Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review

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Neog2

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Well I bought two GTX 260's today from my local Bestbuy.
They had them on the floor, in top stock.

$450 a piece BFG brand.

Unfortunely I wont be able to use them until I finish getting all the parts for my new machine. Hopefully will be done before my Birthday last
week of July.
 

Neog2

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Oh one other Tidbit, Bestbuy also had the HD 4870 on store shelves aswell. And it was $199 with 512mb of memory not completely remember if it was DDR3, or DDR4, but I know for a fact it wasnt DDR5, and im pretty
sure it was DDR3 what gives? Visiontek brand.

Ill have more info tomorrow, going back to maybe purcahse a 4870 because of its price. And some benchmarks i have seen on it.
 

fwupow

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AMD , ATI is winning the war now and it's all my fault. I decided to go with NVidia SLI when I bought my motherboard knowing full well that NVidia would immediately dive into the crapper just because of me.
 
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Very dissapointed. They say theorically its a lot of power inside that will be untapped in next year games. Ok I wait next year til this BS has a razonable Price... Today this card has a terrible price-prf ratio.
 

techguy911

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Well most of you people are saying the gtx 280 is crap blah blah blah fail to realize that it is the drivers (being in beta) causing these low scores.
I have bought a evga gtx 280 and have the newest (leaked)drivers and my benchmarks are MUCH higher than a 9800 gx2 or any ati card for that matter.

Add to that physx support pushing my 3dmark scores up to amazing scores.

And yes its does make a difference in cellfactor and ut3 and about 20 other games.

I had a 8800gt oc i noticed a huge difference in age of conan esp in crowded cites where it really shines.
 

VChuck

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Interesting to note about the disbelief of ATI making a comeback by the fanboi's here,and the obvious BS review by Toms Hardware Guide.
 
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Well, the price / performance could be contested by most users with GTX280.
But not all configuration does support SLI or Quad SLI.
If you think about Stereo3D gaming most confuguration requires one CHIP, one card.
For some users 3D and for all users that want to play full game resolution with Full Detail, the "Low Memory 512 Mo" of Onboard 2X SLI cards is not the answer.
We need a single Chipset with huge momory to display 2 screen required for stereo 3D
Some may need 2X Big Chip card with 1Go ram to display 30" monitors who needs 16X AA activated and SLI.

Unless driver canges and we can get Stereo 3D with Dual chip Cards.
 

Midx

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For the first time I’m questioning the mighty and all powerful Tom’s Hardware. I know I know its crazy talk.

Specifically what of these Crysis results compared to other mainstream reviews on the net, there doesn’t appear to a consensus. Even the tides in forums appear unusually high with titles like “GX2 faster than 280 GTX I don’t think so”.

I’d like to see Tom’s revisit specifically the Crysis benchmarks listed here with upcoming 280 GTX reviews. Crysis yes has been out for some time, but not unlike Oblivion in its day this new gaming plateau is what everyone wants to play.
 
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for $460 I will get 2 brand new 9800 GTX+ in SLI and have 15% better avg better performance than the LOUSY 280 GTX for freaking $650 ...

I blame myself for buying the 790i MoBo...
 
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First off, think about how thiswhole new card thing works. They start of with immature drivers that really don't put the card to the max it can go. Also think that AMD is using a dual gpu and nVidia is using a single gpu, now look at the preformance of them both compared to the 9800 GTX and you will see that nVidia has owned AMD in all ways possible, using smaller of almost everything nVidia has dang near got all the preformance of x2 gpus from x1 gpu, so now think about that. this means when nVidia finally releases what they now have in R/D you will not be dissipointed.
 

spaztic7

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First off, think about how thiswhole new card thing works. They start of with immature drivers that really don't put the card to the max it can go. Also think that AMD is using a dual gpu and nVidia is using a single gpu, now look at the preformance of them both compared to the 9800 GTX and you will see that nVidia has owned AMD in all ways possible, using smaller of almost everything nVidia has dang near got all the preformance of x2 gpus from x1 gpu, so now think about that. this means when nVidia finally releases what they now have in R/D you will not be dissipointed.

