Official "I just got my GeForce GTX 260 or 280" thread

[Athena]

My cute new Asus GTX260 came via the UPS man today. I quickly installed it with the latest drivers from Nvidia. My 3dMark06 score went down from my old 8800GTS512 from 11,000 to 10,500. Also during the load screens of the 3dMark the video card would chirp like a bird. But in games performance jumped a good bit and no cherping. In City of Heroes I went from a low of 30 FPS to a low of 50. The high is locked to the refresh at 60 so that's nice.

[Drax]

eVGA GTX280 SC - Out For Delivery

Alllllllllmost here. It's replacing 9800 GX2. Can't wait to say goodbye to all the damn pauses and hitching. About the only game it wouldn't do it in is WoW which I could run at 2x2 SS. Blizz really made that game able to run on -anything-.

[Shamrock]

EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked now $245 at newegg. Theres actually a $30 rebate still active if you can find it online somewhere that would make the card $225!!!!!! Good god I should have waited one more week. I thought it had plateaued when I bought mine for $279 AR a week ago! Get em while theyre hot!

I got in on that rebate. It expired on July 27th. I ordered mine on the 25th. I got mine in today! Gonna send out the rebate tomorrow.

I posted the rebate in the for sale section.

And Holy cow, talk about overkill! I can't get all the performance out of my 260 because I have an AMDx2 4800+ :D

[gunslash]

got my bfg oc gtx 280 on the way from tigerdirect...$384 AR, I figured I'd get it.
currently running HD4850 in Crossfire, but I'm having too many issues with ATI's drivers...the hardware is awesome, but their software blows chunks...so back to Nvidia I go (nana2)

[Dazz]

Just got my EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked last yesterday only played company of heroes with DX10 slight stuttering while playing DX10 overclocked it too 700/1500MHz & 2400MHz memory and it was smooth! My 9800GTX and 8800GTX just couldn't cut it at all, temps are good, idle 47C max load 55C very quite too, fan at 40%. Very happy. I was tosing between a 4870 and this GTX 260, but gone with the GTX due to the extra memory if there was 1GB version of the 4870 i would of got that instead. And got it from the States for £147!! Considering the 4850 costs average of £110 thats a damn good deal. Not sure how EVGA will react with warranty howver which i hope i never have to use.

QX9650 @ 4GHz
4GB PC8000
EVGA GTX 260 896MB @ 700 Core 1500MHz Shaders and 2400MHz memory

Average 92.3fps
Max 209.0fps
Min 19.9fps

Off the top of my head my 9800GTX was somthing like

Average 35fps
Max 67fps
Min 3.2fps

Considering that sites that reviewed the GTX260 seemed to indicate not much of an improvement the GTX260 had over the 9800GTX seems unfounded!! I have not tested any other games at the moment but there is nearly 3x performance increase in avaerage fps and min frame rates are 6x in that game!

[MUFC4EVER]

Sold my 2x 88GTS 640's for £140 and bought the xpertvision GTX260 for £180. Bye bye SLI issues!!

I am very impressed with this card. Medal of Airborne for instance is now playable and I've nearly finished it today. In SLI it was like running through mud that I just gave up.

IN 3DMark it is on a par with the GTS's but in all games it is better. I only game at 1680x1050 and with this card I can crank up the AA & AF and have smooth gameplay. I did consider the GTX280 but the heat issue put me off and the 4870X2 but it's not out yet.

I just thought the GTX260 was a "bargain" only costing me £40.

(lee63)

[Mike89]

Sounds like most in this thread are happy with their purchase of the 280. Apparently I'm an exception (in this thread at least), I got mine and wasn't impressed. I ended up RMAing it through Newegg. Should be getting the replacement (same EVGA sc GTX 280) Monday or Tuesday. I swapped out a 8800GTX that ran flawless in my system. Got the 280 and had nothing but problems from the beginning. Losing signal to monitor, constant game crashes in every single game I played. When the card didn't crash out the system, it still never felt faster than the 8800GTX and in fact actually felt slower at times. I guess I just got a bad card (and frankly dunno how this one got past quality control). Hopefully this new one will change my spirits/opinion of the card. I have my fingers crossed. I'm not used to being unhappy with an Nvidia card, it's a feeling I don't like at all. I want to be a happy camper again!

