Gigabyte's GTX 260 Super Overclock: A GTX 275 on the Cheap?
by Ryan Smith on October 11, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Temperature & Noise
The GTX 260 Super Overclock idles roughly at par with the rest of the GTX lineup, coming in behind the GTX 275 and ahead of an original GTX 260. It can’t however touch the 5850, which has a significantly lower idle power uage.
The cost of running a GTX 260 as such high clockspeeds makes itself apparent here, as the GTX 260 Super Overclock ends up being a few degrees warmer than either the original GTX 260 or the GTX 280. However it easily sails in under the GTX 275, which at 91C is pushing the level where the drivers will significantly ramp up fan speeds to maintain temperature.
The noise at idle is in line with virtually everything else we have tested. All of these cards highlight the fact that there exists a point where you can’t get noticeably quieter without going entirely passive.
At load, the GTX 260 Super Overclock comes in under everything else on this chart by at least 3dB. This is where Gigabyte’s binning and tuning become apparent, as they have managed to pick a fairly cool chip, and keep the cooler running at a lower speed for longer. The higher temps we saw earlier are a direct result of the desire to keep load noise lower. The card does get hot enough to drive the fan higher, but less so than if Gigabyte wanted to keep the GTX 260’s original thermal targets. In practice this combination makes it one of the quietest higher-end cards we have tested.
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Jamahl - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
It must be difficult to review fairly right now but this was a nice review.I do feel that the overall recommendation should be towards the 5850 more strongly. Yes it is priced a little higher, yes it is "only" 25% faster and 30% more costly, but the additional features double that 25% faster and we all know this.
I suspect the 5850 is going to increase the gap as time goes on, and I believe most of us will agree with that too.
A more forceful point on the pricing of this card (the 260 being reviewed) would have been another alternative. Overall it was a decent and interesting review.
DC 10 - Saturday, December 26, 2009 - link
This Review was a long time in the coming!!!Yet this review seems to almost seems to have a chip on it's shoulder - when it is clearly seen to be just as good card as a GTX275-280 - I got the impression that it was regrettable that this card was too good - kinda silly to me
I have the MSI GTX260 OCv3 and It's OC'd to 690 on the core / 1436 shader / and 1200 mem clock- It pretty much comes close to a GTX280 -
Anything in the GTX275-280 range this card or MY MSI Card which is the same as this card, but with Better Cooling (not factory cooling) should be considered easily.
FYI - MSI did a great job by going with a Non traditional cooling setup for their OCV3 cards - especially SLI or Tri-SLI - This card reviewed and my MSI card simply reveal what is at stake here - Pricing and Marketing...
The review showed what most of us already knew who own these cards - That NVidia could slash prices the way AMD has done - instead of being uppidy knuckle-heads...
It's good to see Anandtech - review something like this - could not deny what these cards cand do price/performance wise - hard to ignore...
yacoub - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
I dunno, the 5770 is shaping up nicely for a $160 card:http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33953...">http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33953...
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1458978">http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1458978
http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15876/1/">http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15876/1/
palladium - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
Hmm... wonder how SiliconDoc would reply to this.The0ne - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
Why would you even care? O.oteohhanhui - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
He's got an appointment with the psychiatrist.sparkuss - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
Is there something I should read into this difference in the charts?I'm probably going to update to 5850/5870 before a full box upgrade and I'm following all the reviews I can find.
Ryan Smith - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
The 5850 data has been added. We pruned some old data to keep the charts smaller, and I pruned a little too much there.As for the 5870; Anand and I have matching rigs, but it's not possible to replicate thermal/noise characteristics. He did the noise/thermal testing for the 5800 series articles, while I did this one. As a result new data based on the cards I have was collected, and at the moment I don't have a 5870.
sparkuss - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
Thanks,Just wanted to be sure I didn't miss something in the text.