XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI mode

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:

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.

The Tests

The GPU of XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition warmed up to 85 C, but during the process the fan of the cooling system was running at merely 64% of the maximum speed.

To test XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition video cards in the SLI combination, we had to amend the customary configuration of our test bench:

As a contender to XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI combination, we took Radeon HD 4870 X2. To test the GeForce video cards, we used the GeForce 180.43 beta driver that was optimized for Far Cry 2. For the Radeon HD 4870 X2, we used the Catalyst 8.11. We start introduction to the results with 3DMark tests.

At 3DMark 06, XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI combination scored about the same points as Radeon HD 4870 X2. But if we compare the results for all the video cards produced in this test, it becomes clear that we can't give an impartial view using these video cards. Now let's move on from the outdated 3DMark 06 to the modern 3DMark Vantage.

In 3DMark Vantage, there are no such restrictions as they were in 3DMark 06, so the results for all the video cards ranked in about the same sequence as it is in real games. The first place was taken by XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI which scored the most points. The second was the SLI combination made up of regular GeForce GTX 260. The nominal overclocking added quite a number of points to XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition, both in the SLI and in the single mode. And - alas - Radeon HD 4870 X2 was merely the third.

We compared the results for XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI versus the single XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in 3DMark tests.

Now let's see how the video cards in question will prove themselves in real games. Since the video cards being tested are really powerful, we set 8X FSAA and 16X AF enabled in games.

At Call of Duty, the performance of XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI, to all appearances, turned out to be restricted by the CPU speed, since its results and the results for the SLI made of regular GeForce GTX 260 video cards are very close in all the resolutions. The results for Radeon HD 4870 X2 proved to be worse since they drop as the resolutions go up.

At Need for Speed Pro Street Racing, the performance of XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI, to all appearances, again turned out to be restricted by the speed of the CPU, albeit not much as it was in the previous game. As the resolutions go up, we can see again some minor drop of performance. Radeon HD 4870 X2 demonstrated the worst results in this game, since the CrossFire mode is not yet optimized for it.

At Crysis, there are no issues with the restrictions of video cards' performance from the part of the CPU. At this test, we can see that XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI demonstrated the best results. The second place was taken by the SLI combination made of regular GeForce GTX 260 cards, and the third place was given to Radeon HD 4870 X2. If we compare the single XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition versus the regular GeForce GTX 260, then, due to overclocking, the new product by XFX demonstrates much better results.

At Call of Juarez, XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI do not suffer from the restrictions of the CPU as in the first two games. Therefore, their results are better than in the SLI combination made up of regular GeForce GTX 260, and the performance gain achieved through use of the SLI amounted to almost 100%. Radeon HD 4870 X2 demonstrated good results and took the third place in this test, and the performance of single GeForce GTX 260 proved to be little for high resolutions.

The game Race Driver: GRID for XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI, as well as for the SLI combination made up of regular GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 X2 proved to be poor - both the test and the speed of the above listed video cards proved to be restricted by CPU or maybe the game itself. In the end, we can merely state that the performance of these video cards is more than enough for this game. But the single XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition and GeForce GTX 260 video cards can be quite adequately benchmarked based on the produced results - the former demonstrated much better results than the latter due to overclocking.

At Far Cry 2, where the tests were run with the maximum settings enabled for a test scene of average duration, there are no problems with the CPU-boundedness of the video cards. The best results were demonstrated by XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI, followed by the SLI combination made up of regular GeForce GTX 260. However strange that may seem, in this test the video card Radeon HD 4870 X2 proved to be just a little bit faster than the single XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition.

We compared the results for XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI versus the single XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in games.

Final Words

XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition video cards have proved to be good candidates for video cards to be merged into a SLI. Quite powerful due to additional functional units included into only the updated versions of GeForce GTX 260, these video cards merged into a combination demonstrate a thrilling level of speed, which is able pleasing even the most demanding gamers who prefer high quality settings in games coupled with high resolutions. The price for a single video card like that is not too high - all is relative, so we'd better bring in a table of approximate prices for the tested video cards in the Moscow retail.

But.. we should keep it in mind that use of the SLI requires a matching motherboard, so the final price may go up.