[XMAN52373]

Got my GTX260 today. DDO runs great, FlatOut how ever is having issues. Will try again later after a reload of the game, right now it wont even start. Went from 2x BFG 8800GTSOC 640s 6 months ago to 2x XFX 9600GT XXXs to 1 BFG GTX260. Performance has stayed the same along the way only power consumption has gone down during idle. May return it if I can't get FlatOut to work with it thou.

[XMAN52373]

Got my GTX260 today. DDO runs great, FlatOut how ever is having issues. Will try again later after a reload of the game, right now it wont even start. Went from 2x BFG 8800GTSOC 640s 6 months ago to 2x XFX 9600GT XXXs to 1 BFG GTX260. Performance has stayed the same along the way only power consumption has gone down during idle. May return it if I can't get FlatOut to work with it thou.


Update, FlatOut works fine. I had a slot thingy fall off when I was switching cards that wound up taking out my sound chip(onboard) and was still sitting there that caused the game not to work. Reinstalled my Audigy 2ZS and all is fine.

[dookika]

Sold my 2x 88GTS 640's for £140 and bought the xpertvision GTX260 for £180. Bye bye SLI issues!!

I am very impressed with this card. Medal of Airborne for instance is now playable and I've nearly finished it today. In SLI it was like running through mud that I just gave up.

IN 3DMark it is on a par with the GTS's but in all games it is better. I only game at 1680x1050 and with this card I can crank up the AA & AF and have smooth gameplay. I did consider the GTX280 but the heat issue put me off and the 4870X2 but it's not out yet.

I just thought the GTX260 was a "bargain" only costing me £40.

(lee63)

Congrats! I love my 260, its the best card I have owned thus far.

[Eliminator]

well im back... got to play around a bit with my new GTX 280... it appears there is some driver bug as overclocking is not working properly... sometimes it gives higher performance.. sometimes it seems to throttle... mainly in 3dmark06 ive noticed this... games seem to improve fps properly when overclocking... i also tried forcing performance 3d with rivatuner but no luck... seems to be a driver bug as others are having this issue on the evga forums... the temperature is fine with this card (max 85*C and fan went to 80%) so its not a heat issue... its a preoverclocked card with a decent OC so i wont bother much with it until a driver fix is out... the highest i got stable was 684/1404/2484 but I just doubt these clocks are being applied properly in all games ...here are a few benchmarks i ran... all 8800GTX results are with E6400 @ 3.3GHZ... all GTX 280 results are with Q6600 @ 3.6GHZ unless specified:

Crysis 1920x1200 very high custom DX9 (savegame point):

8800GTX @ 594/1566/1950: 28 FPS
8800GTX @ 621/1620/2000: 29.1 FPS
GTX 280 @ Stock NV reference: 40.2 FPS
GTX 280 @ OC2 clocks (650/1404/2326): 41.7 FPS
GTX 280 @ 684/1404/2484: 43.4 FPS

Devil May Cry 4 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF:

8800GTX @ 594/1566/1950: 81/54/109/60
GTX 280 @ OC2 clocks (650/1404/2326): 137/88.5/176/93

Oblivion 1920x1200 8xAF w/ Qarl TP 3:

8800GTX @ 594/1566/1950: 73 FPS
[Q6600 @ Stock 2.4GHZ] GTX 280 @ OC2 clocks: 64 FPS
[Q6600 @ 3.6GHZ] GTX 280 @ OC2 clocks: 83 FPS
[Q6600 @ 3.6GHZ] GTX 280 @ OC2 clocks + 4xAA: 83 FPS

