*GTX 260/280 Unofficial TPU! Thread*

[PuMA]

Hello guys. I was just researching the 260 and stumbled across your thread. Great thread. I will bookmark it. I am currently getting ready to build my new CPU. I am going with 2 of the 260 FTW. Zipzoomfly has a heck of deal on them. $349.99 minus $30 MIR for $319.99 plus another $30 off coupon with them. So it is $289.99 plus ship. I paid Less then $650 for both shipped. I will also get the $60 rebates back when ever they come.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008835&prodlist=celebros

They also have the 280 GTX Evga for $419.99 plus ship after all is said and done.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008730

Just thought I would pass it on. Keep up the good work. I will be interested and seeing everyones scores and clocks. I would love to see someone do the FTW 260 in SLI for scores. This is my first build from scratch so I am learning as I go. I am done moding prebuilt cpu's. I have learned alot from my clan in the last few years.

=THS= THEDDLE

ur gonna love sli 260GTX. just make sure u pick up the right chipset. maybe sum1 here might help u decide (680i, 780i, 790i)

thanks for OC info guys. all I did with earlier GPU´s was to crank up the core and mem untill i hit a wall

 

[EnergyFX]

Well I met my goal. Took all night to tune it in, but once it set it blew right past the 22k mark. This is with the GPUs still on air. I also had to turn up the CPU overclock to get there.

I did have to unlink the core and shader. I can't seem to get past 1480 on the shader without moderate artifacts and frequent GPU hangs. The cards took 730MHz core clock and 1300MHz memory clock like it was a bag of cookies. I'm wondering just how much farther I can push them, but with the shaders redlining at 1480MHz I'm not sure how much more of an improvement I would see. It's possible that only one of my cards is hitting the shader wall, but such is the downside of SLI overclocking... you're only as overclockable as the slowest card.

 

[Kursah]

Personally I'm a fan of getting the "vanilla" editions that are not pre-OC'd and OCing them myself...EVGA is cool about overclocking and I can easily surpass FTW clocks with a vanilla 260...I get about 17K in 3DM06 and 12K in Vantage with 177.79 beta's on Vista x64, system specs to the left.

The 280's have quite a bit more power and seem as oc-able, but if I can bios mod my 3D gaming form 1.12 to 1.18v to match the 280's, my OC-ability will increase greatly hopefully...like earlier posts and links have shown 800 on the GPU is possible...from what I've read the shaders don't like higher temps above 60C for stability...but I am strictly on air so my milage of OC will vary from others for sure.

Thanks for those who've shown interest, I plan on updating the OP with more info as it comes in, keep posting and providing...if it's something good start with "KURSAH ADD THIS!!" or something if ya don't mind!



EDIT: Energy, dunno what you're testing with for artifacts, but at 1487 shader approx, in ATI Tool's artifact scanner I noticed the same thing...going beyond that to around 1500 the artifacts were no longer detected..so don't necessarily hesititate to push a little further there...could be a driver issue for all we know. I also now test with the 3Dmarks, Furmark and Crysis bench for verifacation, just because ATI Tool artifacts on NV doesn't sell me that it's not stable anymore...I also dealt with this on my 9600GT during OC-ing.

 

[EnergyFX]

Personally I'm a fan of getting the "vanilla" editions that are not pre-OC'd and OCing them myself...EVGA is cool about overclocking and I can easily surpass FTW clocks with a vanilla 260...I get about 17K in 3DM06 and 12K in Vantage with 177.79 beta's on Vista x64, system specs to the left.

The 280's have quite a bit more power and seem as oc-able, but if I can bios mod my 3D gaming form 1.12 to 1.18v to match the 280's, my OC-ability will increase greatly hopefully...like earlier posts and links have shown 800 on the GPU is possible...from what I've read the shaders don't like higher temps above 60C for stability...but I am strictly on air so my milage of OC will vary from others for sure.

Thanks for those who've shown interest, I plan on updating the OP with more info as it comes in, keep posting and providing...if it's something good start with "KURSAH ADD THIS!!" or something if ya don't mind!



EDIT: Energy, dunno what you're testing with for artifacts, but at 1487 shader approx, in ATI Tool's artifact scanner I noticed the same thing...going beyond that to around 1500 the artifacts were no longer detected..so don't necessarily hesititate to push a little further there...could be a driver issue for all we know. I also now test with the 3Dmarks, Furmark and Crysis bench for verifacation, just because ATI Tool artifacts on NV doesn't sell me that it's not stable anymore...I also dealt with this on my 9600GT during OC-ing.

