The Test
Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: nvidia, gtx, 280
The Test
For this test, we used our reference configuration, and as usual tested the games exclusively with Fraps and under real gaming conditions. Most of the games used previously were used again, and updated as always (with the latest patches installed), but two new items have been included: Mass Effect, the space opera RPG by Bioware, which despite its Xbox 360 origins has been successfully ported and which we felt we simply had to use (also since it fills the gap left in our protocol since we dropped Fable). There’s also Race Driver: GRID, which despite its interface, is still a tester’s nightmare (like the earlier Colin McRae Dirt from the same publisher, Codemasters). The title is also visually very attractive and inaugurates the latest version of the Ego Engine.
All the synthetic DirectX 9 tests were run under Windows XP because of their instability under Vista (Fillrate Tester, RightMark 1050, ShaderMark 2.1 and SPECviewperf 10). RightMark 3D 2.0 (DirectX 10) was of course run under Windows Vista (without SP1 due to its instability with it), and Vista SP1 was used for all the games, CUDA tests, environmental measurements and overclocking. UAC, Aero, SuperFetch and indexing were disabled to ensure stable results.
We used only two resolutions for this test, 1920*1200 (24/26"), and of course the 2560*1600 used by 30" monitors – in this case a Samsung 305T. That’s because we feel that they’re the only two resolutions this type of very-high-end card will be running. Below them (up to 22"), you wouldn’t need to cough up the price of this breed of 3D card to get a good, fluid display on the majority of current games, as we noted during our latest tests
Plateforme.jpg Test configuration:
- Asus P5E3 Deluxe (Intel X38)
- Intel Core 2 Quad QX6850 (3 GHz)
- Crucial 2 x 1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz 7-7-7-20
- Western Digital WD5000AAKS
- Asus 12x DVD player
- Cooler Master RealPower Pro 850W
- Windows XP, Vista, Vista SP1
- ForceWare 177.34 beta (260 GTX and 280 GTX under Vista)
- ForceWare 177.26 beta (280 GTX under XP)
- ForceWare 175.16 WHQL (9800 GTX, 9800 GX2, 8800 Ultra)
- Catalyst 8.5 WHQL (HD 3870 X2)
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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