Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review

[feraltoad]

I'm not wowed with the performance. Maybe the next few iterations we will have to live with will ramp up the mhz when they drop processes. Dear eight pound three ounce baby jebus, please let the 4870 be an absolute killer.

 

[dragonsprayer]

Nice Article, only THG can do it right! Noise is the issue, looks like water cooling is in the cards once again. I am not disappointed that the GX2 is better since 2x 200 in sandwich, (the 400) should be in works for Christmas (excuse me - i mean the solstice holidays) give or take a new months. Very detailed report again good job THG!

 

[kelfen]

Well looks like ATI has a chance to wipe out NIVDIA in performance/price ratio out of the water. It looks like the difference in the 9800x2 gt 280GTX wasn't that much. and 9800x2 only cost 400's. I think ATI can pull it off.

 

[pocketdrummer]

Well, I guess this doesn't really put any real pressure on AMD. 2 tries to overcome the performance of their own 8 series have essentially failed. I hope the 4870 does really well. I'm not sure how it will fair as far as performance is concerned, but hopefully with a little extra dough, they can afford to produce an even better card.

Enough of the marketing BS.

 

[foxhound009]

Yeah.. my next card will be ati.. again....
gtx2XX just isn't enough of improvement to spend 500 bucks...

 

[Ogdin]

The performance is sweet,the price/perfomance ratio once compared to the current sli/crossfire setups........not so sweet.

 

[Aerobernardo]

I cannot pass by without saying how surprised I am. First off, Tom's:

1-The review was trully great and thank you so much for only keeping the high res tests (no 1024 x 728 2k fps destroing the final recap!). The 1900x1200 res is very usefull for those who have a big Full HD TV and like playing good games on it (try grid with Logitec's G25)

2-Thank you so much for not coming with your Doom 3 and all your mix of "Full Throttle and Time Comando" like games like you always do on your VGA tests. I was beggining to step away from this site because of that

About the Card:

1-Trully it is an advantage, since these are the young drivers and blablabla. But that was a pretty skinny improvement compared to older gen's

2-I had GTX280 checked on my next PC shopping list, but I just erased the mark... Without much more performance (wanna see more scores with better drives and hopefully a 1900x1200 Crysis with filters better performed) and this jet engine noise level I reminds me of my good old X1900XTX. Spare my ears!

3-This might endo to: wait for 4870. The card has got to deliver some juice with better prices. If the 280 cannot go much further then the 9800X2, Nvidia you have just given ATI/AMD the time they needed! Better for us, that would like to slap (if not punch) the manufacturers with abusive U$600+ VGA's. In my priority list ATI has just moved a step ahead.

my 2 cents

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

Reading the intro to this article makes me feel good that I bought 2x 8800gtx when they came out being as they have and still are holding up against the new waves of cards. I can't wait to see what AMD has instore for us, hopefully something good. I would really like the underdog to bite back hard and give Nvidia a run for its money.

 

[hannibal]

2-I had GTX280 checked on my next PC shopping list, but I just erased the mark... Without much more performance (wanna see more scores with better drives and hopefully a 1900x1200 Crysis with filters better performed) and this jet engine noise level I reminds me of my good old X1900XTX. Spare my ears!

There are very mixed results with the sound level:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_280_Amp_Edition/24.html

There are some bugs that should be ironed out. It seems to be that in some motherboards the cooler does not behave as it should.

 

[arrpeegeer]

Man o man, I never go SLI anyway as I only believe in using a single card...but since I went with an X48 chipset a couple months back, I think crossfire might be playing a bigger role (if I want it to) than I thought.

Never even dreamed I'd be saying ATI again, although we've yet to see their high end offering and driver stability.

 

[caamsa]

Way too much coin> I will be getting a 8800GTS......maybe........we shall see if the prices drop after ATI releases their cards.......

 

[Gemmy]

Well, we don't really know what the new Radeon-cards has to offer. But, regarding the releasedate of the GTX260 AMD/ATI might as well release their cards tomorrow. In my oppinion at least.
On the other hand, the postponed release of the GTX260 just might be the very reason for AMD's wait since their pricetag will probably be closer to that of the GTX260 than it's Geforce big brother.

 

[deeligee]

nvidia really stuffed up with this one i hope amd/ati mop the floor with there new graphics cards

 

[MxM]

I wonder how much improvement you will get with NON-beta drivers?

 

[teamlosigp]

ati's cards have more shaders but they are clocked the same as the core

 

[mr roboto]

[citation][nom]hannibal[/nom]There are very mixed results with the sound level:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews [...] on/24.htmlThere are some bugs that should be ironed out. It seems to be that in some motherboards the cooler does not behave as it should.[/citation]

I love Nvidia but am reasonable when it comes to shit like the GTX200 and GX2, realizing that upgrading from a 8800GTX is playing right into what Nvidia wants (our money). However TechPowerup are very Nvidia biased IMO. Even more than most biased sites.

 

[QueueMan]

"In 3Dmark06 the HD 4850 can score 13,500, while the old 3850 scored about 8,700 in the same test. If you put two 3850 in Crossfire you will end up with 12,700; again, a score that is slower than a single Radeon HD 4850.