Lost Planet GTX 280 1920x1200 8xAF:
Snow:
Q6600 @ 2 cores, GTX @ nv reference: 74.4 FPS
Q6600 @ 4 cores, GTX @ nv reference: 75.6 FPS
Q6600 @ 4 cores, GTX @ OC2 clocks: 81.1 FPS

Cave:
Q6600 @ 2 cores, GTX @ nv reference: 82.3 FPS
Q6600 @ 4 cores, GTX @ nv reference: 99.2 FPS
Q6600 @ 4 cores, GTX @ OC2 clocks: 101.4 FPS

so a good boost overall... in oblivion im entirely CPU limited even with 4xAA and qarls texture pack 3... i tried other levels too but same CPU limited results... lost planet i tested to see how quad core stacks up since i know its one of the few games to take advantage of it.. more benchies will come later

[ArrowMk84]

I just got my GTX280 tonight (EVGA SSC), and holy crap does this thing rock! Bioshock, Company of Heroes, Mass Effect and NWN2 all run two to three times faster with the same settings compared to my 8800GTX (I play at 2560x1600). Crysis is a little disappointing, with only a 25% increase, but hey, multiplayer is now playable at 2560x1600, 2x AA and pretty much everything but the shadows cranked! And watching Crysis suck up 920MB of 1GB of VRAM is amusing to no end.

I'm tempted to reinstall Oblivion and load up Qarl's mod. That always killed my 8800GTX, but I think this card might be up to the challenge.

BTW, does anyone know of a good Vista sidebar utility for monitoring GPU clocks and temps? Everest Ultimate doesn't appear to have out a version that recognizes this card.

[nrdstrm]

Good to know Arrow...That is exactly the upgrade path I will take (if I get a 280). I want a Quad Core and Dual 24" as well, so it may take a while...lol

[MaXThReAT]

So I couldn't help myself from picking up one at current prices. Sig updated with an EVGA 280GTX SuperClock edition. So far I'm very impressed. 100% fan is pretty loud but idles around 53c. I've seen as high as 89c with the fur benchmark but in gaming it hovers around 74c. I now keep it at 75% fan and it stays around 75c in gaming. Performance is pretty amazing. I haven't done a lot of testing yet but I've listed some of my results below. I think it's obviously time to upgrade the rest of my system. I haven't benched Crysis yet but it's very playable at 1600x1200 DX10 Very High 2xAA, 27fps avg. So far everything else I've test just runs stupid fast@2048x1536 with large amounts of AA, Witcher, UT3, GOW, FEAR, MassEffect, Bioshock, Frontlines, Medusa and Cascades demos, COJ is very nice as well at 1600x1200. Oblivion keeps crashing on me but during the few min I did play it was very smooth @ 1600x1200 4xAA 16af. I'm off to try out TDU and GRID and a few others.

WIC 2048x1536 2xAA 16af
8800GTX_____280GTX_____280GTX 4XAA
Avg: 18______Avg: 26_____Avg: 25
Min: 6_______Min: 9_______Min: 8
Max: 34_____Max: 59_______Max: 56


Lost Planet 1600x1200 16xQ 16af
8800GTX______280GTX
Snow: 21.6____Snow: 37.8
Cave: 29.8____Cave: 39.6

3DMark06
8800GTX______280GTX
9,208_________9,853

Vantage
8800GTX______280GTX
7,364_________11,742

[lallous]

Hello Everyone,

I've been a long time lurker on these forums and today I decided to register and write my first post :p.

I just received my Asus GTX260 video card (http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2292&l1=2&l2=6&l3=720&l4=0). I am so amazed by its performance. I tried Company of Heroes and GRID so far. (I will be trying other games very soon ofcourse)

I am concerned with a couple of issues to start with:

1)I bought a Thermaltake PSU (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1172&ID=1536#Tab1) which I suddenly realised that it only offers around 33A on its 12v rails. Will this cause problems or stability issues or is it enough.
My hardware specs are as follows:
Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz ( No overclock)
4GB Kingston DDR2-800Mhz
Asus P5Q Motherboard
500GB Seagate HDD
+ the vga.

