Review: Overclocked core + Assassin's Creed
Our today’s menu features XFX Geforce GTX 260 640M, an overclocked GTX 260 card based on the same GT200 core like the rest of the GTX 200 series. 640M in the name stands for 640MHz and XFX made sure to point that out. The company overclocked the core by 64MHz (reference speed is 576MHz) and boosted the stream processors from 1242MHz to 1363MHz.
Geforce GTX 260 card uses the same dual slot cooler we’ve already seen on GTX 280 (the stronger card in GTX 200 series), so telling the cards apart just from looks is not an easy task. We’ve already tested XFX GTX 280 670M here, and the only visible difference on the two following photos is the 8-pin connector; GTX260 uses two 6-pin connectors, whereas GTX 280 uses one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector. Both coolers run silently when the graphics card is idle, but they get quite audible under a workload. XFX painted their GT200 based cards nicely, and the first one is GTX 260 640M. Underneath it you’ll find a photo of XFX GTX 280 670M running at 670MHz.
In case you’re not familiar with it, Geforce GTX 260 is a weaker version of the current single GPU champ known as GT200. Full versions of GT200 are found on Geforce GTX 280, and we’ve already mentioned XFX GTX 280 670M as one of the fastest ones around.
GT200 is a powerful graphics processor with 1.4 billion transistors and 240 stream processors. The last G92 generation (that brought Geforce 9800 GTX) had 128 stream processors, which further paints the picture of just how powerful GTX 280 is. The weaker version, GTX 260, has a bit less - 192 stream processors, which is a result of a one disabled ROP channel and two shader clusters, each packing 24 stream processors. By crippling the card, the production costs get cheaper, so GTX 260 is a wise choice for many that can’t afford GTX 280.
One thing we have to mention is the goodwill of XFX and the respect for their North American customers. Apparently, some faithful enthusiasts paid an arm and a leg for GT200 cards right after they were announced, only to be shocked by recent sudden price drops. Fortunately for their customers, XFX has a program where they’ll rebate $120 USD per card.
You are eligible for this rebate if you bought your XFX GTX200 card between the 16th of June and 11th of July 2008, and the amount of cash you’ll get back depends on the model, the date, as well as the price paid for the card, where $120 is the most XFX will rebate. You can find out more about this program here.
XFX GTX 640M has a frame buffer of 896MB GDDR memory with 448bit memory interface. Thanks to the overclocked memory, bandwidth is now up from reference 111.8GB/s to 128.8GB/s. For these additional 17GB/s of bandwidth, XFX had to increase memory speeds from reference 999MHz to 1150MHz (2300MHz effectively). At the same time, they’ve outdone their HD 4870 competition that has a bandwidth of 115.2GB/s. However, GTX 280 is still undefeated with a bandwidth of 141GB/s (XFX’s overclocked card, XFX GTX 280 670M, packs 160GB/s).
Less memory bandwidth on GTX 260 is a result of crippling the chip. In case you don’t know, each of the 8 ROP partitions on GTX 280 is connected to a 64-bit memory controller. From there, it’s easy to conclude that this card has a 512-bit memory interface, whereas GTX 260 with 7 ROP partitions totals to a 448-bit memory interface – and therefore less bandwidth.
Although it’s not as fast as GTX 280, GTX 260 is quite an appealing GPU. It packs 192 stream processors, 28 ROPs, 64 texture units, 448bit memory interface and 896MB of GDDR3.
GTX 260 packs 896MB of GDDR3 evenly spaced across both sides of the card. Each side features 7 memory chips, each with 64MB, whereas GTX 280 has 8 chips per side. The following photo shows one vacant spot where a memory chip was supposed to go (vertical column on the right, first one next to the PCIe connector).
If one GTX 260 card doesn’t strike your chord then don’t worry, as GTX 260 supports TriSLI. For that purpose, two SLI connectors are provided, but we can leave them hidden until the need arises.
The card is powered through two 6-pin power connectors, unlike GTX 280 which needs a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector. Maximum consumption is 182W, but it’s unlikely that this will be the case, as this card supports HybridPower technology. This technology (coupled with an appropriate chipset) enables the GPU to power down, thus leaving non-demanding tasks to be rendered by the motherboard’s integrated graphics. GT200 can also power down certain unused parts of the chip as well as dynamically regulate frequencies and voltages.
