XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI mode
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Date: 28.11.2008 |
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The fierce competition has forced NVIDIA to raise the speed of GeForce GTX 260 video cards through adding one more functional unit to the GPU. The price for such video cards remained the same, which aroused their attraction. Today, we are reviewing the updated version of GeForce GTX 260, examining its performance and, moreover, examining the matter of the scalability of the SLI combination made up of two such video cards. To this end, we took two XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition video cards which not only offer an increased number of functional units in the GPU but are also factory-overclocked. In the below table, we compared their specifications versus those for the regular GeForce GTX 260:
| Name Specifications |
GeForce GTX 260 (core 192) |
GeForce GTX 260 (core 216) |
XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition |
| GPU |
GT200 |
| Video memory capacity, MB |
896 |
896 |
896 |
| Memory bus width, bit |
448 |
448 |
448 |
| Core / GPU shader unit frequency, MHz |
575/1240 |
576/1242 |
666/1404 |
| Effective frequency of the video memory, MHz |
2000 |
2000 |
2304 |
| Universal processors |
192 |
216 |
216 |
| Texture units |
64 |
72 |
72 |
| ROP units |
24 |
24 |
24 |
| System bus and other communications interfaces |
PCI-Express 2.0 x16 / 2xDVI/S-Video/support for HDMI via an adapter |
The box for the XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition is made primarily in black color. On the front side, there is a list of some specifications of the new product, namely, the GPU frequency which is equal to 666 MHz.
On the reverse side of the box, there is a list of some specifications of GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition, including the number of active universal processors contained in the GPU – 216 altogether. This will help the buyer not to fail through purchasing the old modification of GeForce GTX 260 with 192 universal processors.
The package bundle of XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition is fairly rich:
- power supply adapter for PCI-Express video cards;
- DVI -> D-Sub adapter;
- DVI -> HDMI adapter;
- S-Video > Component out adapter;
- a cable to apply the S/P-DIF sound signal to the video card;
- drivers CD;
- CD with the full version of Far Cry 2;
- a poster «Do not disturb, I’m gaming”;
- the license key to the test version of 3DMark Vantage;
- a coupon entitling the user for a free technical support from XFX;
- User's manual;
As you can see, the bonus items the XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition comes bundled with not only allow to compete on par against counterparts at 3DMark Vantage and play Far Cry 2, but also to get technical support in case problems arise.
XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition is fully identical to the reference GeForce GTX 260 and is decorated with a proprietary black sticker, only from the front side.
For the joy of enthusiasts, some are up to changing the nominal cooling system with an alternative system, and the fans on the video card's reverse side are not glued with the proprietary sticker as it used to be. And that allowed us to look "under the hood" of the video card.
Under the cooling system, there is the formidable NVIDIA GT200 graphic processor which contains almost half a billion of transistors! As compared to the first version of GeForce GTX 260, there are more functional units enabled, and only one remained disabled. But the video memory subsystem remained the same. XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition is equipped with 896 MB of video memory plugged in to the GPU over the 448-bit bus. For that, two video memory chips had to be removed, one from each side of the video card.
The contact pad for the second missing chip of the video memory on the reverse side of the video card is positioned symmetrically to the first one on the front side of the board. As it became clear after examining GeForce GTX 260, to manufacture it the same PCB as that for the production of GeForce GTX 280 video cards is used.
The cooling system has not brought any surprises - the one like that is used in GeForce GTX 280 video cards and was reviewed before.
The GT200 graphic processor used in XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition is marked as G200-103, while in the previously examined GeForce GTX 280 the graphic processor was marked as G200-300.
The video memory chips used in XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition are identical to those used in GeForce GTX 280. Their access time is 0.8 ns, which is equivalent to the effective clock speed 2400 MHz. Engineers at XFX have almost reached this value through overclocking the video memory on XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition to 2304 MHz. Recall that NVIDIA recommends to the the clock speed of the video memory for GeForce GTX 260 at the 2000 MHz mark.
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