NVidia 260

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If today all eyes are on the series HD4xxx AMD on our side, we could not ignore the Gainward GTX 260 216sp GS GLH. Several reasons for such enthusiasm from us: first, the dual slot cooling inherited the monstrous Rampage HD 4870X2, and then the devil kit requires the frequencies that have been pushed, with a G200b clocked at 650 MHz , the unified shader units (216 total) at 1400 MHz and 896 MB of GDDR3 memory at least 1200 MHz, on a bus of 448 bits. Qu'alléchantes features more than just knowing 260v2 offers respectively GTX 576 MHz, 1242 MHz and 999 MHz for the GPU, the sharders and memory. Finally, to cap it all, the manufacturer announced a consumption less than a GTX 260 core, nothing but that. As if all this were not enough, the price of the card flirts with that of a stock ... but the people demand. Master stroke or Satan or coup swank, one thing is sure, we'll know very quickly, in the following pages.

Link to review

MSI releases its greatest custom designed GeForce GTX 260 graphics card after a great introduction at Cebit 2009: MSI N260GTX Lightning. MSI N260GTX Lightning has “Military Class” components, which redefine the standards of top quality graphics cards. With its 1792MB double-sized memory and Twin Frozr thermal design, MSI N260GTX Lightning becomes the most unique GeForce GTX260 on the market. Furthermore, this graphics card has important overclocking features like V-Check points to measure the voltage and MSI exclusive “AirForce Panel” only in “limited” black edition. All the user has to do is slightly touch the panel to enjoy high speed performance by overclocking!

Official Press Release
Product Page

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Press Release

April 20th, 2009

The next generation of overclocking graphics: MSI N260GTX Lightning

Twin Frozr, AirForce Panel & 10-Phase Power PWM

MSI has just released its greatest custom-designed GeForce GTX 260 graphics card after a great introduction at Cebit 2009: The MSI N260GTX Lightning. Utilizing “Military Class” components, which redefine the standards of top quality graphics cards, 1792MB double-sized memory and exclusive Twin Frozr thermal design, the MSI N260GTX Lightning is the most unique GeForce GTX260 on the market. Additionally, the MSI 260GTX Lightning has important overclocking features such as V-Check points which measure the running voltage and the MSI exclusive “AirForce Panel” which only comes in our “limited” black edition package. All the user has to do is slightly touch the panel to enjoy high speed performance by overclocking!

Military Class – The standard of top quality
Military Class is the new standard in top quality graphics cards! The N260GTX Lightning uses ultra long lifespan solid caps, which maintain a 2.5x times lifespan compared to normal solid cap and ultra high stability Hi-C Cap that can withstand 20% higher temperatures. With such high quality components on one card, the MSI N260GTX Lightning has incomparable overclocking potential and extremely high stability and reliability.

World’s first 10 Phase PWM
The MSI N260GTX Lightning is the world’s first graphics card with 10 Phase PWM for maximum overclocking performance. Given that the core of the video card (GPU – Graphics Processing Unit) needs more power than a CPU, the new power design dedicates 8 Phases for the GPU and 2 Phases for the Memory, giving it extreme stability and the ability to break new overclock records!

Double the memory
The N260GTX Lightning doubles the onboard memory 1792MB GDDR3 and reaches (in combination with the original processor) a frequency ratio of 680/2100 MHz*. DirectX 10 high resolution games are easy to handle for the N260GTX Lightning.


Revolutionary Overclocking Panel
The MSI AirForce Panel, an exclusive bundled device, uses a touch panel to provide the complete voltage and clock settings, allowing the user to slide the panel to overclock the card! With the AirForce Panel, everyone can easily reach the professional overclocker’s world! The AirForce panel features different profiles for office work, gaming, etc. so you can easily jump to the appropriate setting.

In addition, MSI N260GTX Lightning is equipped with V-Check points for measuring voltage during overclocking activities. You can simply use the multi-meter to detect the core and memory voltages and keep your video card running at optimal power.

Twin Frozr thermal design
MSI’s N260GTX Lightning has an intelligent thermal design with dual fans dubbed Twin Frozr. The card produces ultra-low noise under regular load and dynamically adjusts the fan speed during intensive game play and other 3D-operations. The thermal design provides great cooling efficiency to reach the best overclocking performance.

