280 GTX or 260 GTX?
Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: nvidia, gtx, 280
280 GTX or 260 GTX?
With 30% more floating-point calculating power and 27% more memory bandwidth, the theoretical gap between the two new Nvidia cards is a reality. In practice, the cards are physically close to one another, and also recall the latest high-end GeForce 9s, which is a rather regrettable consequence of the generalization of the black housing Nvidia has used on all of its most recent cards. Only the large (8-cm) radial fan, still slightly tilted to direct air toward the base, and the inevitable additional power connectors emerge from it. Two six-pin PCI Express connectors or one six-pin + one eight-pin connector – that’s what your power supply will have to deal with in exchange for the privilege of installing a GeForce 260 GTX or 280 GTX. But that’s nothing new, since ATI has gotten us used to those requirements in the past year with its 2900 XT.
280GTX
The SLI connectors and the HDMI input, still present, are hidden behind removable inserts. The only real difference compared to a GeForce 9800 GTX is that though there are double-slots and a grille set in the bracket, part of the hot air from the cards is vented via a second grille located on the upper edge and so will get recycled into the case – which is not really good news. The size of the cards is still 10.5" (26.7 cm), which has become standard on high-end graphics cards in the past two years, and the weight is just below a kilogram at 915 g, which is lighter than the HD 3870 X2 at 940 g.
GTX260
As always for very high-end cards at launch time, the Leadtek cards we received and tested for this article are in conformity with the reference design, except for a couple of the brand’s stickers on the housing. The 280 GTX box will include a game –NeverWinter Nights 2 (not necessarily very recent or a showcase for the card’s power), the DVI->VGA adapter, the HDTV cable (YUV and S-Video), two Molex-to-six-pin-PCI-Express adapters and a Molex-to-eight-pin-PCI Express adapter.
- Previous page Specifications: Better!
- Next page The Test
- Quad SLI Vs. 3-Way SLI
- Comparative Component Charts
- Best Graphics Cards for the Money: June 08
- Radeon 3850 AGP Plus Single-Core CPU
- GPU vs. CPU Upgrade: Extensive Tests
- NForce 780a SLI Debuts Hybrid SLI
- How To Overclock Your Graphics Card
- PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Cards: How Much Extra Performance Do They...
- Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX Review
- Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2 Review
hmm not as big an improvement as i thought. will have to wait and see on the drivers improving the cards , but the 260 gtx seems to be the much better option given the price. still , will have to see what ati bring to the fray first. patience will be reflected in price i have no doubt.
frankly depressing, Me WANTS MRAW POWER!!!!
I am so disappointed. Now if AMD delivers on the dual GPU single memory rumour (2 GPUs on a single card but without the Crossfire problems) NVidia could have a serious problem.
Why have they tested this system with only 2Gb of RAM? If you're testing a GPU with 1Gb of VRAM, surely you'd have more installed?
They also have 2 conflicting prices on page 28.
For the 280GTX- $846 and $650;
For the 260GTX- $450 and $400
Wouldn't it have been more prudent to test against a 8800gtx ultra as this is still the single most powerfull card.
It might just be me but 66.5dBa is unbearable unless you have your PC locked away in a cupboard somewhere. This business of supplying substandard fans on very expensive cards is intolerable. Why don't they strike a deal with Zalman / Thermalright for example, and ship cards that are quiet / silent? I'm sure that people who have the money to buy a £500 GPU could afford £10 more for a better cooling solution that's included.
where is that 20W to 30W idle you are talking about? The least in the graph is 199W!
mi1ez: Probably the reason for just 2GB RAM was that it allowed Tom's to stick with 32-bit OS architecture. If they tried using more RAM they'd be stuck with 64-bit Bindows which would not be pretty - aside from really needing 8GB to give a big difference over 2GB in 32bit Vista, there's the slight issue of stable signed drivers, which these cards probably won't have for a while. Good luck trying to get Vista 64 to even "see" the cards! XD
jhoravi: that idle power would only come up on newer nVidia mobos as the card would be shut down entirely when idle and hand over to the integrated chip.
And was it me or was the Noise text copypasted over the Temperature text on the next page? Oops.
Lets try again Mr THG (uhhhm try getting your fraking website working plz)...
Now lets see this puppy in action:
http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/01G-P3-1289-AR.pdf
!!
Bob