XFX GTX 260 Black Edition

[polonyc2]

I decided to upgrade my video card...my 8800GT was playing most games fine except for Crysis and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky but I decided that the GTX 260 Core 216 was too good to pass up...the GTX 260 can apprently play Crysis at high resolutions at a playable frame rate of at least 30 fps...I bought the XFX GTX 260 Black Edition which is a highly overclocked edition of the card...can easily reach GTX 280 speeds and the price was too good to pass up---$250 after a $25 rebate

Newegg.com - XFX GX260NADBF GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

hopefully I can sell my current EVGA 8800GT Superclocked card for at least $80-$100 and get the total cost of the new card even lower

[Gr8Golf]

I'll be interested to see how this goes for you - I'm heavily debating upgrading my 8800 GTS 512's SLI to a single card solution.

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by Gr8Golf

I'll be interested to see how this goes for you - I'm heavily debating upgrading my 8800 GTS 512's SLI to a single card solution.

I was debating whether to go for the GTX 260 or the new GTX 285 but in the end decided that the price/performance ratio of the GTX 285 was not worth it...the lowest price I found online for the GTX 285 was $360...didn't think that it was worth an extra $110...an overclocked GTX 260 performs about the same or better then a GTX 280...and the GTX 285 is basically an overclocked GTX 280...so in the end the performance was not worth an extra $110 in my opinion

I was never a fan of dual GPU/SLI/Crossfire setups as the price/performance was never worth it...also it seemed that the shelf life was never that long...seems like the next generation of single cards always seemed to perform about the same as the previous generations dual card setup...made no sense to me...plus the fact that SLI profiles always had to be updated for newer games and weren't always done in a timely fashion...not to mention driver issues

[polonyc2]

installed the new GTX 260 card a few days back and have been benchmarking it...the card is amazing...definitely worth the upgrade...the card is very big so make sure to you have enough room in your case...also uses 2 6 pin connectors and is dual slot

I got the new card mainly for Crysis---having 896MB of video memory should help...ran the built in CPU/GPU benchmark tools and was very pleased...keep in mind that this benchmark was run using DX10, AA= 2X, 1600 x 1200 resolution and ALL advanced graphic settings on 'Very High'...which makes it even more remarkable

CPU benchmark 1---> Average FPS: 43
CPU benchmark 2---> Average FPS: 29
GPU benchmark------> Average FPS: 40

huge improvement over my 8800GT...in-game performance is even better...my 8800GT would struggle to maintain decent FPS during the 'Ice' levels but with the GTX 260 it ran perfectly smooth throughout (easily hitting the magical 30 FPS mark)...even the final battle on onboard the carrier was no problem, although my FPS did go down quite a bit but it was very playable and I was not forced to lower my graphical settings or resolution to finish the game (which I had to do with my 8800GT)

3DMark Vantage score nearly doubled

card runs cool during idle and load...after a heavy Crysis session I checked my temps and they were in the mid 60's which is not bad...idle temps are in the low 40's (this with the fan set to it's default setting of 40%)...increasing the fan speed helped to bring idle temps down to the upper 30's and load temps into the 50's...very nice!

overall the card is an amazing card and a great value for only $250...can match or exceed GTX 280 performance and is one of the best single GPU cards on the market...highly recommended!

[Gr8Golf]

You got me - I pulled the trigger on an eVGA GTX 260 SSC Core 216 card today. Got it for the same $250. Very excited to replace these 2 8800GTS 512's and lower the heat and noice, but I'm really into the extra VRAM. Thanks for the push!

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by Gr8Golf

You got me - I pulled the trigger on an eVGA GTX 260 SSC Core 216 card today. Got it for the same $250. Very excited to replace these 2 8800GTS 512's and lower the heat and noice, but I'm really into the extra VRAM. Thanks for the push!

you should be happy with the performance...I'm curious how the GTX 260 compares to your current 8800GTS SLI setup...report back once you get your card...getting the EVGA SSC version of the card for $250 is even better then my XFX Black Edition version as the factory overclock is a bit higher...you're pretty much getting a stock GTX 280 card

my card also came bundled with Far Cry 2 and 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition which added to the value as well...overall I'm very pleased