There are 2 SKU’s of the N260GTX Lightning.
The AirForce panel is only included in the N260GTX Lightning Black Edition which comes with a special weapons style packing.

For more about the MSI N260GTX Lightning please see:

MSI N260GTX Lightning Microsite:
http://event.msi.com/vga/N260GTX_Lightning/index.html

Download MSI N260GTX Lightning's technical documentation:
http://event.msi.com/vga/N260GTX_Lightning/download/MSI N260GTX Lightning Technical Briefing.rar

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As the GTX260 is a pretty balanced video card in the scheme of things against the competition from ATI and other cards in this price range, the MSI card would logically be a faster version of that card. The card easily overclocked to the highest level I've ever seen on a GeForce GTX260 216 core card including the Superclocked and Black Edition cards from other manufacturers. Performance was as to be expected from a faster card in this category. MSI's packaging of a hardware overclocking device was a great addition to the bundle allowing the casual overclocker the option of overclocking with the push of a button.

Link to review

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The breakneck pace of product development for graphics cards doesn't always generate bigger, faster, more powerful chips and cards. Sometimes a new product gets developed and introduced to the market that isn't a barn burner. Such is the case with this GTX260-based video card, the ASUS ENGTX260 Matrix. That doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile product, or isn't worth the attention of Benchmark Reviews. Instead, it's usually a more focused design that is aimed at a tighter target market. As if the high end PC graphics card market isn't tight enough, ASUS has carved out a niche in their product line called Matrix, and adopted it into their Republic of Gamers.
The hallmarks of the Matrix range so far are enhanced cooling capacity, improved configurability, and unique visual designs. The 9800GT and HD4870 cards that were released in 2008 have a new sibling, the ENGTX260 Matrix, and there is clearly a family resemblance. This isn't the first GTX260 video card that Benchmark Reviews has tested, but let's see what's different about this one.

Link to review

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The ENGTX260Matrix is a very interesting card for those wanting the ultimate in cooling for their video cards. Two fans allow the card to reach 650MHz by overclocking the card via iTracker. You get the ASUS quality hardware and software. Hybrid Cooler works as advertised, causing the fans to be idle when the card was idle. A solid bundle for hardware and software completes this package. It's interesting to note that performance on the card came close to that of the GTX 275 in some cases. Depending on what price point this card hits the market ASUS may have a winner.

Link to review

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"It's been hard to evaluate video cards these days as there is no difference between a model from one manufacturer and a model from another one based on the same graphics chip, since they are all identical and provided by the chip manufacturer (nVidia or AMD) and the only thing the video card "manufacturer" does is to add their sticker to the video card and put the card in a box with the "manufacturer" logo. This is why we were so excited to review a model where the manufacturer actually added something really unique to the video card: MSI N260GTX Lighting Black Edition comes with an overclocking panel (called AirForce) that can be installed on your case or desk, allowing you to overclock the video card by touching some buttons, making overcloking easy especially for the newbie. Other features were added to the video card as well: double the memory compared to the standard model (1,792 MB vs. 896 MB), 10-phase voltage regulator circuit, solid aluminum caps, ferrite chokes, lo w RDS(on) transistors, test points on the board for you to check the GPU and memory voltages using a voltmeter and a better cooler."

Link to review

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Today we’re going to be looking at the Asus ENGTX260 Matrix graphics card. The card is complete with a custom cooler and a comprehensive software application which allows for overvolting and overclocking of the card. The card is available for about £160 and these features could easily give it a strong advantage over competing products.

Link to review

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We’ve seen the entire nVidia GTX video card series go through another revision as of late. The latest revisions are the GTX 275 and GTX 285 which offer improved power and performance benefits thanks to the smaller GPU. However, that doesn’t mean the original GTX series have been kicked to the curb. In fact, that usually means someone is taking the previous choice GPUs and putting them on video cards exclusively aimed at the extreme enthusiast who’s going to exploit their full hidden potential.

Link to review

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List of all reviews based on the Nvidia 260: