{"id":1261,"date":"2008-11-15T08:29:23","date_gmt":"2008-11-15T08:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2009-04-09T13:03:26","modified_gmt":"2009-04-09T13:03:26","slug":"geforce-gtx260-vs-radeon-4850-part-1-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-gtx260-vs-radeon-4850-part-1-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"GeForce GTX260+ vs Radeon 4850 Part 1: Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--pagetitle:Introduction & Setup--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Introduction<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After my 8800 Ultra died, my original plan was to pick up a 4850 as an interim card and wait for the 55 nm GT200 core, rumored to be coming since about August of this year. So I picked up a 4850 and then waited\u2026and waited\u2026and I\u2019m still waiting.<\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019re almost half-way through November and the 55 nm refresh is still nowhere in sight; current release speculation ranges from Q4-08 to Q1-09. With demanding new games I want to play like <em>Far Cry 2<\/em>, <em>Stalker Clear Sky<\/em> and <em>Brothers in Arms: Hell\u2019s Highway<\/em>, I needed more gaming muscle. So I caved and picked up a GTX260+ (216 core edition).<\/p>\n<p>This time I was better prepared for a GPU comparison so I have a lot of interesting benchmarks to show you in part one of this article, while part two will contain an image quality analysis. My benchmarks also include \u201creal\u201d settings and contain settings I use on the card to demonstrate the value of the upgrade to me in terms of actual gaming. After all, I\u2019m a gamer as well as a hardware reviewer and I buy video cards to play games, like most of you do.<\/p>\n<p>To make it easier to read the text charts, an <span style=\"color: #ffcc99;\">orange <\/span> highlight means the Radeon wins while a <span style=\"color: #ccffcc;\">green<\/span> <strong><\/strong> highlight means the GeForce wins.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Hardware<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (reference 3 GHz clock).<\/li>\n<li>Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R (Intel G33 chipset, F7 BIOS).<\/li>\n<li>4 GB DDR2-800 RAM (4&#215;1 GB, dual-channel).<\/li>\n<li>nVidia GeForce GTX260+ (896 MB, nVidia reference clocks).<\/li>\n<li>ATi Radeon 4850 (512 MB, reference clocks).<\/li>\n<li>X-Fi XtremeMusic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Software<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ATi Catalyst 8.10, highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver.<\/li>\n<li>nVidia Forceware 178.24, high quality driver setting, all optimizations off, LOD clamp enabled.<\/li>\n<li>Windows XP 32 bit SP3.<\/li>\n<li>DirectX November 2008.<\/li>\n<li>All games patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Settings<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>16xAF forced in the driver, vsync forced off in the driver.<\/li>\n<li>AA forced either through the driver or enabled in-game, whichever both cards could manage.<\/li>\n<li>All results show an average framerate.<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/li>\n<li>Since I\u2019m on XP, all DX10 titles were run under DX9 render paths.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:Direct3D (Current)--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (Current)<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first set of benchmarks will cover newer Direct3D titles that are still currently benchmarked in most review circles. Because the titles can be quite demanding, I\u2019ll stick to 1600&#215;1200 for most of them; also many of them will not be benchmarked with 8xMSAA as they\u2019d be too slow. Additionally, <em>Stalker<\/em> will be benchmarked with 0xAA as it\u2019s not possible to force driver AA in the game on ATi\u2019s cards like it is on nVidia\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1372 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-new-chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-new-chart.png?resize=266%2C322\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-new-chart\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-new-chart.png?resize=266%2C322 266w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-new-chart-247x300.png 247w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1373 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-new-graph\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-new-graph.png?resize=637%2C563\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-new-graph\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-new-graph.png?resize=637%2C563 637w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-new-graph-300x265.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 260+ immediately delivers a hefty <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">42.38% <\/span> performance gain overall in the tested situations. It smashes the 4850 in <em>Stalker<\/em> with 0xAA and in <em>Bioshock<\/em> with 8xMSAA, probably partly due to the 4850 running out of video memory. Interestingly the cards are almost tied in <em>Crysis<\/em> at 0xAA but the 260+ is over 50% faster in said game when 4xAA is applied, again likely in part because the 4850 is running out of VRAM.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:Direct3D (Legacy)--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (Legacy)<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next set of benchmarks will cover slightly older Direct3D titles. These games are fast enough to run at my top resolution of 1920&#215;1440 and they\u2019re also fast enough to test both 4xMSAA and 8xMSAA (8xQ on nVidia), and usually attain respectable scores.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1370 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-legacy-chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-legacy-chart.png?resize=253%2C340\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-legacy-chart\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-legacy-chart.png?resize=253%2C340 253w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-legacy-chart-223x300.png 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1371 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-legacy-graph\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-legacy-graph.png?resize=637%2C653\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-legacy-graph\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-legacy-graph.png?resize=637%2C653 637w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-legacy-graph-292x300.png 292w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Things get even better for the 260+ with these tests as it racks up an impressive <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">57.09%<\/span> <strong><\/strong> average performance gain over the 4850 overall. In particular it really shines in <em>Medal of Honor Pacific Assault<\/em> (both 4xAA and 8xAA) and in <em>Far Cry<\/em> with 4xAA. Interestingly the gap narrows a bit when running 8xMSAA in <em>Fear<\/em> and <em>Serious Sam 2<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:Direct3D (Classic)--><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/strong> <\/span> <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (Classic)<\/span> <\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>These benchmarks cover even older Direct3D games. In fact these games are so old it\u2019s pointless to benchmark them at 4xAA as they\u2019re too CPU limited. Also running TrAA\/AAA doesn\u2019t significantly impact the benchmarks\u2019 scores so there\u2019s no reason to not enable it. Even at the tested settings the titles are still quite CPU limited but it\u2019ll be interesting to see if we can detect any performance gain.<\/p>\n<p><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1374 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-old-chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-old-chart.png?resize=259%2C154\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-old-chart\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>  <\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1375 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-old-graph\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-old-graph.png?resize=637%2C256\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-old-graph\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-old-graph.png?resize=637%2C256 637w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-old-graph-300x120.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Despite being relatively CPU limited with these lightweight titles, the 260+ still manages to post a respectable <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">19.96%<\/span> <strong><\/strong> performance gain overall with my E6850 running at 3 GHz.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:Direct3D (TrAA\/AAA)--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (TrAA\/AAA)<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This set of benchmarks is designed to test nVidia\u2019s transparency anti-aliasing (TrAA) and ATi\u2019s adaptive anti-aliasing (AAA). This class of AA tackles objects called alpha (transparent) textures that are not affected by regular multi-sampling, textures like grass, chain-link fences, tree leaves, and similar. I used super-sampling on nVidia and quality on ATi respectively so both vendors were taking super samples, making it a legitimate comparison.<\/p>\n<p>These titles are recycled from previous benchmarks and were picked because their benchmarks cover areas with significant alpha content, usually open areas with vegetation. I also picked them because I could get both vendors to reliably apply TrAA\/AAA. In some titles like <em>Call of Duty 4<\/em> for example, the 4850 didn\u2019t seem to enable the feature.<\/p>\n<p>Because the titles are a mix of new and legacy games, I used a mixture of resolutions to keep the framerate at reasonable levels in most situations.<\/p>\n<p>OpenGL games were not tested because ATi\u2019s AAA functions in OpenGL but nVidia\u2019s TrAA does not.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1367 aligncenter\" title=\"aaa-chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/aaa-chart.png?resize=294%2C320\" alt=\"\" title=\"aaa-chart\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/aaa-chart.png?resize=294%2C320 294w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/aaa-chart-275x300.png 275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368 aligncenter\" title=\"aaa-graph\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/aaa-graph.png?resize=637%2C614\" alt=\"\" title=\"aaa-graph\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/aaa-graph.png?resize=637%2C614 637w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/aaa-graph-300x289.