You can use GTX 260 for 3D “Graphics Processing Mod” or for “Parallel Compute Mode,” meaning processing data on the GPU using CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). This is where Nvidia’s marketing really shines and they’re selling GT200 series with a slogan “Beyond Gaming.”
For those of us that still use the GPU exclusively for gaming, XFX went that extra mile and included Assassin’s Creed with their card. The packaging is nicely assembled and painted, so walking by without noticing it on the shelf will be difficult.
Testbed:
Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Provided by EVGA)
Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Provided by Intel)
Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18 (Provided by OCZ)
during testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V
PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Provided by OCZ)
Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Provided by Seagate)
CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Provided by Artic Cooling)
Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM
Vista 32 SP1
Futuremarks
3DMark vantage shows a greater difference between results than the older Mark06. XFX 670M XXX beats Gainward’s reference card by 6% and does the same to HD 4870 by 28%. Mark 06 says that there’s only a 4% performance difference between the fastest GTX 280 and Sapphire HD 4870.
In Mark06, Diamond 4850 loses to Geforce 9800 GTX by 7%, but outperforms it by 4% in Vantage. HD4870 was better than this single slot card by 17% in Vantage and 12% in 3DMark06.
EVGA did great with their GTX 260 FTW card running at 666MHz. In 3DMark06 it beats GTX 280, but Vantage turned the tables and we see it lose by 6%. It beat the reference GTX 260 by 10%, and 10% more is approximately the result we’ll see in all the games. The showdown between reference GTX 260 and Sapphire HD 4870 is tough and inconclusive.
XFX GTX 260 640M outperformed the reference GTX 260 by about 8%, but it lost to EVGA 260 FTW by about 2%. XFX 640M easily brushed HD 4870 aside, and beat 9800 GTX by about 37%, although this advantage sometimes climbed to as high as 60% in gaming tests.
Gaming
The fastest card in this game was XFX with their overclocked GTX 280, and at 1280x1024 4xAA i 8xAF it beat HD 4870 by almost 100%. Gainward managed to outperform Radeon HD 4870 by 90% with its reference GTX 280.
With their overclocked GTX 260, EVGA closely followed GTX 280 and it beat the reference GTX 260 by about 10%. 2048x1536 with 4xAA and 8xAF shows that EVGA’s overclocked card is capable of much more and it beats the reference GTX 260 by 20%. At the same resolution Radeon HD 4870 ran slower by 30%.
XFX GTX 260 640M was just slightly slower than EVGA GTX 260 FTW, and the difference was 1% - 2%, which is a direct result of slower core speeds and shader processors on XFX’s card. Still, don’t forget that XFX GTX 260 640M is cheaper than EVGA’s version and that you also get Assassin’s Creed with it.
Diamond HD 4850, just like its big brother, Radeon HD 3870, loses to reference GTX 260 cards, but bear in mind that for the price of around €135 – this is one hell of a score. At higher resolutions with Antialiasing on, it loses to HD 4870 by 30%.
In Call of Juarez, Radeon HD 4870 and HD 4850 did well versus the reference GT280 and GT260. Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 even manages to beat GTX 280 by 12%, but it ran on par with XFX 670M. XFX 670M is up to 11% better than reference GTX 280. Diamond did well at reference speeds and ran on par with GTX 260, but lost to HD 4870 with GDDR5 by 29%. XFX 670M is up to 11% better than reference GTX 280.
ATI simply excels in this game, so not even the overclocked EVGA GTX 260 FTW could steal HD 4870’s wind. EVGA closely follows Gainward GTX 280 card, and it ran on par with Diamond HD 4850. EVGA FTW ran faster than reference GTX 260 so we see some 11% better scores.
XFX GTX 260’s results were identical to those scored by EVGA GTX 260 FTW. XFX’s core runs at 640MHz, which is 26MHz less than EVGA’s GTX 260 has, but XFX’s memory is faster. We see that EVGA’s memory runs at 2214MHz whereas XFX’s runs at 2300MHz.
Crysis put all the games through their paces, so at 1600x1200 4xAA 8xAF we see enough frames for gaming, but barely anything to brag about. XFX 670M XXX ran the fastest and scored 35fps. It outperformed HD 4870 by 29%, and EVGA GTX 260 FTW by 20%. At the same resolution, EVGA scored a playable framerate, whereas we couldn’t say the same for the reference GTX 260. EVGA again outperformed the reference GTX 260 by 11% and HD 4870 by 7%.
