EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Michael Brown — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:32:00 -0500

OK, now we're getting somewhere

This card is based on Nvidia's most current GPU architecture, the GT200. Priced at $200, it's the least expensive model we tested that's capable of running Crysis at 60-plus frames per second.

If you shop for a GeForce GTX 260 card, make sure you're comparing apples to apples: Core 216 models like the one you see here are manufactured using a 55nm process, and are outfitted with 216 shader processors. Conversely, cards based on the original 65nm GTX 260 GPU remain on the market but possess only 192 processors. Both versions have a 448-bit interface to 896MB of GDDR3 memory.

Buyer beware: There are two versions of the GeForce GTX 260. The original model has 192 shader processors, while the Core 216 has—you guessed it—216.

EVGA overclocks the core in this particular model to 626MHz (up from a stock 576MHz) and gooses its memory to 1,053MHz (Nvidia reference designs run at 999MHz). The shader clock runs at 1,350MHz (up from a stock 1,242MHz).

The GTX 260 Core 216 has two six-pin power sockets, and you'll need at least 500-watt power supply to run it. EVGA provides Molex adapters if your PSU isn't outfitted with the appropriate cables. The company also provides a DVI-to-HDMI adapter and the S/PDIF cable needed to pipe audio from your motherboard to the videocard.

This card served up Crysis at 64.9fps and Call of Duty 4 at an even more impressive 103.2fps. Oddly enough, it achieved only 58.7fps in Far Cry 2—but that's close enough for the guys we swing with.

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iBuypower Gamer Paladin 990

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

IBuypower’s Gamer Paladin 990 is a strange beast. After we completed our testing, we were left wondering just what iBuypower was trying to accomplish with its half exotic, half midrange rig.

Take, for example, the videocard situation. The machine sports a pair of Nvidia’s newest GPUs, but not the company’s top-end offering, the GeForce GTX 280. Instead, iBuypower uses a pair of EVGA GeForce GTX 260s. If these GeForce cards weren’t midrange when they were first released, they certainly are now, as Nvidia has taken a blowtorch to prices to keep the GTX 260 competitive with ATI’s Radeon HD 4870.

IBuypower should have spent less on the Paladin’s paint job and more on its GPUs.

But just when you think, OK, this is a midrange machine, you’re confronted with two exotic additions: an overclocked, super-expensive 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9770 and a limited-edition Cooler Master CM830 case that’s been painted by Smooth Creations.

Smooth is arguably the best case paint shop in the business, dating back to the days when it decorated Falcon Northwest’s machines. Let’s just say that this rig’s paint job is nicer than our car’s. We’re also sweet on the EVGA 790i SLI Ultra board and its 4GB of DDR3 Corsair RAM. OK, so now you’re thinking this is actually an exotic PC, right? Well, no, not when you get to the storage. The machine sports a single Western Digital 150GB Raptor and a terabyte drive to back it up—and it’s not WD’s latest and greatest, lust-worthy Velociraptor.

We just don’t get it. It’s simply a crime to configure a Raptor without including a second Raptor in RAID 0. We’d rather have two terabyte drives than this funky setup.

On the performance front, the machine posts some solid benchmark numbers. IBuypower overclocked the stock 3.2GHz QX9770 to a very conservative 3.8GHz, which gets you pretty good performance and incredible stability. We subjected the machine to several hours of stress testing without a crash. In our non-gaming tests, the 3.8GHz Penryn CPU destroyed our zero-point’s 2.67GHz Core 2 Quad Q6700 but didn’t set any records. Most of our benchmark records are held by CyberPower’s Gamer Ultimate SLI Quad (reviewed July 2008), which was overclocked to 4GHz and featured a pair of Raptors in RAID 0. The Paladin 990 trailed the $5,000 Gamer Ultimate SLI Quad in every category.

The sad part is that the Paladin’s pair of GeForce GTX 260 cards couldn’t outrun the Gamer Ultimate’s pair of GeForce 9800 GX2s in SLI. The older GPUs in the Gamer Ultimate were significantly faster in Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3, so maybe there’s a reason Nvidia had to slash the price of the GTX 260 cards.

Here’s the real problem though. We’re not averse to dropping big sums on a rig—but it has to be worth it. At $4,600, the Paladin is hard to justify. Sure, it blazes past our zero-point, but we’ve tested machines that are even faster and not much more expensive than the Paladin.

Still, you get a sweet paint job and a pretty nice machine, but our take is that if you’re willing to spend $4,700, you might as well drop a few more bucks to get a faster rig.

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EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

OK, now we're getting somewhere

<< Back to the Penny Wise Videocard Index

PowerColor Radeon HD 4830

PowerColor Radeon HD 4850

EVGA GeForce 9800 GT

HIS IceQ 4+ Radeon HD 4870

EVGA GeForce GTX 275

iBuypower Gamer Paladin 990