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, after totally dominating thus-far, the 260+ appears to hit a wall. It posts an average loss of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">10.49%<\/span> <strong><\/strong> to the 4850, getting beaten in five out of the nine tests, including getting utterly mauled in <em>Serious Sam 2<\/em> when running 8xAA. Remember, the 260+ has almost twice the memory bandwidth and almost twice the memory size of the 4850 so whatever is causing this, it isn\u2019t due to a lack of memory resources on the nVidia card. In some situations the 4850 seems to lose hardly any performance compared to the same benchmarks being run without AAA.<\/p>\n<p>The issue of TrAA\/AAA demands further investigation and will be covered in part two of this article, but for now I checked the titles where the 260+ was beaten badly (<em>Call of Duty 2<\/em>, <em>Pacific Assault<\/em> and <em>Serious Sam 2<\/em>), and screenshots indeed confirmed the 4850 was applying AAA.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:OpenGL--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">OpenGL<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOpenGL is dead!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laugh when I read this statement. In addition to several high-profile OpenGL titles on their way (<em>Rage<\/em>, <em>Wolfenstein 2<\/em> and <em>Doom 4<\/em>), there are a large number of legacy OpenGL games I enjoy replaying regularly, so OpenGL support is very important to me. It\u2019s also a good way to benchmark video cards as OpenGL games are hardly ever tested in regular review circles these days.<\/p>\n<p>This next set of benchmarks look at a collection of legacy OpenGL titles that, despite their age, are reasonably demanding on video cards and deliver reasonably good visuals too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1377 aligncenter\" title=\"ogl-legacy-chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-legacy-chart.png?resize=259%2C339\" alt=\"\" title=\"ogl-legacy-chart\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-legacy-chart.png?resize=259%2C339 259w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-legacy-chart-229x300.png 229w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1366 aligncenter\" title=\"ogl-legacy-graph\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-legacy-graph.png?resize=636%2C673\" alt=\"\" title=\"ogl-legacy-graph\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-legacy-graph.png?resize=636%2C673 636w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-legacy-graph-283x300.png 283w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Yet again we see surprising results. With 4xAA the 260+ \u201conly\u201d posts an average performance advantage of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">22.22%<\/span> <strong><\/strong> while with 8xAA it posts an overall loss of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">2.88%<\/span> <strong><\/strong>. Every 8xAA result (with the possible of exception of <em>Quake Wars<\/em>) is either very close or is a loss and again, whatever is happening here is not caused by the 260+ having a lack of memory bandwidth and\/or capacity.<\/p>\n<p>The issue of the mysterious 8xMSAA performance will also be covered in part two of this article but again, early screenshot tests confirm the 4850 is applying 8xAA when requested.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:Direct3D (16xS AA)--><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/strong> <\/span> <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (16xS AA)<\/span> <\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The last two sets of benchmarks will cover combined AA modes which are available exclusively on nVidia\u2019s cards. Their notable advantage is their ability to offer full screen super-sampling, which anti-aliases all screen content.<\/p>\n<p>The performance hit can be quite steep but then that\u2019s the whole point of getting a muscled card like the GTX260+, right? Image quality in older games is impeccable when using these modes and I love using them whenever I can, plus they\u2019re very useful for testing new video cards.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll go straight for the throat and benchmark at my top resolution of 1920&#215;1440 along with 16xS AA and super-sampling TrAA (<em>Descent 3<\/em> used multi-sampling as super-sampling has excessively poor performance in that game).<\/p>\n<p>Here are the Direct3D games that post respectable results at the settings I described above:<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1369 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-16xs-graoh\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-16xs-graoh.png?resize=637%2C292\" alt=\"\" title=\"d3d-16xs-graoh\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-16xs-graoh.png?resize=637%2C292 637w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/d3d-16xs-graoh-300x137.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s amazing to see games almost ten years old like 1999\u2019s <em>Descent 3<\/em> running so well at settings far in excess of the developers\u2019 wildest dreams at the time they were programmed. This is truly one of the strengths of gaming on the PC platform.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:OpenGL (16xS AA)--><strong><\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">OpenGL (16xS AA)<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I always look forward to running these benchmarks whenever I upgrade video cards, even more-so than the Direct3D 16xS tests earlier. I\u2019ve got a heap of classic OpenGL games that I\u2019ve been running combined AA modes in for years, and I love seeing modern cards providing a benefit in such titles.<\/p>\n<p>Again the tests were done at 1920&#215;1440 with 16xS AA, but TrAA was off as nVidia doesn\u2019t support it under OpenGL.