount.

The 159.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the card's compute rates, but it may become a bottleneck in scenarios with heavy texture streaming. The wide bus width is a hallmark of high-end cards from this generation, and it helps maintain performance in memory-intensive workloads. However, the limited capacity means that the card is not recommended for 4K gaming or large virtual textures. The 512-bit interface is a direct contributor to the 159.0 GB/s figure, and it is a key differentiator from lower-end cards of the same generation. The GDDR3 type is slower than later GDDR5 or GDDR6, but the wide bus compensates to provide a competitive bandwidth figure for its time. For users pushing high resolutions, the 1024 MB capacity will fill up quickly, leading to texture popping or reduced detail settings.