XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX Edition Review

[MAC]

TweakTown has posted a review of the XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX Edition, which I believe is the first official review of a non-reference GTX 260.

Here's an excerpt:

"I do have to say that it’s surprising to see just how close the GTX 260 performs to the GTX 280 in resolutions up to 2560 x 1600. Only at 2560 x 1600 does the GTX 280 begin to show clear signs of a performance increase. Considering the price of the GTX 260 compared to the GTX 280, it could be considered quite the bargain.

There are a few things we have to wonder though; the HD 4870 is just around the corner which is going to come in cheaper again, and the 9800 GTX+ should also begin to show up in the next few weeks. While the GTX 260 looks like an attractive buy at the moment, NVIDIA could be making a mistake by releasing the GTX+ at a cheaper price which may offer extremely similar performance once again."

More...

[magictorch]

Ok ill admit I haven't read this review in fine detail "yet"- but why does the GTX260 XXXXXXXoc edition only get a few frames more in crysis than the "older ie not +!" 9800GTX. That is just crap!! Plus the 9800GX2 totally destroys it.

Oh man is NVIDIA ever in trouble with the 4870. They better shrink the die on these new GTX's quickly.

[bojangles]

I think that the 260 might be a good buy if the price lowers within a month. But from what it looks like, the 4870 might still be the best high-end budget card.

[belgolas]

The 4870 is faster then the GTX 260 and in some cases is faster then the almighty GTX 280. 4870 CF is going to be sweet!

[Mibs]

I'm not sure how to feel about this. The 4870 is looking so awesome, and this card costs $100 more. And as belgolas said CF with the 4870 is going to be sweet, depending on the software of course. In the latest Anandtech review of the 4000 series some of the benchmarks of crossfire performance are just amazing (ie Bioshock). Not sure what Nvidia was going for here with the GTX 260. I can uderstand that the 280 exists for that niche market, and at very high resolutions that is definitely the goto card. But I just can't quite figure out what the target is for the 260.

[b1lk1]

The target is for Nvidia to suck as much $$$ for the least benefit possible. They have become lazy and are now lining up the cash cows for milking. Other than the GTX280, their latest releases do not make any sense at all.

[DK2]

Well after seeing this the 260 is looking much more attractive than the 280

[CMetaphor]

Originally Posted by belgolas

The 4870 is faster then the GTX 260 and in some cases is faster then the almighty GTX 280. 4870 CF is going to be sweet!

Don't forget that all the reviews so far (AFAIK) have been for the 512mb 4870. They are/may plan on releasing a 1gig version as well. Also, don't forget the 4870x2 will still be far cheaper than a GTX 280... which is already barely beating the 512mb 4870. I think it may be time switch Graphics camps.

[encorp]

The clock speeds are silly slow on the 260/280 - you'd think they would have pumped these up a lot more? They arn't even up to par with the 8800's that are out there as far as that goes. I'm willing to bet Nvidia has more than we're expecting up their sleeves. That dosn't mean that the current line up of ATI cards arn't amazing; I just think that it won't be as clear cut this round as we might expect. But I wouldn't expect ATI to just blow Nvidia out of the water so fast. I still think it'll take a bit more time before we see a turnover to that degree.

[DK2]

Seen a eVGA 260 on price compare, $649 compared to $690 for the 280.
I think I've changed my mind in the last 5 minutes. This is nuts!