Certain thing you are right on... but not 100% right. Yes, the 280 has less SP then the 48x0 line. But the 2x0 has almost double the transistor count that the 48x0 line has. So... who is using less than who? Also, what is bringing the 2x0 line down is the absurd price they placed on it while ATi has great performance for the right price!
 

V8VENOM

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FSX results are VERY disappointing, almost seem like a problem with the driver -- it has more raster units and that is what FSX uses ALOT. Strange -- it's almost as if the GTX 280 has excessive CPU utilization -- which seems very odd.

Something ain't right, that's a 33% decrease in FSX over a card that is 18 months old. It's performance in other DX titles is improved, worse case is the GTX 280 should be about the same. Were these test done in FSX DX 10 mode or DX 9 mode (assuming they used the latest SP2 for FSX).

 
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nice comment dragoncyber, but we all have to remember that the 260 gtx still beats the 4870, and also that the 260 gtx now costs 330$ making it a more practical purchase. and also if u havent noticed the trend nvidia has been kickin out ati's shit with gddr3 all this time while ati is up to gddr5, if u think about it when nvidia stops being so god damned lazy they will upgrade their memory and unlike the technicians at ati, will b able to get the full power out of gddr4 and gddr5. so if nvidia makes the step on the "next-next-generation" of cards they are guarenteed to leave ati in the dust for another 2 years
 

engr_bongz

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[citation][nom]dragoncyber[/nom]Dear Nvidia,I am obviously not the first one to state that they are entirely angered by the results of the recent GTX280 benchmarks. I have been an Nvidia customer since the original Geforcehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce series, always trusting the reliable green team to be at the forefront of the graphics race.Instead this time I am completely thrown for a loop as Nvidia expects us to pay 600.00-650.00 for a (New Generation) graphics card release that performs in most cases lower than a 9800GX2 which at the time of this report is actually 150-200 dollars cheaper,and once released will most likely drop even further.Not to mention the 9800GTX which is basically on par with an 8800 ultra is down below 300.00!! Tri-SLi anyone?? Three 9800GTX's would out perform "Quad Sli 9800GX2's" and this has already been proven on several sites (AnandTech..Hello???)WTF is wrong with Nvidia?? Tri has already been posting great numbers!! So obviously knowing this going into a release you would want to put something on the table that would blow the doors off your current best configurations. Instead we are handed mere 15-20% gains in some situations, and actually being beat in others. And of course they didn't post SLI tests here for this report.The next thing that really gets my goat is selling a GTX260 card for 200-250 dollars less, and it has only an 18-20% decrease in performance as compared to your new shiny Top-Of-The Line. With a little over clocking and some good cooling it's the same card in performance tets. What gives?? Now the biggest embarassment for Nvidia is that they are pushing CUDA technology and folding at home client CRAP!! These cards are designed for gaming!! Who gives a crap about how fast they can cure cancer or render 3D medical images and scans of the human body. Maybe 10% of the cards produced will be used for this purpose..the rest will be for GAMING!! What in the hell are we even talking about that junk for in this article?? Does that even matter when really what everyone cares about is will it beat the crap out of Crysis!!?? Will it Provide me solid gaming for the next 2 years?? Is it worth my hard earned money??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!!I am this close to throwing away my 790i board, putting my 8800GT SLi'd on Ebay, and switching over to a crossfire platform.Again I cannot state again how utterly disappointed I am at this turn of events, and the worst part is that there will be no way they could do a GTX280 X2 card because the manufacturing process and die size are too huge, and too hot to combine them. They would literally have to redesign the entire thing, basically doing a new release all over again.I'm afraid to say it but I think this will be like one of those boxing matches where, the underdog is in the corner getting punched on left and right...Then something clicks, and he decides enough is enough, and he throws a BIG left that hits the other guy right in the jaw. He doesnt see it coming, and has he hits the mat he thinks.."This guy still has some fight in him". Personally I hope ATI comes out on top with the 4870 X2. That will make Nvidia realize thay can't sit around in their offices all year playing Nerf Hoops, and living off the fat of their successes over the last 4 years.They have gotten fat and lazy, and this card shows it all over the place.I am however going to wait, and see if the driver improvements make any difference at all in the upcoming weeks to a couple months. I have a 8800GT Sli system, and I'm sitting pretty as far as I am concerned. I Still consider the 8800 GT 512mb to be one of the best graphics cards ever made, and a combo of them is hard to beat. So I will wait and see what happens.Best of Luck to any who choose to buy it upon release, I think soon you will wish you had waited just a bit longer. the price will drop drastically once all the Tech sites get there reviews out.[/citation]