I've always been under the impression (and perhaps incorrect) that the manufacturers select which chips go on the factory OC versions based on their testing performance. I wouldn't doubt if this is just marketing hooplah, but it does seem logical.

As for the shaders not liking OCs above 60 this is actually good news for me. It gives me hope that there are clearer skies ahead once I get the waterblocks.

So far all I have really been testing these on is Vantage. The artifacts range from errant pixles and streaks to odd anomolies in the water and fabric surfaces in the Nash test.

BTW, how do you get ATI tool and beta drivers to work in Vista 64? Perhaps I'm out of the loop here, but months ago I couldn't get past the driver signing prison... except for [F8] and disable during boot, but that's a PIA.

 

[Kursah]

For ATI Tool I installed it, clicked Allow Installing Unsigned Driver...I have UAC disabled tho...

I'm sure the better quality goodies are in the Pre-OC'd cards...but if I'm hitting 760 core, 1530 shaders and 1300 memory on my 260, with stock voltage that's pretty good imo. But I like to save money too..so I could just hit the FTW clocks and have the same card that costs that much more but costing me that much less ya know? Depends on how you look at it.

 

[EnergyFX]

For ATI Tool I installed it, clicked Allow Installing Unsigned Driver...I have UAC disabled tho...

I'm sure the better quality goodies are in the Pre-OC'd cards...but if I'm hitting 760 core, 1530 shaders and 1300 memory on my 260, with stock voltage that's pretty good imo. But I like to save money too..so I could just hit the FTW clocks and have the same card that costs that much more but costing me that much less ya know? Depends on how you look at it.

Can't argue with that. Then again... perhaps you're just lucky and got a good one.

 

[Hayder_Master]

Ok and thanks.

Now with BIOS mod i have gtx260 to 820/1642/2632....

1saludo.

it is good , and i think it is not run now at 2.0 , maybe get more stable overclock with 2.0

 

[Hayder_Master]

and now i think it is beat the 4870

 

[Hayder_Master]

but i see the gtx come with low core speed and texture , i overclock my 8800gt and i reach
740 , 970 , 2000

 

[Tatty_Two]

but i see the gtx come with low core speed and texture , i overclock my 8800gt and i reach
740 , 970 , 2000

Different architecture so core speeds dont translate across the cards. Theres is an old saying......."I dont need speed to make me go fast"

 

[Hayder_Master]

Different architecture so core speeds dont translate across the cards. Theres is an old saying......."I dont need speed to make me go fast"

so what is you advice tatty , for overclock my card

 

[Tatty_Two]

so what is you advice tatty , for overclock my card

If your in the market for a 260, my advice would be to google as many reviews as possible and take advice from owners in this thread to find out what manufacturers cards consistently tend to overclock well and go for one of those, you could play it safe and go for EVGA and take advantage perhaps in the future of upgrading through their step up programme if EVGA operates it in your area....... not sure about availability in Iraq though.

The 260 in itself is a pretty fast card but when overclocked to around 750-800mhz on the core, pretty fast can become rocket!

 

[Hayder_Master]

If your in the market for a 260, my advice would be to google as many reviews as possible and take advice from owners in this thread to find out what manufacturers cards consistently tend to overclock well and go for one of those, you could play it safe and go for EVGA and take advantage perhaps in the future of upgrading through their step up programme if EVGA operates it in your area....... not sure about availability in Iraq though.

The 260 in itself is a pretty fast card but when overclocked to around 750-800mhz on the core, pretty fast can become rocket!

thanx , but i mean the 8800gt

 

[Tatty_Two]

thanx , but i mean the 8800gt

Right, 3rd party cooler and again.....look for trends....Palit have a very good cooler and overclock well! My pair of 1GB 8800GT's will do 780mhz without mods!

 

[Cold Storm]

Man, I really need to get working on my 280 after seeing energy's benches...
Energy can you do a 06 run and show us, well me, how it goes? That way I know if there is some stupid reason why I can't get mine over the 18k mark... Thanks.

 

[Kursah]

Yeah I'm kinda curious on the 06 run myself...since that's more of a DX9 SM2/3 bench...I could get just under 17K with my GTX260 in it...I think it's more of a driver deal with the DX9 performance, but really I still can't complain about gaming performance in DX9!

 

[Cold Storm]

This is my 3dmark at my 3.5 24/7 clocks.

 

[Kursah]

Here's a STOCK run and OC'd run, CPU/System OC is 24/7 and unchanged tho. The increase I got is really minimal, in fact it's less than I recieved in Vantage as you'll see (if I can post that many pics lol!). That leads me to believe there's a lot of tweaking to be had in the DX9 part of the drivers...I could be wrong tho. What was your stock run on that 280 worth?

