GTX 260 Enhancements

So what improvements has NVIDIA implemented to spice up the GeForce GTX 260’s performance? The key addition is more shaders.

If you recall the architecture of the original GeForce GTX 260, NVIDIA disabled two texture processing clusters (TPCs) when compared to GeForce GTX 280, leaving a total of 192 active stream processors. For their revised GeForce GTX 260 GPU, NVIDIA reactivates one of those TPCs, leaving a grand total of 216 active stream processors, a figure which is just 24 shaders shy of the GeForce GTX 280.

The revised GeForce GTX 260 also sports more texture filtering units, 72 versus 64 in the original GTX 260.

Everywhere else the architecture is the same as the original GeForce GTX 260. Both GPUs run at the same clock speeds and have the same 448-bit memory interface. They’re also both built on TSMC’s 65-nm manufacturing process, and according to NVIDIA the max board power between the two cards remains the same 182W.

The following chart summarizes the differences between the two GTX 260 GPUs, and how they stack up against the flagship GTX 280:

GeForce GTX 200 Series GPU Comparison
GPU	GeForce GTX 280	GeForce GTX 260 (Original)	GeForce GTX 260 (revised 216 shader)
Manufacturing Process	65-nm	65-nm	65-nm
Core Graphics Clock Speed	602MHz	576MHz	576MHz
Stream Processor Clock	1,296MHz	1,242MHz	1,242MHz
# of Stream Processors	240	192	216
Memory Clock Speed	1,107MHz (2,214MHz effective)	999MHz (1,998MHz effective)	999MHz (1,998MHz effective)
Memory Interface	512-bit	448-bit	448-bit
Memory Bandwidth	141.7GB/sec	111.9GB/sec	111.9GB/sec
Memory Size	1GB	896MB	896MB
ROPs	32	28	28
Texture Filtering Units	80	64	72
Texture Filtering Rate	48.2Gigatexels/sec	36.9Gigatexels/sec	41.5Gigatexels/sec
Connectors	2xDual-link DVI 1xHDTV-out	2xDual-link DVI 1xHDTV-out	2xDual-link DVI 1xHDTV-out
PCI Express 2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes
Power Connectors	1x8-pin/1x6-pin	2x6-pin	2x6-pin
Max Board Power	236 Watts	182 Watts	182 Watts
GPU Thermal Threshold	105 Degrees Celsius	105 Degrees Celsius	105 Degrees Celsius

Unfortunately NVIDIA hasn’t come up with a new name for these revised 216 stream processor GeForce GTX 260 GPUs. The new chip is officially still designated as the GeForce GTX 260, as technically it’s the exact same GPU NVIDIA’s been producing for the past few months, only now they only disable one TPC instead of two.

Instead it’s up to NVIDIA’s board partners to properly distinguish their 216 shader GeForce GTX 260 cards from their original 192 shader parts. EVGA calls their boards the “GeForce GTX 260 Core 216”, while BFG goes with “GeForce GTX 260 MAXCORE”.

We really hope this doesn’t cause confusion, but with the lack of a consistent name for these revised GTX 260 GPUs we don’t see how it won’t confuse the mainstream consumer who doesn’t follow the industry everyday. After all, every GeForce board partner is going to have a different name for these 216 shader parts. This is one area where we believe NVIDIA really should consider rethinking their strategy. GTX260+ would be a more desirable designation than nothing at all.

If you’ve already got a GeForce GTX 260 and would like to purchase another for SLI, we can confirm that the new 216 shader GTX 260 boards are 100% compatible with the 192-shader GTX 260, allowing both GPUs to be combined together for SLI. Each board will run with all its shaders enabled, giving you a grand total of 408 shaders for the SLI system.

The retail cards

Physically the new 216 shader GeForce GTX 260 boards are identical to their predecessors. NVIDIA has made no adjustments to the reference board design or its cooling. Everything is the same, and we’ve been told that other than clock speed differences you likely won’t see any of NVIDIA’s board partners deviate from the reference board design.

So what kind of clock speeds can we expect?

So far BFG’s GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE boasts the highest clocks. BFG has OC’ed the OCX MAXCORE board to 655MHz on the graphics core, while the stream processors are clocked at 1404MHz. Finally, the board’s memory runs at 1125MHz (2250MHz effective).

These speeds are a considerable improvement over the stock 216 shader GeForce GTX 260, and are even higher than NVIDIA’s own reference specifications for the GeForce GTX 280! As you’ll see in our performance benchmarks, these speeds allow the OCX MAXCORE to perform very well in comparison to the more expensive GTX 280.

The BFG GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE will sell for an MSRP of $329.99.

Besides the OCX SKU, BFG will also be producing two additional 216 shader GeForce GTX 260 cards, the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE and the GTX 260 OC2 MAXCORE. The OC board runs at 590MHz core/1296MHz shaders/999MHz memory, while the OC2 board is clocked a little higher, running at 630MHz core/1350MHz shaders/1063MHz memory (2126MHz effective). The OC and OC2 cards will carry an MSRP of $299.99 and $319.99 respectively.


The other GeForce GTX 260 board we received comes from EVGA. EVGA has two SKUs planned for the revised GTX 260, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 and the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked. The first card runs at the standard GTX 260 clock speeds while the Superclocked board is OC’ed to run at 626MHz core/1350MHz shaders/1053MHz memory (2106MHz effective). EVGA’s stock GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is priced at $279 while we’ve been told that the Superclocked model will sell for $299.