- 896MB 448-Bit GDDR3
- Core Clock 655MHz
- 2 x DVI 1 x HDMI (via Adapter)
- 216 Cores CUDA Cores
- PCI Express 2.0 x16
GTX 260
04/24/2009
This review is from: MSI GeForce GTX 260 896MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Video Card N260GTX-T2D896-OCv2
Pros:
Like most great deals, it's fantastic if you iron out all the kinks. Luckily all kinks are spotted throughout this review site. Gotta love newegg's review/forum pages.
Bought this card just for GTA IV, and it's worth it. Performance yet very affortable (at least for me). GTA IV is notorious for it's inefficient engine, so the extra memory helps a lot. My old card X1950xt had 256mb. So saw a big improvement in games that requires lots of memory. All other games I play though don't see much improvement. Don't get me wrong, there IS an improvement, but like 15%-20%. And I'm talking about FPS games. I beat COD 5 at high settings with my old card and it was fine.
Another thought I had was, I wouldn't of bought it if I had to spend $150 for a decent/long term PSU. I've had mine for 4years and not one time did I worried about not enough power. PSU is one of those components I would spend a bit more on for the extra long life span use.
Cons:
1) Video Bios dont control fan well enough, so you have to get the latest nvtuner. I've tried EVGA's Precision, but it dont have auto fan adjustment linked to temperature.
2) I dont know if rebate's gonna come, but I'd be p'd if I dont get that extra dough back cuz I paid 15 for tax. Still not use to paying tax on newegg. But it's just price you gotta pay for living in California.
3) Big freaking card. I had a ATI X1950xt and this GTX trumps my old card. Had to take away my extra harddrive holder from my case.
4) Sucks up juice like no other. I know it's only 180ish watts, but it requires way too much current on the 12V rail. 36Amps is the recommended system requirement. Luckily my 4 year old Seasonic 650W power can support it. It's only got 38Amps on the 12V rails. I thought my two harddrives, DVDrom, and 120mm fans would take too much away. Oh, and like the others said, you need two 6-pin power connectors. PSU rated SLI or Crossfire have them.
Overall Review:
The Nvtuner was a bit harder to use than what I'm use to. Here's what I did to create a automated fan profile:
1) Under the "Launch" tab "add" new tasks to launch. These tasks will be fan speed values.
2) Under the "Schedule" tab "add" trigger event to trigger tasks. These tasks would be your fan speed setting done in step 1. The trigger condition would be "gpu core temp" at a particular range. So for example, I have a task name 70% Fan. And there's a trigger condition that sets this task to on whenever core temp is between 45C - 50C. Took me a while that's why I want to share this, but once you tune the fan, this card is SWEEEEET!
Oh, and yes the fan is pretty loud above 75%. That's why you need an automated Fan Profile. Cuz you won't notice it when you're killing baddies and the core temp goes up to 50C and your fan goes up to 90%. My temp never goes beyond 62C with room temp ~24C. GTA IV runs at high setting now and Crysis Warhead is NICE!
-Formerly New Yor
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- Wai Y.
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Verified Owner
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Owned For:
1 week to 1 month
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