We'll compare the Radeon R7 260 to a wide range of cards from $80 to $140; we want a good overview of the budget-oriented marketplace. All of our benchmarks are run at 1920x1080 to show how AMD's latest handles Full HD.
| Test System | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2550K (Sandy Bridge), Overclocked to 4.2 GHz @ 1.3 V | ||||
| Motherboard | Asus P8Z77-V LX. LGA 1155, Chipset: Intel Z77M | ||||
| Networking | On-Board Gigabit LAN controller | ||||
| Memory | Corsair Performance Memory, 4 x 4 GB, 1866 MT/s, CL 9-9-9-24-1T | ||||
| Graphics | XFX Radeon R7 250 GDDR5 1000/1050 MHz GPU, 1 GB GDDR5 at 1150 MHz (4600 MT/s) Reference AMD Radeon HD 7750 800 MHz GPU, 1 GB GDDR5 at 1125 MHz (4500 MT/s) Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 1000 MHz GPU, 1 GB GDDR5 at 1125 MHz (4500 MT/s) Gigabyte Radeon R7 260 1000 MHz GPU, 1 GB GDDR5 at 1500 MHz (6000 MT/s) Reference Radeon R7 260X 1100 MHz GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1625 MHz (6500 MT/s) Reference Nvidia GT 640 900 MHz GPU, 1 GB DDR3 at 891 MHz (1782 MT/s) Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 650 1058 MHz GPU, 1 GB DDR3 at 1250 MHz (5000 MT/s) Reference Nvidia GTX 650 Ti 925 MHz GPU, 1 GB DDR3 at 1350 MHz (5400 MT/s) | ||||
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 Pro, 256 GB SSD, SATA 6Gb/s | ||||
| Power | XFX PRO850W, ATX12V, EPS12V | ||||
| Software and Drivers | |||||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | ||||
| DirectX | DirectX 11 | ||||
| Graphics Drivers | AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta 9.5, Nvidia GeForce 332.21 WHQL | ||||

We've almost completely eliminated mechanical storage in the lab, and instead lean on solid-state drives to alleviate I/O-related bottlenecks. Samsung sent all of our offices 256 GB 840 Pros, so we standardize on these exceptional SSDs.

Naturally, discrete graphics cards require a substantial amount of stable power, so XFX sent along its PRO850W 80 PLUS Bronze-certified power supply. This modular PSU employs a single +12 V rail rated for 70 A. XFX claims that this unit provides 850 W of continuous power (not peak) at 50 degrees Celsius (a higher temperature than you'll find inside most enclosures).
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Metro: Last Light | Version 1.0.0.14, Built-in Benchmark |
| Grid 2 | Version 1.8.85.8679, Built-in Benchmark Scene D6 |
| Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag | Version 1.05, Custom THG Benchmark, 40-Sec |
| Battlefield 4 | Version 1.0.0.1, Custom THG Benchmark, 90-Sec |
| BioShock Infinite | Version 1.1.24.21018, Built-in Benchmark |
If the price difference is so small compared to the 260X, why would anyone
bother with the 260? Skip a couple of beers and get a 260X. An utterly
unnecessary product IMO, it's just making use of dies that couldn't make the
grade for higher models.
Also, it's sad that we don't see single-slot cards anymore.
Ian.
If the price difference is so small compared to the 260X, why would anyone
bother with the 260? Skip a couple of beers and get a 260X. An utterly
unnecessary product IMO, it's just making use of dies that couldn't make the
grade for higher models.
Also, it's sad that we don't see single-slot cards anymore.
Ian.
Statements like this are what's causing Watt inflation and the myth that you need a dedicated transformer to run a PC. The review itself points out that system wattage is less than a quarter of the max continuous wattage. I think it's a serious disservice to constantly repeat this statement when it's clearly not true. At the very least it should be rewritten a bit.
Also, it's sad that we don't see single-slot cards anymore.
I agree - that would be one way AMD could differentiate with some of these models is to have one or two designed to be single-slot and/or low profile. That would add some reason for this insanity.
I definitely agree with ddpruitt about the PSU boilerplate in this article. A system with this card would run quite nicely on a 380W Earthwatts or Seasonic G360. There's certainly nothing wrong with maintaining a testbench containing an oversized monster of a PSU, but I'd like to see articles like this call out specific PSU suggestions so people know what they need for the card under review. I don't think a power-usage graph is enough for newbs who may not realize there aren't other usage cases where the card needs more.
https://www.google.co.za/search?q=adblock&oq=adbl&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.2978j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=adblock
They have to give people reasons to pay the $10-50 extra to upsale from HD77xx to R7-260(X) so I doubt they will change their mind about the software disable. Many AMD CPUs, GPUs and APUs are artificially fused off or otherwise locked to lower specs simply to meet demand for lower cost bins.