*GTX 260/280 Unofficial TPU! Thread*

[TonyStark]

Thanks Kursah.

First run of 3DMark06 gave me 11,615. Pretty much the same score as my old OC'd HD3870. I guess that bench is CPU bound with my E4300 @ 3GHz. Games run much smoother as I said previously. Around double the framerates. Very happy with the upgrade.

Time to clock the shit out of it.

Hope you enjoy that core212. Apparently with a small OC they match the GTX280.

 

[johnspack]

Well, guess I'll be able to test those 180s after all, figured out how to run 2 cards and now have 3 monitors hooked up. So I'll leave in my 9800gtx for now. Those 178.13 drivers are awful, no digital vibrance and they go downhill from there. I really hope they release the big bangs soon! Kursah, I retried all tests using the more stable 177.92 driver, still 1000+ point spread in favor of the 280...

 

[dadi_oh]

So do you think it would be worth a separate thread to capture everyone's OC results in one thread? I have been looking at OC results on the GTX 260 on the web and trying to get a sense for how high these things can go. I am a little surprised that just about every review I have seen is claiming OC in the 650 range with a few hitting 700. I am wondering if I just happened to get a phenomenal chip since I hit 756 on the core and 1512 on shaders with stock volts. And that is 100% stable and only hitting 64C on stock cooling 60% fan under load. I can hit 1566 on the shaders but after about 10 minutes of Furmark I notice a few artifacts. Maybe XFX does bin their chips for the XXX version?

I have seen some others here on TPU that are also up in that range but I am wondering how common that is.

Just a thought.

 

[Kursah]

Sounds pretty similar to OC's I've seen others get dadi_oh, dunno if it's worth a seperate thread or not...I'm not entirely sure just how many TPU'ers took the jump over to the GTX series with all the HD48xx hype and high GTX prices initially. My old card could do 1566 shaders iirc, but the next step above was no dice.

I guess if we get some more GPU-z postings, maybe with a bench or two to ensure at least some stability, I'll post some OC's. I don't care too much about benches...I run them here and there, but they aren't anything special for me.

I could prolly do some updating to the OP anyways. No guarentees on how soon or fast I could update it, but from here-on out, if you want your name and OC posted on the OP, get some GPU-Z posted up!

Some thoughts on stability testing, I found running FurMark in a 1024x768 window with Stability checked for 30-60 minutes (1800-3600 seconds) is a great way to test stability on these cards. When I get my card back and post a screen for OC stability it will be in this manner. That and just flat out gaming more!

 

[waxking1]

I should have my new card Tuesday. EVGA received the old one last Monday and shipped the stepup on Wesnesday. I wish I had requested 2 day shipping and I would have it now.

 

[dadi_oh]

Sounds pretty similar to OC's I've seen others get dadi_oh, dunno if it's worth a seperate thread or not...I'm not entirely sure just how many TPU'ers took the jump over to the GTX series with all the HD48xx hype and high GTX prices initially. My old card could do 1566 shaders iirc, but the next step above was no dice.

I guess if we get some more GPU-z postings, maybe with a bench or two to ensure at least some stability, I'll post some OC's. I don't care too much about benches...I run them here and there, but they aren't anything special for me.

I could prolly do some updating to the OP anyways. No guarentees on how soon or fast I could update it, but from here-on out, if you want your name and OC posted on the OP, get some GPU-Z posted up!

Some thoughts on stability testing, I found running FurMark in a 1024x768 window with Stability checked for 30-60 minutes (1800-3600 seconds) is a great way to test stability on these cards. When I get my card back and post a screen for OC stability it will be in this manner. That and just flat out gaming more!

Sounds good. Maybe just a list on the first page of successful OC's backed by a post with a GPUz shot and some stability indication. I'll try to get something for you tonight.

It would be great to hear if lot's of people are getting up in teh 756/1512 range. I wass just surprised at all the reviews that were not doing this. Seemed odd.

 

[Tatty_Two]

So do you think it would be worth a separate thread to capture everyone's OC results in one thread? I have been looking at OC results on the GTX 260 on the web and trying to get a sense for how high these things can go. I am a little surprised that just about every review I have seen is claiming OC in the 650 range with a few hitting 700. I am wondering if I just happened to get a phenomenal chip since I hit 756 on the core and 1512 on shaders with stock volts. And that is 100% stable and only hitting 64C on stock cooling 60% fan under load. I can hit 1566 on the shaders but after about 10 minutes of Furmark I notice a few artifacts. Maybe XFX does bin their chips for the XXX version?

I have seen some others here on TPU that are also up in that range but I am wondering how common that is.

Just a thought.

775 core with 1590 on the shaders, or 765 core with 1620 on the shaders.

 

[Muhad]

What does 'newer AMD and NV GPU's can now fold' mean? I don't understand the use of 'fold'.

 

[Cold Storm]

The term "fold" is for use with the whole "folding@home". Where you allow different colleges to do workloads on your parts. There, for the longest time, folding wasn't apart of the Nvidia project. It is now with most cards.
When you 'fold" you have two term's you can work as. A GPU client or a CPU client. You give them parts of what you don't use in order for them do get their work loads done.

