Galaxy finally pushed its self-designed GeForce GTX 260+ graphics card to retail. The card surfaced earlier this month, in a pre-release appearance with a completely different GPU cooler (read here). The pre-release iteration featured PC-Cooler HP4-1226. As we found out during the course of the discussion, the said cooler was too large to be sold with the card, as it would probably span across four or more expansion slots.

Galaxy made the release-grade card a bit more retail-friendly by using a slightly modified Accelero Twin-Turbo cooler made by Arctic Cooling. The new cooler keeps the footprint of this card within three expansion slots. The Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ features factory-overclocked parameters, of 625/1350/1050 MHz (core/shader/memory), a 7% overclock over the reference speeds. It uses the 55 nm G200b core, with 216 stream processors and 896 MB of GDDR3 memory. Interestingly, the card bundles Galaxy's Xtreme Tuner overclocking software, as against the Magic Panel software the pre-release iteration was spotted with, by Chinese media.

Based on the new inexpensive P897 PCB, the Freezer X2 DHT series GeForce GTX 260 will be the first graphics card by the company based on a non-reference GTX 200 series design. The card was first pictured with only its green PCB exposed, possibly because the cooler design was being finalized or embargoed (read here). By the looks of it, NVIDIA seems to have made things easy for its partners by issuing a base-design kit that allows partners to rearrange components, in a way they see fit. This helps partners use the cooling mechanism of their choice.

With the Freezer X2 DHT, Inno3D chose a modularised cooling system that consists of a large GPU cooler, heatspreaders over the memory chips, heatsinks over the NVIO2 processor and the card's VRM area, with the GPU cooler providing air-flow for these component heatsinks. The GPU cooler uses the Direct Heatpipe-Touch (DHT) technology, where the GPU contact-block has three heatpipes making direct contact with the GPU. These heatpipes convey heat to an aluminum fin array, which is subjected to air-flow by two equally-sized fans. One can expect this card to be launched during the CeBIT event.

NVIDIA has come up with a new inexpensive reference PCB design for the GeForce GTX 260 (55nm) codenamed P897. The new PCB does away with the numerous redundant and rudimentary connections, excessive PCB layers and some components. The new PCB design is expected to reduce manufacturing costs by as much as $15.

Inno3D will be one of the first companies to come up with a model based on the new PCB. The company is planning an accelerator using the P897 PCB and a cooler of its own. Expreview sourced a few pictures of the card. While the cooler itself isn't pictured, we can make a safe guess that it is going to be something along the lines of its previous Freezer Direct Heatpipe-Touch (DHT) series models, in which the heatpipes of the cooler make direct contact with the GPU to convey heat. Inno3D is expected to start mass-production of this accelerator soon, following which it will assign an SKU and price it. While the new PCB cuts manufacturing costs, it remains to be seen as to what extant NVIDIA's partners pass on the benefit to the consumer.

The introduction of the new G200b series graphics processors sought to revive NVIDIA's stronghold over the high-end graphics market, by reducing manufacturing costs, and facilitating high-end graphics cards at unusually low price-points, to compete with rival ATI. The first SKU using the G200b GPU was the new GeForce GTX 260. The PCB of design of the new model (P654) saw several drastic changes, that also ended up contributing to the cost-cutting: all memory chips were placed in the business end of the PCB, and the VRM area rearranged. News emerging from Expreview suggests that NVIDIA has worked out an even newer PCB reference design (model: P897) that aims mainly to cut production costs further. The reference design graphics board based on the PCB will be given the internal name "D10U-20". A short list of changes is as follows:

• The number of PCB layers has been reduced from 10 to 8, perhaps to compress or remove blank, redundant or rudimentary connections
• A 4+2 phase NVVDD power design using the ADP4100 voltage regulator IC, the FBVDDQ circuit has been reduced from 2 phases to 1, and the MOSFET package has been changed from LFPAK to DPAK grouping, to reduce costs. The ADP4100 lacks the I2C interface, which means voltage control will be much more difficult than on current PCBs of the GeForce 260,280, 285 and 295
• The optional G200b support-brace has been removed
• While the length of the PCB remains the same, the height has been reduced to cut costs
• BIOS EEPROM capacity reduced from 1 Mbit (128 KB) to 512 Kb (64 KB)
• Cheaper DVI connectors

