Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review
Features
published
Test Drive Unlimited
With Test Drive Unlimited, there was no doubt as to the superiority of the new high-end Nvidia card, even though the 9800 GX2 stayed close (less than 8% behind at the first three resolutions, and 17% at the highest). Another piece of good news for the manufacturer is that the superiority of the GTX 280 was evident from 1920*1200 up, with performance twice as good as the 9800 GTX (with filters enabled, of course). Oddly, moving up to 30" didn’t accentuate that lead, but reduced it – but it was still 50% without filters and 76% with. As for the GTX 260, its lead over the 8800 Ultra at the same resolution also dropped, to 11% on average.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
More about gpus
149 Comments
Comment from the forums
-
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 differenceReply -
foxhound009 woow,.... that's the new "high end" gpu????Reply
lolz.. 3870 x2 wil get cheaper... and nvidia gtx200 lies on the shelves providing space for dust........
(I really expectede mmore from this one... :/ ) -
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 crewReply