 

[Tatty_Two]

My best single GPU score ever........

Gainward GTX260 @ 775core/1590shader/1200mem
Q9650@4.212gig

21,216

 

[Cold Storm]

Tatty... that's just out.... WOW...
Grteat run... <----- See, I can't even spell because of how good it was! lol

 

[HeavyH20]

My best single GPU score ever........

Gainward GTX260 @ 775core/1590shader/1200mem
Q9650@4.212gig

21,216

Now that is one great card

 

[TonyStark]

I'm going to be testing a GTX 260 in 3DMark06 with high image quality settings to find the maximum overclock of the card, and how performance scales with clock speeds. Once I find the max OC, I will examine performance scaling in games.


First test: GTX 260 @ stock (575 | 1242 | 1000 )

3DMark06 | 1680x1050 | 4xAA | 16xAF
SM2.0 Score: 4530
SM3.0 Score: 3955





Second Test: GTX 260 overclocked (648 | 1405 | 1100) Fan speed @ 70%

+ 12% core
+ 12% shaders
+ 10% memory

3DMark06 | 1680x1050 | 4xAA | 16xAF
SM2.0 Score: 4949 ( +9.2%)
SM3.0 Score: 4421 ( +11.8%)





Results: An overclock of approximately 12 percent yields performance improvements of 9-11.8 percent. The GPU stays very cool with the fan @ 70 percent, only hitting a maximum of 53°C at a room temperature of 18°C.

This was my first overclock run and I will continue to push the clocks further. More results to come.

 

[Laust]

I have read everything I can find about flashing this card,when I would flash my ATI card you just put some stuff & your new bios on a floppy and boot with it,type runme,a programe would run and that was it.With the Nvidia. I put nvflash & my bios,witch I renamed 280.rom,Now from what I understand,I boot and type in nvflash -5 -6 280.rom IS THAT RITE? Does it matter if its nvflash-5-6 280.rom? I am pulling my hair out over this. I need help,I dont have mutch hair left to begin with.......Thanks Laust.......

 

[Kursah]

If you read the first post on Page one I have included instructions on Page one for not only modifying the bios, but flashing it...I also give a link for instructions for using a USB flash drive instead of floppy which I prefer.

Make sure that spaces are in their proper place, flashing these cards are very, very easy from my experience with modded graphics cards bioses and flashing. Not entirely sure where you're stuck, but read back over the OP (original Post) and if that doesn't clear it up, post again and we'll getcha goin.

BTW, What is your goal for flashing your card?

 

[Laust]

Ive read all your stuff and understand it. thats why i dont understand why It wont start.could my floppy not be formatted rite? does it look like Im using the rite comman? am I typing the rite command? It would help to know this,maby Im missing something.Should it work by Typing, nvflash -5 -6 280.rom ? I really need to know this, Thanks Ill get back to ya, Im gonna try another disc. Laust...

ok it looks like a bad floppy drive,I ordered a floppy drive& A USB flash drive,I wanna try the USB thing,I think your rite Kursah,It sounds like the way to go...Thanks..Laust..

Everything working,It was A bad floppy drive.

 

[TonyStark]

I'm going to be testing a GTX 260 in 3DMark06 with high image quality settings to find the maximum overclock of the card, and how performance scales with clock speeds. Once I find the max OC, I will examine performance scaling in games.


First test: GTX 260 @ stock (575 | 1242 | 1000 )

3DMark06 | 1680x1050 | 4xAA | 16xAF
SM2.0 Score: 4530
SM3.0 Score: 3955





Second Test: GTX 260 overclocked (648 | 1405 | 1100) Fan speed @ 70%

+ 12% core
+ 12% shaders
+ 10% memory

3DMark06 | 1680x1050 | 4xAA | 16xAF
SM2.0 Score: 4949 ( +9.2%)
SM3.0 Score: 4421 ( +11.8%)





Results: An overclock of approximately 12 percent yields performance improvements of 9-11.8 percent. The GPU stays very cool with the fan @ 70 percent, only hitting a maximum of 53°C at a room temperature of 18°C.

This was my first overclock run and I will continue to push the clocks further. More results to come.

Third Test: GTX 260 overclocked (712 | 1535 | 1100) Fan speed @ 70%

+23% core OMGOMGOMG
+23% shaders
+10% memory

I figured out you can skip the CPU tests. No 3DMark result here, just SM2.0 and SM3.0. Straight to the point.

3DMark06 | 1680x1050 | 4xAA | 16xAF
SM2.0 Score: 5076 [+12.1%]
SM3.0 Score: 4653 [+17.6%]





Discussion
Max temperature: 63°C @ 70% fanspeed. Performance is boosted by 12 to 17 percent with a 23 percent overclock. Could the performance be bottlenecked by bandwidth? I'll try and crank up those memory clocks and see if it makes much of a difference.

 

[SplitBURST]

ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP 896 MB with TOP bios?

Hi guys,

I'm getting the ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP 896 MB tomorrow. My question is can i flash that card with Asus TOP bios? and will that make my ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP a ASUS ENGTX260/TOP card?