i have upgraded from 2 9800 gx2 in quad sli to a single gtx 280 and to tell you from my experience, i can run crysis at very high, 16xq AA, 1680x1200 res, full screen and vsync smoothly, no hiccups, no lag. i was amazed. i did that exact thing with my 9800 gx2 and it crashed, no display at all. 240 stream processors working together with 1 gig of gddr3 unlike others with 800 stream processors and like only 2 are computing. WTF.
 

mikepaul

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I want a GTX 280. The transcoding potential sounds excellent, and maybe I can get it for $350 after rebate in another month or so.

I am confused by how the best ATI HD4870 card requires two GPUs to actually BEAT a single GTX 280 but people claim this is some sort of failure on Nvidia's part. If there's eventually a 280 X2 and it's eventually 'beaten' by some X3 ATI model, it's still hardly a fair fight in my book...
 

spaztic7

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But it is only one card. So, it is a fair fight. Multi GPU or not, its not ATi's problem if NVIDIA does not keep up (and vice versa).
 

antilycus

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Ill be the first one to tell you that the fast turn around time on new GPU technology is what stopped me from buying GPU's. In fact it took me away from window's machines all together. I got tired of being out of date 3 months after I bought something and then having to spend another 4xx dollars to get up to date. Give me a break, if you have that much expendable cash, get a new hobby. I do have to admit that, like most humans, I am rooting for the underdog, which right now is ATi. I am one of the most die hard NVDA fans, but you guys need to think of something else. Start over from scratch. We all know that ATI doesnt innovate, they just replicated and duplicate (meaning they just load more and more pipelines, vertex shaders, etc) BUT IT WORKS.

I pay for NVDA because of their innovation but I havent purchased a new card in 3 years because the lifetime of their products is worse then any Apple product out there. Get it together, start realizing what your limitiations are and figure out, on the core level, what needs to change. You can create something that ON PAPER is great, but without the bench marks to prove it, it sucks. Just look @ the PS3 for a classic example. The CELL IS AWESOME as a math-co, short data burst processor...but for video games, its absolutely ridic. (aka its a pita and it sucks at the processing functions that gaming requires). Also, i've been following nvidia BEFORE the damn TNT(which I owned). Now I am on 3D Rendering (via lightwave) maybe you should realize that there is more then a 3D Gaming crowd out there...
 

spaztic7

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Word, yo!
 
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if you have the money and like to brag to you friends, then go for it. if not stfu.
 

sotvotkong

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man you guys are high. did you even read all those 8 pages of stuff? its aparrent you didnt. and its probly because your all ati lovers. if you took the time to look and compare and read. you would see that the gtx series blows away anything else nvidia has out right now. 1 of those cards beats out 2x9600 and definately is better than 2x 8800's lol. i swear you gotta be retarted to like and buy ati products.
 
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I think grid is a bad game to benchmark on, there are way too many issues with this game for it to be a fair test. I have this game running on an AMD 4950 2.6Ghz quad core
4 GB DDR2 1066mhz Memory
PNY GTX-260

and this game can get down to a crawl, unplayable speeds even after a clean format and installation of windows, same thing happened with my 9600GT this game does not at all reflect the true power of any of these cards cause it is so poorly optimized. the ati 4870 x2 is up there with the gtx 260 and sometimes even better. and as for the people hating on the GTX-280... That card is a monster 20fps over the 9800 gtx and your complaining? Do you need it to play the latest games? Not really. Will it provide a nice boost to your current frame rates and gaming experience? For sure. ATI cannot touch the GTX-280 and I think Nvidia just wanted to make a statement with the GTX-280 that they are the best. If you are a moderate gamer, then no, the GTX 290 is probably not for you, If you are a gaming enthusiast and good frame rates at ridiculous resolutions mean everything to you, then the GTX 280 will be the card for you.
 
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