Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review

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Specifications: Better!

As is often the case, Nvidia is making two cards available for its launch – a very-high-end version, the GeForce GTX 280, and a slightly more affordable but still high-end card, the GeForce GTX 260. Let’s look at the other characteristics of these cards compared to their competitors.

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GPU	HD 3870 X2	9800 GX2	8800 Ultra	GTX 260	GTX 280
GPU frequency	825 MHz	600 MHz	612 MHz	576 MHz	602 MHz
ALU frequency	825 MHz	1500 MHz	1512 MHz	1242 MHz	1296 MHz
Memory frequency	900 MHz	1000 MHz	1080 MHz	999 MHz	1107 MHz
Memory bus width	2x256 bits	2x256 bits	384 bits	448 bits	512 bits
Memory type	GDDR3	GDDR3	GDDR3	GDDR3	GDDR3
Memory quantity	2 x 512 MB	2x512 MB	768 MB	896 MB	1024 MB
Number of ALUs	640	256	128	192	240
Number of texture units	32	128	32	64	80
Number of ROPs	32	32	24	28	32
Shading power	1 TFlops	(1152) GFlops	(581) GFlops	715 GFlops	933 GFlops
Memory bandwidth	115.2 GB/s	128 GB/s	103.7 GB/s	111.9 GB/s	141.7 GB/s
Number of transistors	1334 million	1010 million	754 million	1400 million	1400 million
Process	0.055µ	0.065µ	0.080µ	0.065µ	0.065µ
Die surface area	2 x 196 mm²	2 x 324 mm²	484 mm²	576 mm²	576 mm²
Generation	2008	2008	2007	2008	2008
Shader Model supported	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0

With 1,400 million transistors, and especially at 576 mm², Nvidia has created another monster – the biggest GPU ever produced, breaking the record, impressive as it was, of the G80 (16% smaller)! Yet this value ought to have remained constant over the generations (it has even been diminishing in recent times for “general-public” CPUs). Clearly production of the GT200 is extremely expensive for Nvidia, even if the conservative engraving depth is what explains the existence of a chip like this today.

Another notable point is that by continuing to use GDDR3, Nvidia is now not one but two generations behind in this department, since GDDR5 will make its appearance with the soon-to-be-released Radeon HD 4870. But though that is worth mentioning, thanks to the 512-bit bus, the increase of memory bandwidth is still 64% compared to the 8800 GTX’s 86.4 GB/s. And we’re finally seeing the debut of a high-end card with more than 512 MB of usable memory (not counting the relatively old and not widely distributed 8800 Ultra)! With 1 GB (and 896 MB for the GTX 260 – a good thing), performance at 2560*1600 resolution should finally be able to hold up!