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1376 aligncenter\" title=\"ogl-16xs-graph\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-16xs-graph.png?resize=639%2C547\" alt=\"\" title=\"ogl-16xs-graph\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-16xs-graph.png?resize=639%2C547 639w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/ogl-16xs-graph-300x256.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Again it\u2019s fantastic to see games that are around ten years old experiencing both performance and image quality benefits from a video card released in 2008.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:Other Observations--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Thermals and Cooling<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With the benchmarks out of the way, it\u2019s time to discuss the experience of using the card itself. To put it simply, I\u2019m very impressed with the 260\u2019s thermals and cooler. The dual-slot cooler exhausts all of the heat out of the case, unlike past nVidia designs that had side grills which allowed hot air to leak back into the case. The new shroud is solid plastic all along its side and it funnels all of the heat out the case, so ambient case temperatures are not impacted nearly as much as in the past.<\/p>\n<p>As of this writing, the card is currently idling at 52 C which is not only less than my 8800 Ultra (about 55 C-58 C), but it\u2019s vastly less than my 4850 which idled at 79 C. Under heavy loads the fan spins up sometimes but it generally has a more pleasant sound than the slightly \u201cwhiny\u201d 4850 fan. Subjectively it also doesn\u2019t sound as loud as my 8800 Ultra did under load.<\/p>\n<p>As a negative, I have found the card\u2019s circuitry is a bit louder (high frequency \u201ctransistor\u201d noise) than other video cards I\u2019ve used, especially when the framerate is very high, such as when navigating in-game menus.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Drivers<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>nVidia\u2019s drivers offer an automatic profile system with an open and flexible way to configure games, and that means you\u2019re more likely to be able to configure things to your liking. Using this method I have a range of games that I can reliably force AA on my 260+ while no AA is possible on the 4850, at least not without resorting to dodgy application renaming which can break other things.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for nVidia, ATi\u2019s drivers still remain superior in terms of gaming compatibility and robustness. Long-standing issues on nVidia\u2019s DX10 hardware still exist (e.g. <em>Red Faction<\/em> being broken since November 2006 while it works perfectly on the 4850). We also still aren\u2019t getting a regular WHQL driver release cycle from nVidia, unlike ATi who have been pumping out monthly WHQL drivers since 2002.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Anisotropic Filtering<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>nVidia\u2019s DX10 GPUs have noticeably better anisotropic filtering quality than ATi\u2019s DX10 GPUs, and I\u2019ll cover it a bit more in part two of this article. It\u2019s very hard to capture the difference with screenshots, but in actual movement you\u2019ll find shimmering\/crawling\/wiggling dramatically reduced or even eliminated on nVidia\u2019s hardware. Most people probably won\u2019t notice a difference, but after gaming with nVidia DX10 cards for so long, I can spot it immediately.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:Conclusion--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GTX260+ Advantages<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Great performance in modern games at a very reasonable cost for a high-end part.<\/li>\n<li>Excellent dual-slot cooler with great thermals, especially when idle.<\/li>\n<li>Best anisotropic filtering in consumer space.<\/li>\n<li>896 MB memory for taxing games.<\/li>\n<li>Flexible and open driver profile system allows the user to force their preferred settings into games.<\/li>\n<li>A wide range of AA modes including full screen super-sampling modes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GTX260+ Disadvantages<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Extremely poor performance with 8xMSAA in some situations.<\/li>\n<li>Extremely poor performance with transparency super-sampling AA in some situations.<\/li>\n<li>More driver issues than ATi, especially with legacy games.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Conclusion<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Overall the GTX260+ is a great high-end part for a very reasonable price, and according to online benchmarks it\u2019s almost as fast as the GTX280. It has a great cooler, great thermals, excellent image quality in games, and a wide range of anti-aliasing modes.<\/p>\n<p>However its drivers could use more work and in some cases it has very low performance relative to what its specs would indicate, especially relative to ATi\u2019s cards like the much weaker 4850.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=1261\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: BFG10K\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/article-image.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7814,7],"tags":[297,281,237,235,73,463,121],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-technology","tag-297","tag-281","tag-237","tag-235","tag-ati","tag-gtx","tag-nvidia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}