ZOTAC ZT-X26E3KB-FCP GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Reviewed By: rulereric on 1/4/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Cheaper than other nvidia card makers for this Factory set Clockspeed. Good value, last upgrade was to a 8800GT more than a year ago. This is the next logical stop till at least late summer 2009. NVIDIA has the best software.

Cons: Drivers are as all others. Zontac Software Overclocking GUI is not how I would have presented/coded it, it does work thou.

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Works beautifully

Reviewed By: tviceman on 1/2/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Comes with a great factory overclock and since it's the core216, it's 90-95% of the GTX280 performance for considerably less money. Supports Physx!

Crysis runs silky smooth on a mix of high/very high settings @ 1680x1050 (no aa).
L4D runs ultra smooth, same res maxed out with 4x aa.
Far Cry 2 runs fairly smooth with max settings and same res.

Cons: Expensive. 2 4850's in crossfire (when properly supported) will kill this card and cost either less or the same price.

Other Thoughts: This card is absolutely huge and heavy for it's size. Between the 4870 1 gig and this card, it is a toss up. Go for whichever company you think makes the better drivers.

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Second Review for SLI config

Reviewed By: J. Hackman on 12/10/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: This is my second review for my second Zotac GTX 260 Core 216. Installed the second unit in SLI mode, configured the latest NVidia for SLI mode, and tested with several games. By maxing out all options (resolution, aa, shader,...) You can definately see the improvement over a single card. I am able to play all the games at the highest res with all options enabled without lags, all I can say is Wow!
Thank you Newegg, Thank you Zotac.

Cons: Somehow, Crysis locks from time to time after installing the second card. Not sure if this is a system issue or the game itself, I have not patched Crysis, maybe patching will solve the locking issue. This may not be Zotac issue since all other games work fine.

Other Thoughts: Zotac has released a utility called Firestorm to overclock this baby. This card is already factory overclocked to 650Mhz, so do not try to push it too much. You should be able to achieve 675 or maybe 700, I have not tried 700 yet. Even with both card overclocked to 675Mhz, the fans are extremely quiet.
With my Quadciore CPU and 2 video O/C'ed, My 1.2KW power supply have no issue.
Note that each ZOTAC card has 2 SLI connectors. It is b/c you can run 3 cards in SLI mode. Unfortunately, my XFX mobo can handle only 2. When using 2 connectors, use the connectors on the back of each card (the one near the PC bracket).
My Viper case cannot keep up with the heat even with 4 full case fans blowing in and out. Have to leave my case open. Thanksfully it's winter, extra heat is not bad in a cold season so no complains... :)

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