Pictures of the one of the first indigenously designed PCB for the GeForce GTX 260 by Galaxy has been pictured by Chinese website PCPop.com, that show a distinct blue PCB and cooling system. Galaxy chooses to call this accelerator the GTX 260+, perhaps to indicate that it is the newest version (55nm, 216 SP), which the marking on the GPU validates. The accelerator seems to be exclusive for the Asian market. The PCB uses a five phase power circuit. All the memory chips are on the anterior end of the PCB.

The cooling system of the card consists of heatsinks over key components of the PCB: the NVIO2 processor, the VRM area and the memory chips. The GPU is cooled by a massive cooler that can trick you for a CPU cooler. It seems to span across at least three slots. It consists of a contact block from which four heat pipes emerge, that convey heat to large aluminum fin array that is cooled by what looks like a 120mm LED-lit fan. The accelerator is backed by Galaxy's Magic Panel software that monitors the various parameters of the card and controls them. In the first screen-shot below, the core seems to be set at 750 MHz (core), 1575 MHz (shader) and 1300/2600 DDR MHz (memory), with a certain temperature reading (most likely the core) showing a temperature of 43 °C. The card secured a 3DMark Vantage score of P14480 on a Core i7-based test bench. The card also dealt with an ongoing FurMark session where at the same speeds, it was running at 67 °C, showing the cooling efficiency of this card.

Palit Microsystems, leading graphics card manufacturer, introduces the 55nm graphics processor: Palit GeForce GTX260 Sonic 216SP. The overclocked edition Palit GTX260 Sonic 216SP is the first custom designed graphics card that combines the innovative DUAL FAN cooling system with the high performance ad power efficiency of 55nm GPU to deliver the perfect solution for the gaming enthusiast.

Overclocking video cards has become a child's play these days, thanks to helpful software utilities that feature simple sliders to adjust clock speeds, test and apply overclocked parameters. Those serious about overclocking take to high-end cooling, and volt-modding. EVGA picked on a gray-area, where users should be given a level of control over the GPU's voltage. The company is known for taking initiatives in making performance control accessible to most users by providing easy to use utilities such as the EVGA Precision.

Now, the company is coming up with a nifty utility called the EVGA Voltage Tuner. Exclusive for registered users of EVGA GeForce GTX 200 series graphics cards, the utility allows a decent level of control over the GPU's voltage settings, within a range permissible by the GPU's BIOS. While this utility isn't an all out substitute to volt-modding, it allows for all the voltage tuning the default state of the graphics card's electrical components allow. A simple slider allows for adjusting the GPU core voltage with a resolution of milli-Volts. The results of using this utility are impressive, with a small voltage adjustment sending the maximum core overclock up by 100 MHz, a significant amount when it comes to GPUs. The first version of this utility is said to support GeForce GTX 260 (65nm), GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 295. Suceeding versions may expand the compatibility list to include some important graphics cards, namely GeForce GTX 285 and GTX 260 (55nm). The second and third screenshots below show a before&after scene of adjusting voltages using this utility.

LEADTEK Research Inc., world acclaimed for its extremevisual graphics leading brand technology, proudly announces its latest WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+ with a new graphics card packaging design. Based on the Best-in-class NVIDIA GTX 260 chipsets, this thoroughbred graphics card delivers advanced performance with the best cooling silent fansink. Its overclocking capability is sure to bring users a fantasy visual effect. Together with the launch of the graphics card, Leadtek debuts a new packaging design. The latter replaces the former robots with a series of top speed cars as the key visual. This original concept aims to vaunt Leadtek's corporate spirit of "high quality & speedy performance" that gives users an altogether new visual impression.

WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+ is powered up with 2nd Generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture and enables the rendering of multiple, true-to-life characters in complex and dynamic virtual worlds. In addition, the latest parallel computing architecture with massive independent processing cores enables GTX 260 EXTREME+ to execute the most intricate non-gaming applications via CUDA language. This includes acceleration of the art design application - science simulation application or transcoding of video to a personal video player up to 7X faster than the CPU.

About a week into its market introduction, EVGA today made its 55nm GeForce GTX 260 graphics cards lineup official. The company also introduced a premium Super-Superclocked (SSC) variant of the said card. While having identical reference clock speeds to those of the 65nm GeForce GTX 260 Core-216 lineup, the new lineup offers higher energy efficiency and improved thermal characteristics.

The SSC variant introduced has clock speeds of 675 MHz (core), 1,458 MHz (shader) and 2,304 MHz (memory). It is backed by the EVGA limited lifetime warranty. EVGA also disclosed the suggested retail prices for the entire lineup (North American region) in its press-release, so you know which prices to buy them at: US $259.99 for the base model (896-P3-1255-AR), $269.99 for the Superclocked model (896-P3-1257-AR) and $289.99 for the SSC model (896-P3-1258-AR).

With NVIDIA being ready with variants of the G200 graphics processors based on the 55nm manufacturing process, a fleet of new graphics cards are in the line for launches. The range starts with a sub-$300 offering, the GeForce GTX 260 55nm. You now have three SKUs that share the name "GeForce GTX 260". The GeForce GTX 260 comes with the 216 SP configuration with 896 MB of GDDR3 memory. EVGA for one, is aiming to be one of the first NVIDIA partners to be out with the new GeForce GTX 260, with a standard and Superclocked models ready for launch, already listed in European and North American online stores.

The EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR comes with NVIDIA reference clock speeds of 576 MHz (core), 1242 MHz (shader) and 999 MHz (memory), while the Superclocked EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR model is factory-overclocked with 626 MHz (core), 1350 MHz (shader) and 1053 MHz (memory). EVGA is further planning a SSC variant that could come with a core clock speed of 666 MHz. For now, American retailer ZipZoomFly has listed the reference speed card for $289.99 and the Superclocked variant for just $4 more. Both cards are listed as "pre-order".

Sources tell Expreview that AMD is working on a new graphics processor (apart from the mysterious RV790), as an immediate reaction to the 55nm high-end GPUs NVIDIA is set to release. NVIDIA on its part is working on GeForce GTX 260 (55nm), GeForce GTX 285 (successor to GeForce GTX 280) and the dual-GPU monstrosity, GeForce GTX 295. To rival this, according to the source, AMD is working on the RV775 and derivatives based on its yields' performance.

These GPUs are slated for January thru March 2009. It has some very interesting specifications. To begin with, 840 stream processors. While stream processors on a current generation RV770 cannot be added/subtracted in quantities of 40 stream processors, perhaps, the increment of 40 SPs is derived from an extra ALU cluster the RV770 comes with by default (which helps in die harvesting, where the spare ALU cluster makes up for any damaged cluster, thereby improving yields). This would require near-perfect GPUs in the making (if re-engineering of the RV770 on a large scale is to be avoided). Another interesting point is regarding the smaller die. At this point we are clueless as to how that is possible without re-engineering the RV770 at a large scale. Treat yourselves to the specifications meanwhile:

A common feature with shopping seasons, namely summer and Christmas, is that consumer graphics giants, AMD and NVIDIA announce new products that push up the pure performance and performance per dollar envelopes. With this Christmas season however, nothing notably new is going to come out of their stables, making their existing products slog it out. This resulted in both companies resorting to some serious price-cutting with their existing mid-thru-high-end products.

