Nvidia GeForce GTX 260: specs, reviews

It would seem that what can surprise the user game video adapter with the DDR3 bus, which has long been replaced by the type of DDR5 memory, faster and more modern. Nothing, unless this video adapter is not Nvidia GeForce GTX 260, the characteristics of which are able to compete with many modern devices that have improved process technology and many innovations.

Very expensive production

Judging by the fact that the rejection in the production of GT200 chips exceeded 50%, the price for video adapters of this series was clearly overstated in the market. But any buyer knew that he did not have the next consumer goods from a well-known manufacturer, but practically one of the best products of the white assembly. And we are talking about the video game card GeForce GTX 260. The characteristic of the perfect assembly is only one of the whole list of qualities that this video adapter possesses.

The reduction in the cost of the device on the market is due to the type of DDR3 bus used. Manufacturers felt that this memory will not play a big role in the transfer of significant amounts of information, because the adapter has many other interesting technologies that can improve its performance. But the savings are obvious, the chip cost in production is cheaper than similar with DDR5 memory.

Gentleman's set

It can not be said that for the top line, to which the GeForce GTX 260 also belongs, the characteristics are ideal and superior with the rivals. Everything is very much the opposite. Take at least a technical process - 65 nm with a nuclear area of 576 square meters. Mm. Any gamer will say that this is the last century. Another interesting thing is the bandwidth of video memory, which is the most important characteristic for a video game adapter. It is 112 gigabytes per second. This is a very big indicator, even for modern gaming graphics cards.

High performance video adapter provides a 448-bit memory exchange bus. Apparently, because of expensive tires and the price of the device is clearly overstated, because in recent years, Nvidia has decided in the top models to install 384-bit buses, increasing the memory bandwidth due to the overclocking of the cores, but they will not have enough capacity for a long time, it is unknown.

Something's wrong here

A very strange characteristic for Nvidia GTX 260 is the amount of memory. After all, it is customary to install a size on the market that is a multiple of 512 megabytes, and here 896 MB. It's all about bit: a non-standard bus was reached by disabling several control units on the video adapter card, and this affected the reduction of the total memory capacity.

And if you go into the investigation, you can find out that the GTX 260 chip is a rejection from the older model from the same line of the GTX 280. It just has a standard 512-bit bus and 1024 MB of memory on board. To reach the performance of the older brother, the GeForce GTX 260 can not be improved programmatically, unless soldering the missing control units. Maximum, you can increase the frequency of the core by raising the voltage on it. To do this, you need the NVFlash program, in which instead of the standard voltage of 1.12 volts you need to change to 1.18 volts and fill in the BIOS BIOS changes.

Some goodies

The characteristics of video outputs are reassuring in Nvidia GeForce GTX 260. All devices on the market have identical connectors. You can connect any device, it's not important, it's digital or analog - from the ancient D-Sub port to the modern HDMI standard. Even there is a TV-out, which is implemented in the form of S-video, but the adapters in the kit allow you to connect devices that have a component input.

In all video cards Nvidia GTX 260 the characteristics of the cooling system are irreproachable. Cooling is not only able to be adjusted automatically, but also its high quality of assembly does not cause discomfort during operation. That is quite rare in the market for video adapters.

Best offer

The company XFX is known among gamers as one of the best in the production of video adapters. No consumer goods, under this brand only powerful gaming devices. Therefore, the appearance on the market of GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition under this brand attracted the attention of many fans of XFX to the product.

That there is only one box. In size, it can compete with the size of the motherboard. A lot of adapters, accessories, branded drives with drivers and detailed instructions will not surprise anyone, but the game Far Cry 2 was obliged to become a reward for the user who uses only licensed software.

The gothic appearance of the game video card is a bit scary at first, but then it causes respect. Not every user has such a masterpiece. Naturally, the cooling system at the top level, in this regard, there are no questions to the XFX GTX 260. The power consumption is a little embarrassing - 236 W, like the older model GTX 280. Apparently, this factory overclock of memory at 300 MHz so influenced the consumption of electricity .

Without Zotac was not done

But the well-known brand among the gamers Zotac, who has recently been picking up chips from the top-end line, has given up his position a little when he started releasing cheap segment devices. The product GeForce GTX 260, whose technical characteristics, apparently, liked the manufacturer, Zotac put on the conveyor.

The proprietary box, excellent packaging in an anti-shock package, a lot of cables and adapters, driver discs and instructions are a standard set for any top-end device. If you look at the adapter, you get the feeling that this is the same XFX, only with a new sticker with the image of the dragon from Zotac. Even in the GTX 260 the characteristics of the cooling system are identical.

At the factory, in all likelihood, the chipset's characteristics were decided not to be changed, leaving everything as it is. This is evidenced by performance indicators, memory and core frequencies, as well as the maximum power consumption. However, in the price category, the video card occupies one of the first places in which there is a catch, it is not known.

Destroying the foundations

Manufacturers Gainward, Palit and Gigabyte refer more to consumer goods, at least, there is such an opinion. Apparently, they were interested in Nvidia GTX 260 performance characteristics, and they released very productive devices that quickly found their customers.

Judging by the numerous reviews of consumers in the media, these three producers have no complaints at all. What is bundled, what is the assembly, what is the performance - they are flawless. Naturally, the buyers were pleased with the price, because these manufacturers have established a very attractive value for gaming graphics cards.

However, there are questions to the video adapter from MSI. The device is presented without any brand improvements - the GTX 260 graphics card does not stand out. The characteristics of the cooling system have always been for the MSI in the first place, and on the Cyclone radiator it is always easy to find on the shelf.

Strange player in the market

Designers and designers of the company GALAXY, whose masterpieces very often can be found on the market in the form of video cards with a lot of coolers in the cooling system, left a regular radiator in the GTX 260. The characteristic of low temperature on the core and memory chips is the advantage for which the buyers go to Store and purchase the product of the company GALAXY.

And still, the manufacturer did something with the video adapter, because having the chip's factory characteristics, it perfectly shows itself in the tests, leaving behind most of the manufacturers of the chip with the same name. Interestingly, the temperature of the core and memory is normal.

Finally

As a result of the review, we can conclude that the GTX 260 video adapter, whose characteristics are very impressive in terms of performance in the market of gaming devices, is quite competitive in the top class. Confuses quite another - all manufacturers, without exception, installed almost the same cooling system. No brand technologies from MSI or GALAXY will be seen by the user. This strangeness suggests that the video card is completely unsuited for overclocking - there is no potential. Because of this, it makes no sense to install improved cooling. An increase in the voltage on the core does not give any gain in games, only the power consumption and heat release increase.