It would seem that the gamer with the DDR3 bus, which has long been replaced by the DDR5 memory type, which is faster and more modern, can surprise the user. Nothing, if only this video adapter is not an Nvidia GeForce GTX 260, the characteristics of which can 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 of video adapters of this series was clearly overstated in the market. But any buyer knew that he did not have yet another consumer goods from a famous manufacturer, but almost one of the best products of white assembly. And we are talking about the gaming graphics card GeForce GTX 260. The characteristic of excellent assembly is only one of the whole list of qualities that this video adapter has.
Reducing the cost of the device on the market is due to the type of DDR3 bus used. Manufacturers felt that this memory would not play a big role in transferring 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 less to manufacture than a similar one with DDR5 memory.
Gentleman's set
This is not to say that for the top line, which includes the GeForce GTX 260, the characteristics are ideal and superior to the competition. Everything is very much the other way around. Take at least the process technology - 65 nm with a core area of 576 square meters. mm Any gamer will say that this is the last century. Another thing is interesting - the bandwidth of video memory, which is the most important characteristic for a game video adapter. It is 112 gigabytes per second. This is a very large indicator, even for modern gaming graphics cards.
The 448-bit memory bus provides high-performance video adapter. Apparently, due to the expensive bus, the price of the device is clearly too high, because recently Nvidia decided to install 384-bit buses in the top models, increasing the memory bandwidth due to overclocking the cores, but it is not known for how long they will have enough potential.
Something is wrong here
A very strange characteristic for the Nvidia GTX 260 is the amount of memory. After all, it is customary to set the size on the market in multiples of 512 megabytes, and here 896 MB. It's all about bit capacity: a non-standard bus was achieved by disabling several control units on the video adapter board, which affected the decrease in the total memory size.
And if we delve into the investigation, we can find out that the GTX 260 chip is a rejection of the older model from the same GTX 280 line. It just has a standard 512-bit bus and 1024 MB of memory on board. To reach the performance of the older brother, it will not be possible to improve the characteristics in the GeForce GTX 260 programmatically, except to solder the missing control units. Maximum, you can increase the core frequency 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 changes in the BIOS of the video adapter.
Some goodies
Pleased with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 characteristics of the video outputs. All devices on the market have identical connectors. You can connect any device, it does not matter whether it is 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 included in the kit allow you to connect devices that have a component input.
In all Nvidia GTX 260 video cards, the characteristics of the cooling system are impeccable. Cooling not only knows how to adjust automatically, but its high build quality does not cause discomfort during operation. What is quite rare in the market of video adapters.
Best deal
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 the GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition under this brand attracted the attention of many XFX fans to the product.
What is only one box. In size, it can compete with the size of the motherboard. Many adapters, accessories, branded driver disks and detailed instructions will not surprise anyone, but Far Cry 2 was bound to be a reward for a user who uses only licensed software.
The gothic appearance of the gaming video card is a little scary at first, but then arouses respect. Not every user has such a masterpiece. Naturally, the cooling system is at the top level, in this regard there are no questions about the XFX GTX 260. The power consumption characteristics are a bit confusing - 236 W, like the older GTX 280. Apparently, this factory overclocking the memory at 300 MHz affected the electricity consumption .
Not without Zotac
But the famous brand among gamers, the Zotac brand, which only recently took on chips from the top line, lost its position a bit when it launched the release of devices of a cheap segment. The product GeForce GTX 260, the technical characteristics of which, apparently, liked the manufacturer, Zotac put on the conveyor.
A proprietary box, excellent packaging in an anti-shock package, many cables and adapters, driver disks and instructions are a standard set for any top-end device. If you look closely at the adapter, you get the feeling that this is the same XFX, only with a new dragon sticker from Zotac. Even in the GTX 260, the characteristics of the cooling system are identical.
At the factory, it seems that they decided not to change the characteristics of the chipset, leaving everything as it is. This is evidenced by performance indicators, memory and core frequencies, as well as maximum power consumption. However, in the price category, the video card takes one of the first places, what’s the catch here is unknown.
Destroying the foundations
Manufacturers Gainward, Palit and Gigabyte are more about consumer goods, at least there is such an opinion. Apparently, they were interested in the Nvidia GTX 260 performance characteristics, and they released very productive devices that quickly found their customers.
Judging by the numerous consumer reviews in the media, there are no complaints at all with these three manufacturers. What is the equipment, what is the assembly, what is the performance - they are perfect. Naturally, the price pleased the buyers, because these manufacturers set a very attractive price for gaming video cards.
However, there are questions for the video adapter from MSI. The device is presented without any proprietary modifications - the GTX 260 video card is nothing special. The characteristics of the cooling system have always been in the first place for MSI, it is always easy to find it on the shelf on the Cyclone radiator.
Strange market player
Designers and designers of GALAXY, whose masterpieces can often be found on the market in the form of video cards with a large number of coolers in the cooling system, left a regular radiator in the GTX 260. The low temperature characteristic on the core and memory chips is the advantage for which customers go to store and purchase a GALAXY product.
Nevertheless, the manufacturer did something with the video adapter, since, having the factory characteristics of the chip, it shows itself excellently in tests, leaving behind the majority of the manufacturers of the chip of the same name. Interestingly, the temperature conditions of the core and memory are 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 gaming device market, is quite competitive in the top class. It is embarrassing for something completely different - all manufacturers, without exception, have installed almost the same cooling system. The user will not see any proprietary technologies from MSI or GALAXY. This oddity suggests that the video card is completely unsuitable for overclocking - there is no potential. Because of this, it makes no sense to install improved cooling. An increase in the core voltage does not give any increase in games, it only increases power consumption and heat dissipation.