GTX 260 vs. GTX 260 Core 216

[ryanb213]

Hi, just sold my 9800GTX+ on ebay. Looking for a new gpu. 1680x1050. My budget is anywhere from $200-$300. I have a P5Q PRO with options fore xfire but would rather not. 1 video card is all thats needed. It boils down to probably a gtx 260 or core 216.... id rather have nvidia atm. I could possibly strech my budget to get a 280, if its worth it that is..... So is $10-20 justify the extra cores?? ive got no bottleneck issues here with an e8400 @ 4GHz and 4gb ram so thats out of the question... You might ask why the hell would you sell a 9800gtx+ to get a 260???!!? well i wanted more vram and the 9800 oly had 512mb and the 260 has 896mb... i want to play gta4 at decent settings and your probalby going to say get a quad core....GTA4 is quad optimized but you cant tell me that it NEEDS a qaud THATS **** so what would you do if youre in my positon..? btw 750w psu

 

[cyber_jockey]

Take the gtx 260 core 216 and clock it higher then a gtx280 that leaves you with extra bucks for a better cooler if thats really needed.

 

[Kkkk1]

Now that the GTX 295 and 285 are out the cost of the 280 has tumbled. I'd get the 280 if you can afford it, (£250.00) now and you could always OC that. By the way a quad core will indeed improve GTA IV, not just me saying that but this came from RockStar as well.

 

[coozie7]

The cheapest 260 I found on Newegg was $245 and the cheapest GTX280$304 (including rebates and based purely on price, not spec) so it`s still hard to recommend the 280 over the 260 considering the small performance gap between the two.
I`d go for a GTX260, install that and then see if you really need the Quad.

 

[ryanb213]

Well thing is, i just built my system 2 weeks ago and the only reason i sold the 9800gtx+ is because i got it from a friend for $100 and sold it for $150. and upgrading a 2-week old cpu is out of the question. I dont want to play gta4 at some awesome settings like all maxed out just i want 40-60fps at DECENT settings. i was getting 40fps @ 1280x1024 and got a 22'' monitor and want about that same performance only higher settings (obviously 1680x1050 is higher settings already) so...... question is which gpu should i get? the gtx 260 or core 216? the 280 maybe???

 

[ryanb213]

oh wat i was saying is that a quad core will improve the game alot, its just not needed to play at medium settings

 

[L1qu1d]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/01/16/nvidia-zotac-geforce-gtx-285-1gb/5

Actually the 280 GTX shows some amazing gains over the 260 GTX sp 216.

Max res showing 25 vs 31...thats 20%.

Now we move to the lower resolution with AA, the gains are still 40 vs 45, which means a 12% gain.

Though the price is a tad exadurated, the improvements over the 260 GTX can be pretty high at times.

Ofc this is just 1 game, but the rest show some of the same gains.

but finding a 280 GTX for almost 300 after rebates, is def not bad considering I can still find some 260 GTXs for 289.99.

I think u'd be much better finding an old 260 (non 216) since it ocs alot more than the SP 216, which makes up for the loses. AND is alot cheaper. The BFG old 260s have been going for 149.99 after 50$ MIR here.

So my choices would b in order

Old 260 GTX, 280 GTX than the 260 SP 216 (just seems that with the diminished OC capabilities.....its kind of a waste unless you can find the 55 nm ones, but I'm sure those are really expensive.)

you should look into the 4870 1 gig, its really cheap compared to before and it has more RAm which will be a benefit as texture become bigger, and more demanding.

 

[ryanb213]

And where do you live that you can get a 260 for 149.99? basically the price between the regualr and core 216 is $10... so why not get core 216?
I heard that ATI has worse drivers than nvidia, they run hot, and to keep them cool you have to make the fan real noisy. from always been nvidia they stay cool and quiet imo.

 

[ryanb213]

http://www.provantage.com/evga-896-p3-1265-ar~7EVGA09E.htm

 

[L1qu1d]

I live in toronto, ATI has bad driver now, but they are comign with the new drivers that should improve a bit.

like i said, usually when i saw the 260s it would be a 50$ value...so i would suggest you shop around.

If its just 10$ then yes I guess the 216 is a safety card...but I'd rather have higher OC but thats just me.

There are other ATI cards such the ICE series that run really cool, and not that nosiey

You also need to make sure the cards run well on the games that you want to play.

If you found a 260 GTX for only 40$ more after MIR I think thats a pretty decent trade off for up to 20% better than the SP 216.

But like I said, it wouldn't hurt to shop around

Since you play @ 1280x1024, I don't kno why the 9800 GTX+ didn't pull the weight:S I mean its Not THAT much weaker than the 260 GTX.

For you to notice a really big difference would be to move onto a higher series...like when I moved from the 8800 GTS 320s in sli to the 9800 GX2 I didn't much, but I did notice some...kinda like the trade off from ur 9800 GTX to the 260 GTX.

 

[ryanb213]

1680x1050 now, i wanted more vram

 

[L1qu1d]

well the 260 GTX is only about 300 megs 4870 and 280 GTX have 1 gig

I would wait a bit and see how benchmarks play out. You might regret it when the 9.X drivers come out for ATI



I would double check benchmarks.

My opinion would be if you can find the 260 GTx much cheaper than the SP 216 it would be a much better buy. Or I would put a little bit more money a side, bite the bullet buy and 280 GTX for 300$ u'll get ur rebate PLus the extra Vram is very rewarding in some games (Crysis etc).

Never hurts to wait though...prices will generally only go down

 

[ryanb213]

the 260 has 896 megs not 300 and what if i got a 4870 1GB? would it be worth to xfire on a p45??? anyways is the 280 THAT much better over the 260? i mean 100mb of vram cant be all?

 

[L1qu1d]

300 difference I forgot to put the word. and yes its only about 100 megs difference but lets see the boost of going from 512 896 or the jump to 1024 I mean if its all about the Vram.

WEll it has 240 SP 512 bit bus width and higher clocks over all.

U kno i just saw, you have a crossfire board.....DUH it would be worth it... The 4870 x2 is near the top lol and 2 4870s have been known to outperform it.

So yes I think it would bet better, than just knowing that max you can do is 260 GTX



All this can be scratched if 1 pci express is 16x and the other is lower.

 

[ryanb213]

yes in xfire it will only work at x8 speed but with a single card it will run at x16 2.0

 

[geofelt]

The GTX260 has been phased out in favor of the 55nm gtx260 216 variant. You might be able to find a good deal on the non 55nm parts which will perform as well. I figure that the 216 gives you about 10% more than the old base model. In any case, it will be better than your old card and run everything well. If you can find a gtx280, for less than a 10% premium over the 216, that would be good. Some units have been binned, and factory overclocked for a premium. You might get lucky with your own overclock, but I would assume that what you see is all that you would get.