Geforce GTX 260 640M is, just like in Call of Juarez, slower than GTX 260 FTW card by 2-3%. At 1600x1200 4xAA 8xAF this means just one frame per second less, but at 28fps it’s still playable. EVGA outperformed the reference GTX 260 by 11% and HD 4870 by 7%.
Diamond HD 4850 once again shows its teeth and beats 9800 GTX by 16%. It loses to HD 4870 by 23% and 28% at higher resolution.
The higher we set the resolution in F.E.A.R., the more HD 4870 and 8800 GTX lost their breath, so Gainward GTX 280 emerged a winner with a 24% better result than HD 4870. XFX tops that and we see no less than 108 fps at 2048x1536 4xAA 8xAF, which is 38% better than HD 4870.
At first two resolutions, EVGA beats GTX 280, but although it’s slower, at other resolutions it lost to GTX 280 by only 4%. It outperformed the reference GTX 260 by 10%-14%, and the HD 4870 by up to 19%. XFX 640M was some 3% slower than EVGA GTX 260 FTW. The highest tested resolution sees XFX GTX 260 beat Geforce 9800 GTX by no less than 66%.
Diamond HD 4850 packs enough punch to beat Geforce 9800 GTX and bring over 50fps at all the tested resolutions. At higher resolutions and Anisotropic filter on, Diamond again loses to Radeon HD 4870 by about 30%.
Much like the previous game, the highest tested resolution sees GTX 280 winning the test. This time Gainward beats Radeon HD 4870 by about 23%, whereas XFX topped that and beat it by about 29%. Like many times before, XFX GTX 280 670M XXX shows that overclocking brings significant performance increase, and this time it beats reference Gainward GTX 280 by 5%.
Overclocking did well for GTX 260 too, and EVGA decided to overclock it to 666MHz. With their 640M card, XFX beat 9800 GTX by 50% and reference GTX 260 by 8%. EVGA 260 FTW beats the reference GTX 260 running at 576MHz by 10% in all the tests.
ATI HD 4850 managed to score evenly with Geforce 9800 GTX, but at the highest tested resolution it loses to HD 4870 by 30%, and at 1600x1200, 4xAA and 8xAF by 16%.
In Unreal Tournament 3, 1600x1200 with AA and AF, GTX 280 beats HD 4870 by 24%, but performance difference sank to 13% at 2048x1536. Following in that example, the battle result between HD 4850 and GTX 260 also sinks from 48% to 33% in the same scenario.
At the highest tested resolution, XFX GTX 280 670M beats Gainward by almost 12% and Radeon HD 4870 by almost 27%.
In this game, Diamond HD 4850 suffered the worst defeat from HD 4870, and at the highest tested resolution it loses by 44%. Still, with antialiasing on it scored 36fps and beat Geforce 9800 GTX by 9%.
XFX GTX 260 640M beats Geforce 9800 GTX by 63% and ran on par with EVGA GTX 260 FTW.
ATI HD 4850 clearly shows that low-cost doesn’t always mean slow, so in World in Conflict it manages to beat Geforce 9800 GTX by 35%. It, of course, loses to Sapphire HD 4870, but we’ve already learned that performance difference is usually around 30%.
In the first couple of games, XFX GTX 260 640M was slower than faster clocked EVGA GTX 260 by 3%, but in the last two games these two cards ran on par. XFX beat the reference card by about 12%.
Conclusion
XFX Geforce GTX 260 640M is an overclocked card running at 640MHz core and 1363MHz shader speeds. XFX decided on a safe overclock of 64MHz over the reference 576MHz, but they clocked the memory to high 2300MHz (reference speed is 1998MHz). We’ve seen that this card is in average about 8% faster than reference GTX 260, and it’s priced at around euro 247. With the card you also get Assassin’s Creed, which is not bad at all.
The card’s cooler is dual slot and it runs quietly in idle, but it gets a bit loud after some gaming (not too much, though). The card packs 192 Shader processors and a 448-bit memory interface with a frame buffer of 896MB. This card packs one serious punch, and since GTX 260 brings 80% of much more expensive GTX 280’s power, XFX will improve that result with their overclocked card. If you’re hungry for one of the best cards around today, overclocked XFX GTX 260 640M will be a great choice.
