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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Mr Roboto - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
No, no, that's not confusing enough. The GTX260 Core 216 fits perfectly with the 8600GT\GTS, 8800GTS 640\512\320, 9600GT\GSO and the 9800GTX+. Can't wait to hear the naming scheme for the 55nm GTX280's.Boushh - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - link
How about the GTX260 55nm Core 216 :)yyrkoon - Thursday, September 18, 2008 - link
How about . . . " a failed GTX 280 " core ; )SiliconDoc - Sunday, October 5, 2008 - link
Gosh, sorry I have to vent here. lol -I know you were being a wise guy - so take it with a grain of salt.
ou don't really believe that excuse, do you ? I mean the corpo planners have you eating their goat cheese like a baby.
" Oh lookie here, the exact parts we need failed , failed again, wow, just a shaders region and one mem spew bank, man we get lucky a lot ! Ok, just cut that line on the corecap, and stamp it a 260 !"
.
( I mean really...).
Yes, of course they can grade bin somethnig like an E8400 / E3110 for voltage hence decency, but I've never believed they just whack out a 280 to make it a 260, or the other endless derivations of the basic deal...
They control multipliers IN MANUFACTURE, fine. If they stamp on a different name, fine.
But having this " lucky failed chip " taken to every extreme - I simply don't believe it.
280.260 "same core" - yeah, fine, they PLAN on the 260 core reductions, then produce them as such.
Same as with all their other crap...
We've found MANY times before - their locked chips - when unlocked did just as well as the higher versions, sometimes even better.
Anyway.
crimson117 - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
or GTX 280 GSOsilversound - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
Anandtech just keep getting better, tomshardware just plain sucks & bias now.Any reviews on the new 4850X2?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
We're still waiting on review samples of the 4850X2 as well as the new 1GB RV770 cards. As soon as we get some in for review we'll get on them :)-A
mmntech - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
When has Tom's ever not been biased? They used to be vary pro-Intel, pro-ATI if I remember correctly.I'm impressed with nVidia's numbers since I had figured they had abandoned the mid-range market again when the release of the GTX series, which were double the price of what ATI was offering. Good frame rates, fair price, and lower power consumption than the HD 4870. Not a bad buy. I wish I had kept with nVidia rather than getting an HD3850 earlier this year. While it's a good card, it has driver trouble with older games like KotOR (low frame rates, missing effects) and ATI's Linux compatibility sucks.
Gannon - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - link
Toms was ok back in the day, and sometimes for CPU/VGA charts, but for most everything else they were just not very good. They are a dumbed down version of anandtech for the masses.JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 - link
I only wish I could run SLI on an X38 chipset (without the silly nForce 100/200 bridge). Until that happens, I'll use ATI hardware for this generation. Hopefully with the Nehalem stuff, I can pick up an X58 board with support for both GPU platforms. Though I have to say, my dual 3870 cards are starting to look awfully sad. :(