3DMark 2006 STOCK GPU

3DMark 2006 OVERCLOCK GPU

3DMark Vantage STOCK GPU

3DMark Vantage OVERCLOCK GPU

I haven't turned in that Vantage OC it beats my last one of 12012 by a little bit...but just looking at the difference between stock and OC'd between a DX9 SM2/3 and DX10 benchmark the overclock affecting performance is way greater in DX10...which is good, but I'm suprised to see a lower difference in DX9 none-the-less...maybe that's just how it is, if so, that's cool because it'll chew up and spit out any DX9 game out there! I will be posting some of this on the OP...just haven't decided how to implement this, or if I should delve into why the DX9 performance impact is lower...

 

[EnergyFX]

Here you go. I'm not too much farther than you even with two cards. Looks like SLI doesn't have quite the effect in 3DM06 as it does in Vantage.

Also, keep in mind that I run a dual core CPU, not quad.

My results window has always been screwed up in 3DM06. the "Submit to view and compare your benchmark... " line is supposed to show up under the button. You can sti 3593 CPU score though.ll make out the

EDIT: By the way, after looking at my previous 3DM06 scores, the higher overclocks I am running now were only good for an additional 23 marks.

 

[Kursah]

Those are some pretty sweet SM2.0 and 3.0/HDR scores too! We'll have to get some game benches running to see what's to be found there...that's my next target...I'm planning DMC4 DX9 and DX10 benches, Crysis DX10, WiC DX10, PT Boats DX10, Stock and OC speeds.

I'm curious to the impact comparison on DX9 and 10 games and if that correlates similarly to the 3DMark 06/Vantage performance impact of the GTX overlcocks. Time will tell for sure!

 

[Cold Storm]

Well here you go Kursah on GTX stock

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7689599

Then here is my Benching specs.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7689306

It's almost at my Record for my Gx2 at

 

[Kursah]

Those are some pretty impressive results for sure!

I am thinking of trying the BIOS mod...also I have downloaded other EVGA GTX 260 Bioses, using NiBitor 4.3 to read them, I'm finding no voltage changes what-so-ever, just clock changes...I am going to try a modded FTW (666/1408 1208) with 1.18v GPU instead of 1.12v and see what that gets me...hopefully not too much heat! And hopefully 800 core!

I will report back shortly!

 

[Cold Storm]

Can't wait to see if it goes good for ya man! I need to try and get myself at 4.0 running.. But, no power for it yet... But, they say to volt the hell out of it... Don't quite know if I should do that or not..

 

[Tatty_Two]

Here you go. I'm not too much farther than you even with two cards. Looks like SLI doesn't have quite the effect in 3DM06 as it does in Vantage.

Also, keep in mind that I run a dual core CPU, not quad.

My results window has always been screwed up in 3DM06. the "Submit to view and compare your benchmark... " line is supposed to show up under the button. You can sti 3593 CPU score though.ll make out the

EDIT: By the way, after looking at my previous 3DM06 scores, the higher overclocks I am running now were only good for an additional 23 marks.

@ Energy....There is something not right there, I get a slightly higher score than that with my E8200 at 4.3gig and two 8800GT @ 770 in SLi ??????

@ Cold....I think you should be getting higher than that as well, with my 8800GTS at 825mhz on the core and a quad I was getting 17,211 in 3D Mark 2006??

 

[Kursah]

Yeah it's definately something of interest imo, there's gotta be something up...I'm still figuring drivers at this point...for GPU's that powerful, it's kind of odd for the lower scores. I gained 1.4k in 06 with my OC, which I've seen older single cards beat, most notably g92's iirc...I went from about 11k on my 9600GT to almost 14K in 06 with an OC that was lower, with less memory that had lower bandwidth, with 1/3 of the shaders...just seems odd. But maybe it's how these GPU's are optimized? Maybe more for DX10 now? Is this a sign of DX9 to start losing it's grip on the industry as a major standard api? Or is this just how it is?

Still working on the bios mod flash...like I said before I downloaded and modded a FTW EVGA 260 bios...figure might as well run a little faster since nothing else is changed and I can surpass those speeds on all fronts quite easily. Plus going from 1.12v to 1.18v will hopefully show me some more OC-ability! Hopefully I can get it all sorted...I was trying a too old version of nvflash (5.13), just got 5.67 downloaded, so hopefully when I restart and flash it, I'll be back and bios modded! Is 800+ on the GPU possible after the mod? Hopefully we'll find out!