Conclusions
The GeForce GTX 285 spent much of its time in our tests being hounded by less expensive multi-GPU solutions, including the GeForce 9800 GX2 and especially the Radeon HD 4850 X2, which has enough memory to really present a challenge. Still, the GTX 285 is the fastest single-GPU video card on the planet, and that counts for a fair bit. When multi-GPU solutions stumble, as they sometimes inescapably do, the GTX 285 should still perform as expected. Impressively, the GTX 285 has the lowest power draw at idle of any card in the field, and its acoustics and power consumption under load are both quite acceptable for this class of graphics card. The GTX 285's status as the fastest single GPU card makes it an ideal building block for a fast SLI setup, too—the dual GTX 285 config outstripped everything else we tested.

The GTX 285's $379 price tag makes it undeniably a luxury-priced item in a time when most games simply don't require the fastest possible video card. The fact that you can buy a Radeon HD 4870 1GB or a GeForce GTX 260 for substantially less money—well over a hundred bucks—may be rather off-putting since the performance delta simply isn't that huge, especially in terms of real-world playability. But the GTX 285 has essentially captured the single-GPU performance crown, and I suppose there is a price premium to be attached to that.

Speaking of performance crowns, if there's a dual-slot, dual-GPU, single-card performance crown, then the GeForce GTX 295 has snagged that one. The GTX 295 is an even more extreme solution than the 285, obviously, but it's the class of the exotics. You really shouldn't even consider buying one of these right now unless you plan on forking out for a 30" monitor, as well. But if you're going to go all out, the GTX 295 isn't a bad way to go. Its noise levels are a little high compared to that freakish triple-slot Palit 4870 X2, but no worse under load than a pair of GTX 285s.

As for the Radeons, AMD appears to have given its partners more freedom than ever before to come up with their own custom board and cooling designs—enough rope, in fact, to hang themselves. Asus seems to have obliged. The custom coolers on both its 4850 and 4870 cards have severe thermal problems with an adjacent card installed, as we've chronicled.

Sapphire has produced more mixed results with its 4850 X2. On one hand, the card is too long and too loud to appeal to most people. I really can't recommend it as it is. On the other hand, the card's basic hardware formula is dynamite. The price-performance mix makes a lot of practical sense, as witnessed by the fact that this $299 card was such a menace to the GeForce GTX 285. Sapphire told us at CES that it plans on re-launching the 4850 X2 with some fixes in place soon. If they can lower its noise levels, that would be nice. If they can also reduce the length of the card, then we'd really be talking. We've heard rumors than AMD might decide to introduce its own 4850 X2 to combat the GeForce GTX 285. Sounds like a plan to me.

The best custom design we saw from a Radeon board vendor is Palit's Revolution 700. This thing's cooler is huge, but it's also effective and fairly quiet. We'll have to see how Palit prices this card when it arrives on U.S. shores in volume, but this is one bit of freelancing we can appreciate on its merits.