2)What are the maximum temperatures the GTX260 should reach. While I was in COH, I realised that it was somehow very hot. I couldn't get exact temps.

3)What software/tool do you recommend for monitoring the VGA temps. Does Nvidia have some tool? I am already using SpeedFan.


Thank you all for any help, :)

[CAUTION]

Hello Everyone,

I've been a long time lurker on these forums and today I decided to register and write my first post :p.

I just received my Asus GTX260 video card (http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2292&l1=2&l2=6&l3=720&l4=0). I am so amazed by its performance. I tried Company of Heroes and GRID so far. (I will be trying other games very soon ofcourse)

I am concerned with a couple of issues to start with:

1)I bought a Thermaltake PSU (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1172&ID=1536#Tab1) which I suddenly realised that it only offers around 33A on its 12v rails. Will this cause problems or stability issues or is it enough.
My hardware specs are as follows:
Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz ( No overclock)
4GB Kingston DDR2-800Mhz
Asus P5Q Motherboard
500GB Seagate HDD
+ the vga.

2)What are the maximum temperatures the GTX260 should reach. While I was in COH, I realised that it was somehow very hot. I couldn't get exact temps.

3)What software/tool do you recommend for monitoring the VGA temps. Does Nvidia have some tool? I am already using SpeedFan.


Thank you all for any help, :)

Welcome lallous :D

[lallous]

Welcome lallous :D

Thanks for the welcome :)

[Sidric]

well my stalwart old 8800 GTX has finally bit the dust. had the card for almost 2 years now, and it started artifacting/hard locking while I was playing WAR last night. tried some other games and got the same result. rolled back my drivers, updated directx, still the same result. don't have another card to test whether it was possibly the motherboard, but I seriously doubt it is anyway.

so I went ahead and grabbed a BFG 260 GTX on newegg. they had it on sale for $245 with $45 rebate, which was perfect because that was all I was willing to spend. I wasn't looking for a huge upgrade, just something that is roughly equivalent or better to my 8800 and the 260 more than fit the bill. hopefully I'll be back to burning heretics on my witch hunter in WAR when it gets here in a few days. :D

[crainger]

I'll look back for results. My 8800GTX has been doing strange things in Warhead. Things normally associated with hardware failing. So a 260 might be just what I need. Although I think I could stretch to a 280. I'll need a new PSU either way too. ::(:

[nekrosoft13]

congrats _fLaK_mOnKeY_

[evox]

Damn, I thought only my 8800GTX died. :p

[conantheogar2]

I'll look back for results. My 8800GTX has been doing strange things in Warhead. Things normally associated with hardware failing. So a 260 might be just what I need. Although I think I could stretch to a 280. I'll need a new PSU either way too. ::

Get the 260 Gtx in SLI

Or a single 280 Gtx

[WCG]

Well, I'm about to make the jump from my BFG 6800 OC to a 260 Maxcore I think... I'd ask if I'll see any performance increase but that'd be silly. Also jumping from 2ghz amd64 to 3.16ghz core2duo... ugh, don't even know what it'll all set me back. I just wanna play crysis smoothly... my 6800 runs it a little choppy on low settings at 800x600

[HeavyH20]

I am liking these new GTX 260 216 core cards. Picked up three for Tri SLI. HUGE difference from the old 8800GTX SLI setup :)

Couple of differences with the 260-216 and the 260.

The Extra voltage of 1.12 is the same
The 3D voltage is 1.12 instead of 1.06
The 2D voltage is 1.11 instead of 1.03

If you mod the BIOS, the top voltage is 1.15 instead of 1.18.

[slaWter]

Hey welcome back HeavyH20 :D