Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review

Features
By Fedy Abi-Chahla, Florian Charpentier
published

Mass Effect

Mass Effect

gtx 260 280

gtx 260 280

Ported from Xbox 360, Mass Effect runs very well on the Radeon HD 3870 X2, except that the card is incapable of applying the antialiasing demanded by the drivers. But that proved to be useful at 1920*1200 (but not at 2560*1600, since the game became simply unplayable at that resolution). Another advantage is that it didn’t keep the GTX 280 from leading the field, since the 9800 GX2 doesn’t do well with this game and for once was soundly beaten (34% at 1920*1200 + filters and 62% at 2560 *1600). The GTX 280’s lead on the 9800 GTX was 220% at 1920*1200 + filters, and here the GeForce GTX 260 easily came in just behind its big sister.

Fedy Abi-Chahla
149 Comments Comment from the forums
  • BadMannerKorea
    FIRST OMFG NVIDIA pwns!
    Reply
  • Lunarion
    what a POS, the 9800gx2 is $150+ cheaper and performs just about the same. Let's hope the new ATI cards coming actually make a difference
    Reply
  • foxhound009
    woow,.... that's the new "high end" gpu????
    lolz.. 3870 x2 wil get cheaper... and nvidia gtx200 lies on the shelves providing space for dust........
    (I really expectede mmore from this one... :/ )
    Reply
  • thatguy2001
    Pretty disappointing. And here I was thinking that the gtx 280 was supposed to put the 9800gx2 to shame. Not too good.
    Reply
  • cappster
    Both cards are priced out of my price range. Mainstream decently priced cards sell better than the extreme high priced cards. I think Nvidia is going to lose this round of "next gen" cards and price to performance ratio to ATI. I am a fan of whichever company will provide a nice performing card at a decent price (sub 300 dollars).
    Reply
  • njalterio
    Very disappointing, and I had to laugh when they compared the prices for the GTX 260 and the GTX 280, $450 and $600, calling the GTX 260 "nearly half the price" of the GTX 280. Way to fail at math. lol.
    Reply
  • NarwhaleAu
    It is going to get owned by the 4870x2. In some cases the 3870x2 was quicker - not many, but we are talking 640 shaders total vs. 1600 total for the 4870x2.
    Reply
  • MooseMuffin
    Loud, power hungry, expensive and not a huge performance improvement. Nice job nvidia.
    Reply
  • compy386
    This should be great news for AMD. The 4870 is rumored to come in at 40% above the 9800GTX so that would put it at about the 260GTX range. At $300 it would be a much better value. Plus AMD was expecting to price it in the $200s so even if it hits low, AMD can lower the price and make some money.
    Reply
  • vochtige
    i think i'll get a 8800ultra. i'll be safe for the next 5 generations of nvidia! try harder nv crew
    Reply