EVGA GeForce GTX 260 C216 Superclocked or Vanilla GTX 275?

[Bowen]

I just bought an EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked....the 896-P3-1257-AR with the 626 Core clocks speed...etc. Anyway I was wondering if it's worth using EVGA's Step Up program to get a vanilla GTX 275?

I know the 275 has 240 shader processors vs 216 with the newer 260 but is it worth the upgrade? Also, I'm looking at the 896MB RAM too, not the 1792MB version (although I'd like to have it but can't afford it).

[crainger]

How much is it to step up?

I just bought 2x 260GTXs, looking at the AU prices of 275s it's 150-200 difference, so not worth it for me anyway.

[CaptNKILL]

The most important thing here would be the cost IMO.

It looks like the 275s are very nice cards but I don't think they're really worth $80-$100 more than a GTX 260.

[pakotlar]

Well just to throw in my 2c, my superclocked clocks to 700/1402/1295, which isn't very high on the ALU's. At that level the TMU performance is equal (700 * 72 vs 633 * 80), ROP higher on the c216, and shaders differ by 11%. Additionally memory bandwidth is higher on the c216 @ 1295 mhz. So yeah, if you're just looking to match what you see in the benchmarks then stay with the c216 and oc a little. The 275 apparently clocks very well, so that is something to take into account. Obviously your may vary, so check what you have on your card, and if it is sufficiently high, I wouldn't change.

[v3rninater]

275, they are decently priced and have the same amount of stream processors as a 280/285.

Plus have you seen the reviews????
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/radeonhd4890_040209033751/18716.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/radeonhd4890_040209033751/18713.png

Edit: Oh I thought you were choosing between the two I didn't know you had a 260 already. The 260 is a great card, it's probably not worth going the extra mile to step up to the 275 but that's up to you.

[Bowen]

Wow....thanks guys! It seems pretty unanimous that the 275 isn't worth an upgrade from the 260 C216. v3rninater, are those benchmark scores of the 260 C216 of a superclocked card or is it the stock 575 MHz core clock?

Also, I haven't actually got the card yet, it will be here on Monday though. I sold my 8800 GTX and now I'm using my backup card which is a Radeon X300. I cannot begin to tell you how painful it is to use this card. The only thing I can play smoothly is Medal of Honor...lol and I'm not kidding either! Anyway, thanks allot for the input!!!

[CaptNKILL]

Overclock your 260 when you get it. You should be able to get a very nice performance boost by cranking the core up to 700Mhz or more.

[crainger]

Will you crank my cores when I get them CaptN?

[CaptNKILL]

Will you crank my cores when I get them CaptN?

I'll crank anything you want me to crank little buddy.

[crainger]

Is it hot in here, or am I just close to 30 000 posts?

[bob saget]

I'll crank anything you want me to crank little buddy.

thats good to know.

[crainger]

You're drawn to posts like that aren't you?

[bob saget]

You're drawn to posts like that aren't you?

i am unstoppable.

[methimpikehoses]

Was Napoleon gay in the movie? SR!

[bob saget]

Was Napoleon gay in the movie? SR!

ur computer sux.

[intarweb]

Okay, so do you guys think it would be worth moving up to the 275 from my 260 216 SSC (55nm)? I ask because, as noted in another thread, I've got this darn squealing and I thought maybe I could just solve it by moving to the 275...provided I could support the power consumption and heat production. I don't know if the 275s tend to squeal too, though. Just wondering if I'm likely to get an improvement? The SSC clocks are 675 Core/1453 Shaders/1152 Memory.

[Bowen]

Well according to Guru3d's review, the PSU you have now will work just fine with the 275.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-275-review-test/5

[intarweb]

oh, ok. Well, that's probably sensible then. It looks like their system as a general matter consumes quite a bit more than mine. When I built mine up, efficiency was high priority, next to cooling and noise. I've got good caseflow, but I am concerned about the 275 getting super hot in an un-airconditioned environment this summer. There isn't any information in any review I've seen regarding cooling performance when the fan is turned up to help me figure out what to do, unfortunately :/

I suppose the other issues are: (1) will it be faster or slower than my current card, and (2) will it make this darn squealing sound >.<

Also, it's hard to get over the 396W they clock in with the 275 versus the 385W they get for the 285 (http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-285-review--3way-sli/3). It really makes me wish I'd jumped on that BFG GTX 285 deal a couple weeks ago.

[Bowen]

Yeah and it makes wish I knew about it too....sigh, but what's done is done and really the 275 is nearly as fast as the 285 is, especially if you O/C it.