In the wake of massive price-cuts by NVIDIA for the GeForce GTX 260, AMD has decided to prepare its own price-cuts for the one card that goes neck and neck with the GTX 260, Radeon HD 4870. Originally seated in the $299~$399 bracket, the GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 have become some of the key SKUs for both companies. These are the products we have seen going neck and neck, resulting in both companies refreshing them, and later resorting to price-cuts. NVIDIA refreshed GeForce GTX 260 with a 216 stream processor version that came with added shader compute power, while AMD responded with the 1 GB variant of the Radeon HD 4870. As on today, the company pricing for the Radeon HD 4870 has been set around US $199 for the 512 MB and $239 for the 1 GB variants. This roughly catches up with the pricing for GeForce GTX 260, with roughly $199~$219 for the 192 stream processor and $239~$249 for the 216 stream processor variant.

NVIDIA will be releasing 55nm versions of the G200 graphics processor, which provides better thermal and power characteristics. What's more, NVIDIA could allow its partners to come up with their own designs or colour themes right away, at least from what can be seen with the Zotac GeForce GTX 260². The card uses a blue PCB, without a cooler shroud at the back of it. In the current iteration of the GeForce 200 series, memory chips are also located at the back of the card, requiring a heatspreader. In the newest iteration of the PCB, several changes are brought about:

• Toned-down power circuitry overall, with 4 phase vGPU and 2 phase vMem
• Aluminum support-brace surrounding the GPU
• Memory chips located only on one side of the PCB, leaving nothing at the back-side of the PCB that requires cooling, hence no heatspreader

Thanks to our friends over at Expreview, we can post what's reported as the first photo of NVIDIA's 55nm GT200b graphics core. According to the information, all NVIDIA cores marked with the G200-103-B2 nomenclature are made using NVIDIA's 55nm processing technology. First cards to ship with the revised GPU will be GeForce GTX 260 series. The video cards will hit the market in January next year, with unchanged memory (896MB) and stream processor specs (216sp). Non-reference versions of the cards as well as reported GT200b models of GeForce GTX 280 and dual-core GeForce GTX 260GX2 will go on sale at the same time, too. Hopefully, the installment of the new core will bring prices of the NVIDIA cards further down.

The RV770 graphics processor changed AMD's fortunes in the graphics processor industry and put it back in the race for supremacy over the larger rival NVIDIA. The introduction of RV770-based products had a huge impact on the mid-range and high-end graphics card markets, which took NVIDIA by surprise. Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA has been quoted saying that they had underestimated their competitor's latest GPU, referring to RV770. While the Radeon HD 4870 graphics accelerator provided direct competition to the 192 shader-laden GeForce GTX 260, the subsequent introduction of a 216 shader variant saw it lose ground, leaving doubling of memory size to carve out the newer SKU, the Radeon HD 4870 1GB. Performance benchmarks of this card from all over the media have been mixed, but show that AMD isn't giving up this chance for gaining technological supremacy.

In Q4 2008, NVIDIA is expected to release three new graphics cards: GeForce GTX 270 and GeForce GTX 290. The cards are based on NVIDIA's G200 refresh, the G200b, which incorporates a new manufacturing technology to facilitate higher clock-speeds, stepping up performance. This looks to threaten the market position of AMD's RV770, since it's already established that G200 when overclocked to its stable limits, achieves more performance than RV770 pushed to its limits. This leaves AMD with some worries, since it cannot afford to lose the wonderful market-position its cash-cow, the RV770 is currently in, to an NVIDIA product that outperforms it by a significant margin, in its price-domain. The company's next generation graphics processor would be the RV870, which still has some time left before it could be rushed in, since its introduction is tied to the constraints of foundry companies such as TSMC, and the availability of the required manufacturing process (40nm silicon lithography) by them. While TSMC takes its time working on that, there's a fair bit of time left, for RV770 to face NVIDIA, which given the circumstances, looks a lost battle. Is AMD going to do something about its flagship GPU? Will AMD make an effort to maintain its competitiveness before the next round of the battle for technological supremacy begins? The answer is tilting in favour of yes.

