Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 Plus 1792MB Video Card Review


The nVidia geForce GTX 260 was originally released in June 2008, nearly 1.5 years ago. At that time, it and its big brother, the GTX 280, were the most powerful single GPU gaming cards in the market. At its release price of $400, it was pretty expensive, but it was $150 less than the only two cards that really came close, the GTX 280, and the Radeon HD 4870 X2, which was released a couple of weeks later.

Though nVidia has recently come out with a few new cards, the GTX 295, GTX 285 and GTX 275, the venerable GTX 260 is still a quite powerful gaming card. And it really isn’t the same card it was when released, though released in the 65nm process, it has since been upgraded to the 55nm process. And originally sporting 192 stream processors, it now has 216.

I recently made the comment that the GTX 260 896MB video card is probably the best bang-for-the-buck gaming card deal going. It is a lot of video card for around $175, and gives reputable FPS when coupled with inexpensive processors like the Phenom II X3 720.

Today I will be looking at a GTX 260 by Sparkle, the GTX 260 Plus. This isn’t your typical GTX 260, as it sports 1792 megs of memory. I reviewed a couple of Radeon HD 4870 X2s that each had two gigs of memory, but they were actually two 4870s with 1GB of memory per GPU. This is a single GPU with not much less than two gigs for itself. Will this massive amount of graphics memory make a difference? Read on to see!

Special thanks to Sparkle for providing us with the GeForce GTX 260 Plus Video Card to review!

Specifications:
Model Number: SXX2601792D3S-VP
Interface: PCI Express 2.0 x16
GPU: geForce GTX 260
Core Clock: 576MHz
Shader Clock: 1242 MHz
Stream Processors: 216 Processor Cores
Memory: 1792MB GDDR3
Memory Clock: 2214 MHz
Memory Interface: 448-bit
RAMDAC: Dual 400 MHz RAMDAC
Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Power Connectors: 2 x 6 Pin PCI-E
Ports: 2 x DVI
3D API: DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1

Features:
– 55nm manufacture process for lower power consumption
– Dual-link DVI supported
– HDCP ready
– Warranty: Lifetime Limited Parts and Labor

Packaging
The card comes in a sleeved white themed box with the typical icons denoting the card’s capabilities and features.


Sparkle geForce GTX 260 Plus 1792MB Video Card Sparkle geForce GTX 260 Plus 1792MB Video Card

Inside the card is packed in bubblewrap and protected from the bundle by cardboard.


Sparkle geForce GTX 260 Plus 1792MB Video Card

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