XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition

Name: XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition - Page 6
Brand: XFX

by Jeff Bouton — Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 12:05 PM EDT

Performance Summary and Conclusion

Overclocking the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition

Raising the bar even higher

As many of our readers are interested in overclocking their hardware, we took a few moments to see what extra horsepower we could uncover with the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition. Since the card was already aggressively overclocked to start, we lowered our expectations which proved wise. Starting with the GPU, we raised the 666MHz default speed up to 679 before the card became unstable, a gain of 2%. With the memory, very little extra headroom was found, raising the speed from 1150 (2300DDR) to 1170GHz (2340DDR) before the card would lock up. Not surprisingly, the 2% gain in GPU speed resulted in virtually no measurable performance gains. With XFX already clocking the card significantly higher than specified by NVIDIA's reference specifications, we don't see any reason for users to attempt overclocking, as the rewards simply are not going to be there for the effort.

Performance Summary: In every test we ran, the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition topped all other mid-range cards in our benchmark suite. This wasn't a surprise since the comparisons were not intended to be an apples-to-apples evaluation but more to show how much you can expect to gain if you were to upgrade to a model like the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition. While the Radeon HD 4870 may have been a competitor for the first GTX 260s, with the added stream processors of the core 216 and the amped up clockspeeds implemented by XFX, the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition is a tough act to follow.

At times, when evaluating a component like a graphics card, it can be difficult to argue whether the piece of hardware should be considered over others in its class. This is especially true when its performance and features doesn't necessarily help the product stand out from the rest. With respect to the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition, however, the overclocked GeForce 260 (216) stands out in a number of ways.

First, from a performance standpoint, the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition offers excellent performance across the board. The card easily beat the Radeon HD 4870 and made the once dominant GeForce 8800GTX look like old hat. Granted, those looking for more performance, especially when resolutions over 1600x1200 are planned, it may be wise to consider a GeForce GTX 280. Otherwise the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition offers a lot of bang for the dollar.

When we compare the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition from a pricing perspective, it continues to grab our attention. We've seen this model retail in the area of $280 with rebates dropping the price to $250. When we compare that to the Radeon HD 4870, which we've seen ranging from $239-275, the XFX GeForce GTX 260 (216) Black Edition stands out as a solid buy for its price and performance profile.


Quiet while idle or under load HDMI Raw Performance Price/Value	Dual-Slot Cooler Very Long No Further Overclocking Potential