Should I Upgrade from GTX 260 to GTX 275?

[cpburns]

I currently own a EVGA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 (55nm).
448bit memory bus, 896MB GDDR3.
216 shader processors
72 TMUs
28 ROPs

Stock speeds:
ROP: 576MHz
Shaders: 1404MHz
Memory: 999MHz DDR

have it overclocked stably to:
ROP: 701MHz
Shaders: 1501MHz
Memory: 1175MHz DDR

EVGA offers the step-up program whereby I pay the difference between my card to a new card, send mine back, get new, better card, for cheap.

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I'm eyeballing the EVGA Geforce GTX 275 (55nm).
Also a 448bit memory bus, 896MB GDDR3.
240 shader processors (+24 vs gtx260)
80 TMUs (+8 vs gtx260)
The same 28 ROPs

Stock speeds:
ROP: 633MHz
Shaders: 1404MHz
Memory: 1134MHz DDR

I've seen Guru3D.com get one to:
ROP: 743MHz
Shaders: 1605MHz
Memory: 1282MHz DDR

I'm running a Phenom II X4 940 (3.0GHz) quad core with 8GB DDR2-800 on a AMD 780G mATX motherboard.
My currently most played games:
GTA4 on PC
WoW
UT3
Gears of War on PC
Chronicles of Riddick: AODA
Crysis
Call of Duty 4/5
Far Cry 2

I know that running a Core i7 rig has often been shown to be faster than Phenom II systems. I run 1680x1050 screen resolution in pretty much all games. I'm a big fan of being able to enable as much eye candy as possible. Why play a beautiful game at crap settings?

More shaders, higher speeds, more TMUs, same memory... (yeah, GTA4 is pushing my video memory to the limit). Would I see a difference? It's a cheap upgrade. As is, my games all run nearly butter smooth with the exception of GTA4 and Crysis. Crysis is only clunky when I push the AA to 8xQ and beyond. GTA4... I can't max it out. Don't expect this card would let me either. Maybe it would have higher minimum framerates?

The bottom line is the upgrade would cost me $30 straight up. Do y'all think this really would be that much of a no-brainer? Am I silly not to do this? The upgrade window closes in 7 days from today.

 

[rewindlabs]

To be honest if it was more than 30$ i would say nooo...but then again the only reason to change would be maybe a higher you could overclock a little higher...and that is a maybe...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264351-33-tomshardware

There really isn't that much of a gain...i mean do shaders matter that much? do you have the 30$ just lying around? it can't hurt that bad to upgrade

When overclocking you will get significantly closer to the 285's performance

 

[cpburns]

Yeah I noticed that guy's thread too. That site he links to tells me it won't help much, although I have no idea what their testbed config was. I do have $30 lying around

The big hope is the overclocking. I'm very happy with what I've achieved on my GTX 260, but one always hungers for more. I'd be interested in the GTX 285, but that costs a whopping $130 more.

 

[rewindlabs]

Yeah I noticed that guy's thread too. That site he links to tells me it won't help much, although I have no idea what their testbed config was. I do have $30 lying around

The big hope is the overclocking. I'm very happy with what I've achieved on my GTX 260, but one always hungers for more. I'd be interested in the GTX 285, but that costs a whopping $130 more.

Yeah i would have to say go for it...since that chip can overclock pretty well a 700mhz overclock would be nothing for it...you will probably end up kicking yourself if you don't

On a nice side note my gpu overclocks right up beside yours ...neat

 

[hundredislandsboy]

I would do the upgrade for $30. It sounds like a fair deal and goes towards even faster frame rates for future games.

 

[geofelt]

For $30 is sounds like a fair deal.

 

[orangegator]

For only $30, it's worth it. The small performance boost you'll get will be equvilent to the small amount of money you'll pay.