NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216: Competition for the 4870
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on September 16, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
EVGA's GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked
In North America there are only two vendors launching a Core 216 today: EVGA and BFG. We're not sure what this will mean for street pricing and availability but it is what it is.
EVGA sent us one of their Core 216 cards, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked. As the name implies, the Superclocked version will ship overclocked:
| GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 (stock) | EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked | |
| Core Clock | 576MHz | 626MHz |
| Shader Clock | 1242MHz | 1350MHz |
| Memory Clock | 999MHz | 1053MHz |
| Price Point | $279 | $299 |
The factory overclocked nature of the card means that EVGA will charge a bit more for it, $299 to be specific. For this comparison we've tested the Core 216 at its stock clock speed, but the chart below shows the sort of performance advantage EVGA's overclock gives it:
We're looking at a 7% increase in performance here for an extra $20. Chances are that you'll be able to pull off something close to this overclock on your own so we'd recommend sticking with a stock card especially given how close the Core 216 vs. 4870 is, as you'll soon see.
The Test
| Test Setup | |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 @ 3.20GHz |
| Motherboard | EVGA nForce 790i SLI |
| Video Cards | ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 ATI Radeon HD 4870 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 SLI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 |
| Video Drivers | Catalyst 8.7 ForceWare 177.34 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 7200.9 120GB 8MB 7200RPM |
| RAM | 4 x 1GB Corsair DDR3-1333 7-7-7-20 |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1 |
| PSU | PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1200W |
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helldrell666 - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
At 1920x1200 res. the 4870 beats the new 260gtx in all the tested games.the 4870 has only 512MB of ram so it's not fair to taste at 2560x1600 res.MrSpadge - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
And if AMD put only 128 MB on that card people should only test it at 1024x768, because anything else is not fair?Come on, the lower resolutions are included in the detailed charts and the conclusion clearly says currently the 4870 is better.
MrS
helldrell666 - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
Well,It's not fair to put the results at 2560res. on the top.They could've put the results at 1920 res. on the top.I think it's intentional,to show the 4870 in a worse case.
I know anandtech.they are AMD fanatics.simply, they don't like AMD.
Anyways, im waiting for the review of this card on techreport.com.
theoflow - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
BUT CAN WE PLEASE GET A SYSTEM BUILDER GUIDE NOW???Thank you.
=)
JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
I'll see about addressing that as soon as I finish my current article. I've been meaning to do one for months, but you know what they say about good intentions....Chaotic42 - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
I would love to see one too, but if you're really going to do a new one, and I hope you do, please start doing them regularly. Maybe once per season or fiscal quarter? Monthly might be a bit much, but those system guides are fantastic.theoflow - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
Cool thanks man. I'm itching to build a new rig, but been too busy to keep up with all the changes over the past year or so.MrSpadge - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
Hi guys,I read somewhere that the first batches of 48x0 cards had a bug in their bios which prevented power play from working properly. This is supposed to be fixed since some time now and idle power draw should be decreased significantly.
I'd say contact AMD or a card manufacturer. If it's true they should be more than happy to assist you in obtaining updated numbers. The current numbers are just plain horrible and may keep people from buying the Radeons.
Regards, MrS
Mr Roboto - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
Powerplay works fine on my reference VisionTek 4870 512MB.MrSpadge - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - link
That's nice for you, but it still looks like it's not working on ATs card.Derek, did you hear me?
MrS