Two Radeon HD 4850s will score around 18,000 points on an Intel-based high-end machine. 13,500 is a great score, as a dual chip HD 3870 X2 card with 1GB memory will score 15,500, which is not that much better than the 13,500 scored by the Radeon HD 4850." (Fudzilla.com, June 2008)

We're looking at $400USD less than the GTX280, and an extremely close match. I for one am hoping the Radeon HD 4850 is better than the 260, and tailing the GTX280 (And that those scores are real). That would mean something amazing for ATI/AMD that we haven't seen for many years. AMD/ATI will have a better card.

How naive of NVIDIA to think they were the "niche market". Who cares if it has ultra-super-duper hardware. Look at damn AMD/ATI, if they hold true to their "GDDR5 memory" for the 4870, NVIDIA will surely hide in a corner.

Priceerformance NVIDIA! Not all of us are rich billionaires.

 

[saturn77]

So far I am in AWE...yes..but not the good AWE, the bad one, the I can't believe this is happening here comes the BIG RED DRAGON(ATI)breathing fire and brimstone , I'm a scared little peseant in a village AWE!!

LOL! Nice way to put it!

 

[Slobogob]

I'm quite impressed. Not by the card but by the review.

 

[doomsdaydave11]

Keep in mind kids that this is one chip, not two. Remember that this card will trash any single chip currently on the market I am slightly disappointed, but not as much as you would think from the benchmarks. Any manufacturer could put 2+ chips on a board... at least Nvidia raised the bar for the fastest single retail chip.

 

[lopopo]

Let's face it architectural bullcrap a side (yes it's all interesting...)
the first thing I did was flip to crysis and I see 1920*1200 AA4x+Af and then 26.4 fps. So what can I say. This sucks. Whatever the problem is, drivers , optimization ..How can Nvidia in their right minds sell this product as a "Hight-end" (280) product? This is the next-gen ? The venerable gtx200 arch? 1.4 Billion transistors?
Crysis is just *one* game but it is the measuring stick of the day and this product is just dissaponting. Consider that the gtx200 will be used in the future ( if you think nvidia will pay money for a new arch anytime soon think again) so really we can expect GTX### in the future
to be the GTX280 but more stream proc and higher clock speed.

[citation][nom]narwhaleau[/nom]It is going to get owned by the 4870x2. In some cases the 3870x2 was quicker - not many, but we are talking 640 shaders total vs. 1600 total for the 4870x2.[/citation]
Nvidia and ATI gpu's do not work the same way. It's a matter of vector versus scalar processing. Sadly Nvidia's method looks better on paper.

 

[asdasd123123]

I find it VERY interesting to see how Toms Hardware manages to get better scores with the 280 in most benchmarks..

When Anandtech clearly shows it's slower than a 98gx2 almost everywhere..

 

[otheos]

Just beware of nVidia tactics. Based on their past history I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a new driver set that made GXT2X0 look good by leaving older gen chips in the cold.

I wouldn't buy nVidia even if Ati made the worst GPU's in the world. Ati fanboy? Hardly! Just fed up being dumped just 12 months after my purchase (twice!) with their OS and driver "support".

 

[radguy]

So I have finished my search on finding and reading all the reviews I could find on these cards and while I was hoping I for something a little better I can't really say I am that disapointed. Ati's new cards might really impress me but I shall have to wait and see for that.
I really don't see the point in buying a gtx 280 without going sli with it today and that really puts in into the ultra high end market at 1300 bucks for just your graphics cards. It would go really nice in a 3-4 grand gaming rig but most of us aren't going to dish out that type of cash. This isn't about best bang for you buck its about having the best you can get and paying a premium for it.

2 gtx 260s in at 8 to 9 hundred range also comes in at the next option and I don't really feel like its horrible in the price to performance catagory but ati might put a damper in that. Both options though I feel whould hold you for a couple years.
1 gtx 260 is tough for me to say buy and 1 gtx 280 is just a stupid buy at 650 bucks.

It does come to show us that sli and crossfire is the future of the graphics card market. New single cards haveing a hard time beating the old versions in sli. Just wonder how many years it will take tri and quad gpus to become worth it to buy.

 

[random_2]

Some of you amaze me!
We have a great site here with knowledgeable people who bust their butts to bring you the latest on products like this, and you burn them for it. Nice....real nice.
I don't see what the big gripe is with the 280 and the 260. I'd even go so far as to say that if the benchmarks on these GPU's were presented against single core cards only, your opinions may be different.
However I do have to say, that it's about time Nvidia peeked their collective heads in the reality door and had a look around. Notice the trends in product innovation, marketing, and pricing Nvidia? You've definitely missed the boat on this one, but then again, call it what you will....Life Lessons, Karma, The Great Equalizer In The Sky....they/it always catch up to everyone...eventually.
I'm not a fan of any brand. What I am a fan of is good product coupled with good value. Hell, if the ATI cards are only half as good as they say, I'm buying one or two!!!
Nicely done review on this guys.