Following the formal launch of the Far Cry 2 frachise BFG and EVGA, two of the official NVIDIA AIB (Add-In-Board) partners, announced they'll start bundling the game with their GeForce GTX 200 range of graphics cards. That includes both GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce GTX 280.
For a limited time, and while supplies last only, customers who buy any BFG GeForce GTX 200 series graphics card starting from yesterday will get a free full copy of Far Cry 2 ($50 value), a full copy of 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition ($20 value), and
a BFG branded mini super bright LED electric torch. Find more details here.
EVGA is also offering a free Far Cry 2 copy, as long as you meet the following terms and conditions written here. EVGA's offer is also limited while supplies last.

Rising to the expectations of international gamers, Leadtek Research Inc., a global front runner in extreme visual graphics technology development, announces the upgrade of its graphics card, WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+. Based on the NVIDIA GTX 260 chipsets, the enthusiastic graphics card has been upgraded to 216 stream processors and ready to bring users into an impressive new era.

Featuring the powerful GeForce GTX 260 GPU with upgraded 216 stream processors, WinFast GTX 260 EXTREME+ has a scorching GPU clock speed of 602MHz and GDDR3 896MB memory. GTX 260 EXTREME+ can power extreme HD gaming and entertainment, and also represent an effective shift of everyday processing tasks from the CPU to the GPU.

GIGABYTE UNITED INC., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched their next generation graphic accelerators, the GIGABYTE GV-N26OC-896H-B, equipped with NVIDIA's latest GeForce GTX 260 OC graphics processor. Delivering a 5-10% performance boost over the previous GeForce GTX 260, the GeForce GTX 260 OC with its 216 stream processors and 448bit, 896 GB GDDR3 memory provides a sophisticated level of 3D game rendering to take your game play to the next level. Supporting HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) and Full HD to 1,080P, the GIGABYTE GV-N26OC-896H-B also provides the highest quality, High-Definition video for the ultimate home theater experience.

Supporting NVIDIA's PhysX Technology, the GIGABYTE GV-N26OC-896H-B enables a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC. In addition to providing a completely unique gaming experience, it also compliant with CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) Technology, unlocking the power of the processor core of the GeForce GTX 260 OC to accelerate the most demanding system tasks such as video transcoding for an up to 7x performance enhancement over traditional CPUs.

Swiftech updated today its portfolio to include a GT200 adapter kit for its MCW60 Revision 2 GPU water block. This adapter will make the current MCW60 Rev. 2 GPU blocks compatible with all reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce GTX 280 video cards. The MCW60 waterblock is a liquid cooling solution for high-end graphics processors. It uses the same base plate technology as the award-winning Apogee CPU water-block and offers easy integration in most water cooling loops. Until now the block was compatible with most ATI and NVIDIA video cards thanks to various base plates. This latest GTX 200 hold-down kit will cost you $6.99. Please visit Swiftech for more information.

NVIDIA's move to give the GeForce GTX 260 a performance boost by increasing its shader count by 24, to make 216 in all has worked in pusing the performance envelope high up. Our review of the Zotac GeForce GTX 260 Amp2 has shown that at a price range the new GPU based graphics cards fall in, they offer terrific value.

EVGA has decided to cash in on this move with their lineup of cards that sport the newer GPU. Among this, is a high-end card that comes with factory-fitted water blocks. The EVGA e-GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 HC16 comes with a full coverage water block. What's more, the other side of the PCB has been provided with cooling for vital parts of the PCB as well. What's even more surprising is that the card uses a power design similar to that of the GeForce GTX 280. It comes with 6-pin + 8-pin PCI-Express power inputs. Evidently, the enhanced power circuit keeps the card overclock-stable beyond the speeds it comes in. The GPU core is clocked at 648 MHz, with 1404 MHz for the shader domain. Memory is clocked at 1053 MHz. It comes with the usual 896 MB of memory. This card however, carries a price-tag of US $489.99, leaving the enhanced PCB and cooling to justify it.