 

[dadi_oh]

Hi guys,

I'm getting the ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP 896 MB tomorrow. My question is can i flash that card with Asus TOP bios? and will that make my ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP a ASUS ENGTX260/TOP card?

I suspect that the ASUS TOP cards are the same circuit board and they "might" select the chips that are faster to go on the TOP version.

Before you flash the BIOS you should go through the exercise of finding a stable overclock using something like EVGA Precision to set the clocks and Furmark to test stability. You probably need to set fan speed manually to 60-80%. Once you have found a stable OC that yo are happy with then you can flash the BIOS with those settings. NiBiTor can edit the BIOS and NVFlash can flash it.

Once you get the card download NiBiTor version 4.5 and read your BIOS file. If you post some screenshots of the BIOS settings (mainly the frequency and voltage tabs) then we may be able to walk you through the process.

 

[phanbuey]

nice tests!!! I agree that the memory needs to be cranked a bit to help with the AA performance.

@ split -There really is no tangible benefit to flashing the card (unless you modify fan speeds)... instead of voiding the warranty and risking bricking ur card, just OC it in windows and have rivatuner auto set the clocks on boot...

Besides, the ASUS TOP clocks are pretty conservative for the GTX260 and you'll end up OCing it through software to get the most out of ur card anyways... so why even go through all the extra steps?

 

[SplitBURST]

Thnx for the info guys, I thought it would be a good idea to flash to the TOP bios considering that bios is already optimized, Asus have already tested the cards and thees speeds are guarantied to work with ASUS cards? (if they don't use different chips on the TOP version like dadi_oh might think, If somebody have the TOP version we could check this ) But do you guys think i will reach high speeds (even higher then the TOP version) with the ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP or should i get the TOP version instead? ( then i have to wait ) I will sure post some screens and so on when i get the card.

 

[dadi_oh]

Thnx for the info guys, I thought it would be a good idea to flash to the TOP bios considering that bios is already optimized, Asus have already tested the cards and thees speeds are guarantied to work with ASUS cards? (if they don't use different chips on the TOP version like dadi_oh might think, If somebody have the TOP version we could check this ) But do you guys think i will reach high speeds (even higher then the TOP version) with the ASUS ENGTX260/HTDP or should i get the TOP version instead? ( then i have to wait ) I will sure post some screens and so on when i get the card.

From what I have seen even the plain jane 260 cards will overclock past the OC versions of the cards. However, as is always the case YMMV. I think Tatty's Gainward card is a vanilla version and he has some of the highest clocks around.

My XFX XXX version was factory clocked at 640/1363/2304 (core/shader/mem) vs stock 576/1242/2000 but I still managed to get the clocks up to 756/1512/2500 stable.

From what I can see the ASUS TOP card is at 650 core and 2300 on memory. I am almost positive you will hit at least those numbers with a vanilla card. IMHO of course.

 

[SplitBURST]

From what I have seen even the plain jane 260 cards will overclock past the OC versions of the cards. However, as is always the case YMMV. I think Tatty's Gainward card is a vanilla version and he has some of the highest clocks around.

My XFX XXX version was factory clocked at 640/1363/2304 (core/shader/mem) vs stock 576/1242/2000 but I still managed to get the clocks up to 756/1512/2500 stable.

From what I can see the ASUS TOP card is at 650 core and 2300 on memory. I am almost positive you will hit at least those numbers with a vanilla card. IMHO of course.

Okay sounds good! no need to wait for the TOP version then. I really hope I get a good card, I just returned my Gigabyte Radeon 4850 OC Edition because there where almost NO room for father overclocking and the "stock OC" was not enough for me to be happy playing Crysis

 

[dooyou]

Greets from Munich (Bavarian Oktoberfest!)

I bought last week a GTX 260, the manufacturer is Leadtek. And my voltages are these:




I'm disappointed about that because i have read that most of the gtx 260 had in 2d 1,03V, but my has only 1,11V. I don't know the reason. Is that bad? Are there big differences between 1,03V and 1,11V? Maybe i should it send back.

Or do you think that's okay? A few guys are telling me, that my card waste more power than cards with 1,03V.

These are my Temps in 2d:


Bios:
62.00.1A.00.05

 

[dadi_oh]

Greets from Munich (Bavarian Oktoberfest!)

I bought last week a GTX 260, the manufacturer is Leadtek. And my voltages are these:




I'm disappointed about that because i have read that most of the gtx 260 had in 2d 1,03V, but my has only 1,11V. I don't know the reason. Is that bad? Are there big differences between 1,03V and 1,11V? Maybe i should it send back.

Or do you think that's okay? A few guys are telling me, that my card waste more power than cards with 1,03V.

These are my Temps in 2d:


Bios:
62.00.1A.00.05

And "Ein Prosit" to you too

My card is set to 1.03V in 2D (see attachment) but I never really paid attention to the temps in 2D since my card is pretty much folding all the time when it isn't gaming.

Interesting that Leadtek set yours to 1.11V for 2D though

You can always flash it to 1.03V if it is worrying you.

You probably will want to set your fan up to 60-80% if you plan on doing any overclocking. That can be set in the BIOS too.