As far as the fan speed, ya know you can use EVGA's Precision utility to adjust the O/C and fan speed if you want to. After I O/Ced my 260, I messed with the fan speed just to see how loud it would get and while it was far from deafening, I could notice it....that said, I've had louder fans on vid cards before, like the 7800 GTX 512!

I'm not sure but the fan might be a little different on the 275 vs the 260 but I'm not certain. You could just play around with it and see how far you can O/C it to.

If you don't already have it downloaded, try getting ATITool. It works with both AMD and Nvidia cards. It's an O/Cing and testing utility. Naturally you only want to use it to test your card. You just want to scan for artifacts and if you see some of them pop up, you'll want to lower your clock at least 5MHz. It also has a timer and if the artifact is bad enough, the timer will start over again but I don't even let it get bad, I just lower the clocks if I see one spec just to be on the safe side.

When I'm looking for the max rate, I start with 30MHz at a time in the beginning then I slow down the higher I get. I first look for reviews and see what the average maximum clocks people get, then I about 3/4 of that and see if it holds and then I slow down to 10 to 5MHz at a time when I think I'm getting close to the ceiling.

I know you won't be able to get as high because of your cooling situation....that is no A/C, but you could still use the same methods.

[intarweb]

Yeah, the 275 does seem like a great card. I'd probably pick up an EVGA GTX 275 to replace this SSC if I switch. I guess I could also consider the Superclocked model, but it is $20 more on NewEgg so I don't know if I really need that, especially since I picked up the SSC for $215 so I'm already kicking in some extra money. Then, of course, there's that pesky heat issue. I'm not sure what impact ambient air temperature will ultimately have on cooling performance of this card specifically. I still haven't quite figured out if the 275 is much faster than this card I currently have, either.

[Bowen]

I think the 275 will be around the same performance as the 260 SSC is at it's stock clock. I think the 275 is geared directly at us overclockers because all the reviews I've seen say it's a great overclocker. The other thing is the fact that is has 24 more stream processors. These extra processors really seem to show their muscle with the newer games and especially Crysis.

This is a little off topic but Crysis reminds me of a game released about 11 years ago called Trespasser. Even if your PC was a beast, you'd still get around....I don't know..20 FPS with that game. I think with the current rig I have now I should get at at least 30 FPS...lol. If you're curious.... http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/trespasser/index.html

[intarweb]

Thanks once again for the help, Bowen :)

I wonder if maybe the impact would be noticeable in things like min framerate in Crysis or some other graphically intense game. Hard to say, though. The SSC overclocks on the 260 are rather large so I can't just interpolate easily from the stock 260 vs 275 benchmarks I've seen >.<

That Trespasser game review is amusing :D

[muelo1000]

I just recieved my 275 and man .....before i use to play COD4 and the darn pc would crash on low settings .....yes you heard me right low and when i mean low i mean low, anyway pop this puppy in crank up all the setting and all the eye candy played 3Hrs of COD 4 with out a crash ....one more thing if you dont have good air flow in your case your gonna have to crank up the fan my case its cramped up so the temp gets hi but worth every penny and i still have room to OC.

[Bowen]

Thanks once again for the help, Bowen :)


Sure, glad to help! :)
I wonder if maybe the impact would be noticeable in things like min framerate in Crysis or some other graphically intense game. Hard to say, though. The SSC overclocks on the 260 are rather large so I can't just interpolate easily from the stock 260 vs 275 benchmarks I've seen >.<

That Trespasser game review is amusing :D

Yeah, now that you mention it, that's probably where those extra processors would show their worth. I even wonder if the upcoming GT300 will break 40 FPS in Crysis.

Well, while I don't know for sure, it looks like it will O/C well, but of course every card is different. The 8800 GTX I used to have would not overclock at all and I had another card (can't remember what it was) that O/Ced nearly 100 MHz over it's stock speed. I would think it would O/C well since this is a 2nd gen 55nm part, so it should be better optimized than the 260 or 285.

[Bowen]

I just recieved my 275 and man .....before i use to play COD4 and the darn pc would crash on low settings .....yes you heard me right low and when i mean low i mean low, anyway pop this puppy in crank up all the setting and all the eye candy played 3Hrs of COD 4 with out a crash ....one more thing if you dont have good air flow in your case your gonna have to crank up the fan my case its cramped up so the temp gets hi but worth every penny and i still have room to OC.

and......I hate you....heh. I'm waiting for EVGA to send mine to me, which will be sometime next week. I have to use this crappy Radeon X300 with even crappier drivers!

What card were you using that gave those horrible framerates? That sounds like my X300 that I'm using...heh.

Yeah, good airflow is a must these days!