More than a refresh, the GTX 260 Black Edition utilises NVidias 2nd generation Unified Architecture with 216 stream processors. There's some stiff competition around at the moment, can the new card cut the mustard?

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...002143858s.jpg

Read the full review HERE

Nice Job sir!

Looks like a fantastic card. If your unwilling to budge form the green camp then this looks like the price: performance card. Just shame ATI's offerings are still better value imo.

Nice one webbo, its certainly a nice looking card!

It would be an absolute steel... if ati didnt exist :S

I would have liked to put the ATI 4870 1gb against the 260gtx 216 as they are both around the same price point but we didn't have any for at the time but no doubt one will arrive soon.

What a cracking card, priced well too imo! Puts the 512 4870 in it's place now

That is an awesome overclock, you managed to acieve on this card. lol. Anotehr review of this card at techgage only managed 700-1475-1200 compared to your 765-1585-1311. Is this definatly correct??

Also the 512mb 4870 is still this cards main competitor as the 1gb version has slower memory.

But what i want to know is how this black edition card compares against the hd4870 512/1gb when they are both overclocked??

Thanks for a GREAT review!

I like XFX Video Cards very much and this one is not an exclusion.

The 'Black Edition' is definitely a great thing, providing you a high-end card pre-overclocked right of the oven.

I wish I had such a great card to upgrade my soon-to-be-old/slow-for games () 8800GTX.

Yes the clockspeeds are definitely correct. I was quite amazed too but you have to bear in mind every card is different so Techgage might have been unlucky or we got lucky, who knows. It could well be down to me re-applying a thin layer of paste on the core after taking the card apart that allowed better clocks allthough I doubt it as GPU's are very finnicky, especially the memory when overclocking and heat has little bearing on the matter.

The tests were run with the card at STOCK speed, not overclocked.

That's definitely an impressive overclock . I wonder what would be the results if their were taken with these clocks??? (765-1585-1311)

The GTX280 still clocks well tho I'm looking forward to the new GTX280 tbh :P

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/webbo10/dx10.jpg

That is true but, What i love about this black card is that its in some games equivolent to a gtx280 at £80 cheaper. lol

Yup. Seems like NVidia are clawing back some ground.

:O you have one hell of a system going on there webbo!

Sorry webbo. You were quoting me wrong. Please note that I've edited my post.

Of course the 765-1585-1311 clocks are NOT the stock clocks.

And yeah, I'm positively sure the new GTX280 will overclock like a beast!

It would be nice to see it's overclocking results.

I trust you that you'll share with us the findings once you overclock it...

Unfortunately Jim has taken up all of my time with upcoming reviews so sadly the XFX 260 is back in it's box. OC3D is growing rapidly so reviewers have little time to play with the goodies they get to review. I would liked to have sat on the review item a little longer but its like being a kid in a sweet shop, there's just so many different things to try!

Thanks for the kind comments though.

You're welcome Webbo!!!

Thanks for the great reviews you're doing guys!

And...I wish you'll have more time 'playing' with the products you get to review, mainly if it's a monsterous video card like the GTX260.

We do get to sample some items for longer but as we are getting busier and busier it is becoming less and less. Not that I would change those circumstances so its all good.

Yeah, even with the current circumstances I'm pretty sure it is fun, mainly if you get to keep some of the samples. But even if not, I bet it's still great, fun and interesting thing to do.

I had the opportunity to become an hardware reviewer for another forum, but I didn't take the job, as I'm working like 11 hours everyday and it's hard for me to keep up with the reviews

I have time for that only during the weekend and I want to spend some time with my wife...

Anyway...KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. And...BACK TO TOPIC!

Great review. Flippin iPhone wouldn`t show me the graph stuff !

Any ideas as to when ? I`m meant to be buying in 2 weeks.

Hmm, I dont think has date has really been set on it...

I know what you mean webbo, Ive not even had that many to do compared to you and Im rushed off my feet!

Nah not even the people @ Fud are talking about new 280s. Perhaps they wont show their faces, they do however have news of new gpus for ati and nvidia in something like march/may 2k9.

I've heard all sorts of rumours ranging from GTX280+ to GTX270/290 and most recently GTX350! I quite like the sound of the 260GX2, four GTX260 216's in quad sli - niiiiiiice

Seems that if ur looking for the downright quickest single gpu, the one for a few months atleast would be the gtx280 - otherwize there'd be news about it ?

Yup, thats why I have two in my setup...always on the lookout for a third tho.

