Conclusion

This conclusion can’t come to pass without us making reference to the ATI HD4870 since it is this card that seems to be everyone’s darling right now. But all in all, our first experience with a GTX 260 has been an extremely enjoyable one as we have seen that it can compete on many levels with the best ATI has to offer right now. At the same time, it is quite obvious that the largest hurdle the GTX 260 has to overcome is the presence of ATI’s HD4870 on the market since the two perform very close to one another. To tell you the truth, trying to determine the performance differences between the HD4870 and the GTX 260 really comes down to a game of Russian roulette since they trade wins from one game to the next.

We really have to be amazed that a card of this pedigree can be had for less than $350 in many cases which would have been unheard of less than three months ago. When we take a step back and look at this whole review from a purely performance perspective, it seems like the 896MB of ram on the GTX 260 is able to pay for itself in spades when gaming at ultra-high resolutions. You may have also noticed that power consumption is severely cut from the GTX 280 and this suits us just fine since with this power consumption comes decreased heat as well. This means that the fan is able to spin at lower RPMs and not emit that dreaded dust buster whine we complained the GTX 280 had. All in all, if you want an Nvidia card, the BFG GTX 260 makes pretty damn convincing case for itself.

Unfortunately, while it is a great performer the GTX 260 still seems to be partially handicapped by its price. On average it retails for a good 10-20% more (before those pesky mail in rebates) than the competing HD4870 while in some cases offering quite a bit less performance. Then there is the small issue with the AA performance of this card in some games when compared with the competition. Granted, The GTX 260 doesn’t get completely pistol whipped when AA is turned on but it does suffer quite a bit at the hands of the HD4870 in instances where it should be doing much better. ATI's AA implementation is just that much more efficient and that's that. There are other instances where it puts up a brave fight against the HD4870 but in others it is completely outclassed by its rival.

This recent price war must be playing havoc with Nvidia since for all intents and purposes; the 65nm GT200 core is anything but cheap to produce. It seems the last thing they expected was a war with ATI in the high performance category but that is exactly what they have on their hands right now and they are fighting against a less expensive product. This battle in the trenches between Nvidia and ATI benefits the consumer in more ways than one and these new lower prices for the GTX 260 are a byproduct of the competition we were all hoping to see.

So, when push comes to shove can we really recommend this card? Absolutely. The lifetime warranty and trade-up program included with the BFG GTX 260 will usually be more than enough to sway many over into the green camp since both of these things are something ATI’s partners just don’t have right now. Unfortunately, it seems that its price will have to be reduced a bit more if it hopes to truly compete with the HD4870 on a solely price / performance level.


Pros:

- Good overall performance
- Very efficient at idle
- Quiet running
- Lifetime warranty


Cons:

- AA performance versus the competition
- Price still too high even after price cuts