GeForce 9600 GT/GTS 250/GTX 260 Non-Reference Roundup
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Gigabyte’s GV-N96TSL-1GI And GV-N96TZL-1GI: Different Personalities
- 3. Gigabyte’s GV-N96TSL-1GI And GV-N96TZL-1GI: Identical PCBs And Overclocking
- 4. Asus ENGTS250 Dark Knight 1G
- 5. Asus ENGTS250 Dark Knight 1G, Cont’d
- 6. Zotac GeForce GTS250 AMP! Edition
- 7. Zotac GeForce GTS250 AMP! Edition, Cont’d
- 8. Asus ENGTX260 Matrix
- 9. Asus ENGTX260 Matrix, Cont’d
- 10. MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition
- 11. MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition, Cont’d.
- 12. Test System And Benchmarks
- 13. Synthetic Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage
- 14. Game Benchmarks: Crysis
- 15. Game Benchmarks: Left 4 Dead
- 16. Game Benchmarks: Fallout 3
- 17. Game Benchmarks: World In Conflict
- 18. Game Benchmarks: Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
- 19. Overclocking Benchmarks
- 20. Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks
- 21. Conclusion
It’s no secret that, when it comes to buying PC components, neither the cheapest nor the most-expensive products available represent that value sweet spot where price and performance intersect. More often than not, it’s the equipment a tier or two under the bleeding-edge, high-end hardware able to offer the most best bang for your buck.
In today's graphics card market, Nvidia offers a few great products that fall within that most-attractive range. On the low end of the spectrum, the GeForce 9600 GT can be had for under $100 (though it's under heavy fire from the compelling Radeon HD 4770). It serves up reasonable performance, though. A few dollars more gets you into GeForce GTS 250 territory, which turns out to be a re-badged GeForce 9800 GTX+ with a new coat of paint, more memory, and the same great performance. At the top of the price/performance value ladder is Nvidia's GeForce GTX 260, with models coming in under $200 and providing exceptional power for that price.
Today, we will scrutinize a few GeForce cards in this range, each of which offers a unique spin compared to the reference model that Nvidia designed (the implementation that we usually review for a launch). We’re going to see unique cooling solutions, overclocks, powerful tweaking tools, and other bells/whistles associated with these cards to help each stand out from the pack and appeal to customers who want a little more than what the average model can provide.
On the plate we have: Gigabyte's GV-N96TSL-1GI, Gigabyte's GV-N96TZL-1GI, Asus' ENGTS250 Dark Knight, Zotac's GeForce GTS250 AMP! Edition, Asus' ENGTX260 Matrix, and MSI's N260GTX Lightning Black Edition. We’ve got a lot of cards and data to cover, so let’s dig in.
Would you run the first passive card with negative air pressure?
@mi1ez. Not too sure how yours is set up. But for most living rooms I'm sure the average Ikea or Argos T.V. cabinet wouldn't have adequate airflow for that. Getting waffted with heat in the summer wouldn't be my choice.
I don't have a passive card. I was just curious really given what they said about the card drawing cool air from outside the case.
The MSI overclocking panel appears to claim the fan is at 600,000rpm!
I wonder if there's an option on the Asus ENGTS250 Dark Knight card that allows you to run the cooler passive when idle? Seems like the heatsink could pull that off easily, doesn't it? It would be nice to have silent card when in 2D
so the question is can you control RPM of the fan and if so, can you put it to 0% when idle?
Well I just bought the Asus ENGTS250 card based on this review, and not only is the memory clocked slower at 2000Mhz DDR, the card does not slow it's clocks in 2D mode leading to substantially higher power consumption at idle.
I'm not impressed.