BFG Technologies, the leading North American and European supplier of advanced NVIDIA-based 3D graphics cards, power supplies and other PC enthusiast products, announced today the BFG GeForce GTX 260 MAXCORE graphics cards in three factory overclocked versions; OC, OC2, and OCX. BFG's GeForce GTX 260 MAXCORE graphics cards boast 216 processing cores-24 more cores than a standard GeForce GTX 260. This extra processing power combined with BFG's rock-solid factory overclocking provides end users with enthusiast-class performance and the protection of a lifetime warranty.

The battle for supremacy in the current generation of consumer graphics hasn't calmed down as yet. Just as reports came in of NVIDIA giving the GeForce GTX 260 a boost with its shader compute power by enabling 24 shader units, taking on the Radeon HD 4870, GeForce GTX 280 seems to be enjoying its $420~$440 price-tag. For sure it isn't the fastest graphics accelerator but its compelling price tag is what is drawing buyers away from the HD 4870 X2.

AMD had already announced in its press release for the Radeon HD 4870 X2 launch that it would release a HD 4850 X2 at a roughly $400 price range. That moment seems to be coming closer, when ATI has a graphics card for $399, that outperforms the GeForce GTX 280. Three slides from the company have surfaced. The first one lists out its vital specifications, including its maximum power draw, rated at 230W. The memory bandwidth of this card is 128 GB/s, and it ends up with 2 GB of GDDR3 memory.

Bad news for the manufacturers, possible good news for consumers. NVIDIA revised the GeForce GTX 260 (D10U-102) graphics processor (GPU) in an attempt to stamp performance superiority over the Radeon HD 4870. While from a technical standpoint there are mixed views about this move, with some suggesting the performance leads aren't significant over its older version, while others finding it a good move with potential for more performance gains with tweaks and overclocking, it cannot be denied that for the new GTX 260 to fit into the market, there are some tough maths are at play.

The new GPU will certainly affect the prices of products across the segment, including those of the older GTX 260. If the GTX 260 gets a significantly lower price compared to the newer version or if this gets a significantly higher price, it could affect the sales of either products, and profits in general for manufacturers. Concerns over the new GPU causing over-stocking of the older GPU-based products loom at large, reports industry observer DigiTimes. Overstock is a condition where demand for a product is much lower or on a decline in relation to the supply. If such a situation arises where the D10U-102 sells much better than the older GTX 260 which is in good stock, manufacturers could be forced to sell the older cards at lower prices, as that is a common reaction to overstock commodities. Expect great prices caused not due to inter-brand competition, but intra-brand competition.

NVIDIA is preparing the launch of a revised GeForce GTX 260 graphics processor that has 216 shader units. Early performance evaluations show that the card is NVIDIA's sharp retaliation to the Radeon HD 4870 GPU, and it manages to outperform it comprehensively (covered here). Zotac is ready with a factory overclocked card based on the new GPU, The Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!. One way to differentiate this from the Amp! model based on the older GTX 260 core is the superscript "²" next to "AMP".

The card continues to use two 6-pin PCI-Express power connectors, it continues to have 896 MB of GDDR3 memory across a 448-bit wide memory bus. Clock speeds are stepped up. The speeds are 650 MHz / 1400 MHz / 1000 MHz (core/shader/memory) against the reference speeds of 576 MHz / 1242 MHz / 999 MHz. This product should be out by the end of this month.

NVIDIA is dressing up a new version of the GeForce GTX 260 GPU as reported earlier, with a revision that carries 216 shader units (against 192 for the original GTX 260). Chinese website Bear Eyes has pictured the new GPU. Other than the increased shader count, that should provide a significant boost to the shader compute power, other GPU parameters such as clock speeds remain the same. The core features 72 texturing units and 28 ROPs. The core is technically called G200-103-A2 (the older core was G200-100-A2). The card reviewed by Bear Eyes was made by Inno3D, called GeForce GTX 260 Gold. This shows that the GTX 260 brand name is here to stay.