Gainward GTX 295 1792MB: Package and Accessories

The Gainward GTX 295 1792MB comes to retail in a large black-and-blue box. Perhaps somewhat gloomy, this design looks restrained and quite appealing. There is a picture of an angel with outspread wings on the face side of the box.

Besides the angel, there are two common mistakes here: the memory type is indicated as DDR3 instead of GDDR3 and the memory amount is declared to be 1792MB although 3D applications can only make use of half that amount, i.e. 896MB. The package design is unified, so the features and specs of the specific model are indicated with a sticker.

The packaging has good protective properties. The graphics card lies on a foam-rubber tray covered by a sheet of the same material. Besides the card, the box contains the following:

• DVI-I → D-Sub adapter;
• DVI-I → HDMI adapter;
• S/PDIF cable;
• User manual;
• CD disk with drivers.

That’s not much, but the lack of power adapters is hardly a serious problem since the Gainward GTX 295 is going to be installed into new systems. On the other hand, a 6-pin → 8-pin power adapter would be appropriate because not all PSUs provide an 8-pin graphics card connector.

Besides the GeForce 185.85 driver, the enclosed disc contains a full version of the user manual, Badaboom (a video transcoder that can utilize GPU resources), vReveal (a video enhancement tool that can use GPU resources, too) and the exclusive Gainward EXPERTool. The latter can be used for overclocking and to control the speed of the cooler’s fan instead of the traditional RivaTuner.

We don’t think the accessories to the Gainward GTX 295 match the price category the product belongs to. A copy of a popular game would be appropriate in this kit. Power adapters would make useful accessories, too. We tested a presale version of the product, however. The retail version may prove to be better in this respect.