Having said that, for the price the GTX 260 BE is a very good buy.

Hehehe... Having TWO GTX260 is nice!!! Although I'd personally prefer a single GTX280!

It's just after midnight (I'm in Scotland) which means my XFX GTX260 BE will arriving later on today. The only downside is, i'll be at work untill 4.30pm. but then

Anyone got any clues on what sort of frequency i should have my Q6600 to avoid a CPU bottleneck, or should stock be ok?

Between 3 and 3.6ghz will suit it nicely.

That's ok, i run 3.2Ghz 24/7 at the moment. It's just i only have a 550W PSU and i am worried that the GPU will be taking so much power that if i clock the CPU then i'll have power problems. I am going to have to get santa to buy me a new PSU i think.

If your 550w psu is a quality brand it should cope fine.

Got 500w ppc&c powering gaming rig atm >.<

Works fine

Got my card in and running. First thing i done was install 3dmark vantage and give it a run. As soon as the bench was running and demanding power i heard the fans slow a little, not much but it was a noticable pitch change. Got everything on stock, think i'l get a new PSU before overclocking

Who's your psu made by? if the power dipped enough to slow the fans then the whole pc shouldve shut down...

Its made by ezcool. I'm guessing its not that great as the inlet for the psu inside the case has the fan on the oposite end from the outlet not the larger type of inlet i'v seen on the side of the psu pointing toward the cpu. Not getting shutdowns just a very slight pitch change from the fans. Think i'll go for a 650-750W supply soon, dont want to go too high as i'm not planning on getting another card to sli or that. I'm kinda hoping that by the time this comp starts showing its age, they'l be a whole new list of components.

Not a big lover of EZ cool... Had 2 of them I think. One is still going in a machine I sold to my friend ages ago but I had another blow up and take 75% of the computer with it. HDD, Mobo, GFX card.... It made me sad.

Your saying this to scare me into pressing the power button yeah? I'm deffinitely getting a new psu soon.

Lol na not at all... It's just a little hit and miss with cheap PSU's. You might get one that's perfectly fine... But then again you might get a dud.. It's whether you want to risk it really.

Got a bit worried last night, was trying out Crysis since i'd only seen it struggling to reach good fps on medium settings at 800x600 with my previous 8500gt. Anyway i started a new game with 1280x1024 on highest dx10 settings just to see how much better it looked and after the sky diving, i'd barely gotten on the beach when i smelled something burning. Nothing was on fire, but the psu was kicking out some heat out the back kinda like a heat gun for stripping paint. I quit the game and within a minute the temperature was down again but i'm not going to push it again.

I will just have to wait till tomorrow when i get paid to buy a new psu before i can game. I'm gonna get something about 700W as the box for the 260 BE says XFX recommended power requirements Non-SLI = 630W or greater and SLI = 680W or greater. The chances of me buying another card to SLI are slim but i'll go for 700W anyway.

It's either just wait till tomorrow or i underclock the card to run at normal 260 speeds just for tonight and see if it doesnt whore the Wattage so much

That you may have, but what kind of card is it? Is it the Watt raping gtx200 series lol

Do yourself a very big favour and bin that EZ cool PSU. Why anyone would spend quality money on a PC then cheap out on the most important PC component is simply beyond me.

Well to be honest, i cheaped out to start with and i'm slowly building up my parts, still on my list is psu and 2 medium sized drives to raid.

Looks like its the psu tomorrow

Remember, better to get a quality brand with lower wattage than a cheap brand that claim high watts.

..and check the OC3D PSU reviews section if you need guidance:

http://www.overclock3d.net/index.php?/power_supply

There's a whole lot of reviews in there which should help you decide.



(or just tell us how much cash you've gor set aside for a new PSU and we'll pick one for ya)

Ok i'v went for the corsair TX650W £75 from scan

Anyway sorry to go off topic for a bit about PSU's but anyway...

My comments on the XFX GTX260 Black Edition are that its a great card, pushed a little i can get the core/mem/shader clocks to 730/2546/1520 so performance is not an issue.

Ok so the £230 i paid is a bit more than the 4870 1gb but the rest of my parts are sli ready and i did get FarCry2 and 3DMark Vantage bundled with it. I dont feel ripped off at all as its coping with all my demands no problems. Thank you XFX.

folks is this a "reference design" ie would it take a standard block from EK and XSPC for example. Thinking of XSPC Razor full cover block.

Thanks in advance.

Yes it is reference design - any 260 block should fit fine.