NVIDIA to Upgrade GeForce GTX 260 with 24 Additional Shaders

[Megasty]

The GTX+ costs more because retailers sell them for more. Not because Nvidia wants it that way.

You're forgetting about UMAP

 

[mdm-adph]

It is a process, every few years they release something that make a huge leap in performance. But it usually puts out an insane amount of heat, sucks up an insane amount of power, and costs a fortune.

That's a very poignant quote, and one that perfectly describes the relationship of the G200 to the G92, and the R600 to the X1950 series.

(Especially the R600.)

 

[DarkMatter]

"One more TPC!NVIDIA will offer a upgraded GTX 260 in mid-September" is the article's title.

8800GS and 9600GT were announced as a cut-down 8800GT on many sites. Does that mean they are? Well the GS in some way it is, with one TPC cluster and one ROP cluster dissabled, but why not a cut-down GTS? You know what I mean?

You're forgetting about UMAP

Yet again, that lowest price is not dictated by Nvidia. UMAP only forces them to advertise the lowest price, but not the one they want.

 

[AddSub]

Well, either way I think I can work it out. If they can't be SLI'd (GTX 260 and GTX 265/270), I can always sell my single GTX 260 and get two of those new ones. Make a profit even, since I got my GTX 260 for only $174, and I'm sure I can eBay-it-off for more than that.

 

[Megasty]

Most e-tellers are like that, but the ones that get the most business show the UMAP price along with rebates & junk. One example is egg. On egg, the 9800GTX+ is overall cheaper than the regular But egg doesn't care about UMAP do they. Everyone else basically are ruled by UMAP.

 

[btarunr]

8800GS and 9600GT were announced as a cut-down 8800GT on many sites. Does that mean they are? Well the GS in some way it is, with one TPC cluster and one ROP cluster dissabled, but why not a cut-down GTS? You know what I mean?

With the same frequencies / memory, etc?

"Everything else remains the same with frequencies, memory size, memory bus width. This upgrade could take shape by this September."

 

[DarkMatter]

With the same frequencies / memory, etc?

"Everything else remains the same with frequencies, memory size, memory bus width. This upgrade could take shape by this September."

You didn't get what I mean. But it's my fault as I wasn't clear. I mean that one thing is what Nvidia will do and another thing what a site says. It can sometimes match. Sometimes is the key word.

They are replacing the GTX260 with the new one, which means that the regular GTX260 will not continue selling (except the ones that are already in stores of course). They could probably name it GTX260 and they will probably do, but they could just do a different thing. We just don't know. It would be something similar to FX5600 and FX5700 IIRC.

 

[Megasty]

You didn't get what I mean. But it's my fault as I wasn't clear. I mean that one thing is what Nvidia will do and another thing what a site says. It can sometimes match. Sometimes is the key word.

They are replacing the GTX260 with the new one, which means that the regular GTX260 will not continue selling (except the ones that are already in stores of course). They could probably name it GTX260 and they will probably do, but they could just do a different thing. We just don't know. It would be something similar to FX5600 and FX5700 IIRC.

If they do that then its great...but are they going to charge the same for it like when ATI changed the failing X1800s for the X1900s, or will it be a new card altogether. Completely replacing the 260 with this one would work if it doesn't have a price premium. But I can see all kinds of confusion occurring if the regular 260 is available while this is.

 

[btarunr]

Ok, I made an edit.

 

[DarkMatter]

If they do that then its great...but are they going to charge the same for it like when ATI changed the failing X1800s for the X1900s, or will it be a new card altogether. Completely replacing the 260 with this one would work if it doesn't have a price premium. But I can see all kinds of confusion occurring if the regular 260 is available while this is.

X1900s price was significantly higher, at least here. But again, it was not Ati's fault.

Confusion will only occur if the card has the same name. We don't know the name, we just know what a confusing article said in one site. As I said before, I remember very well how many sites (I think Expreview was one of them) presented the 9600GT as a cut down version of g92, because it had many things in common. It's very common to do such things, it's like:

-Ey dude, I bought an sports car.
-Which one?
-The McLaren F1.
-I don't know it.
-It's like a Saleen S7, but with...

But that doesn't mean it is literally identical. This new card will be like the GTX260, but with one more cluster. So semantically it does make sense to present it like a GTX260 with one more cluster (or a GTX280 with one less), (edited->) instead of "A new GT200 based chip with 9 TPC clusters, x ROP partitions, xxx mhz, etc.". And it will be the same chips that are going to be selected as the "GTX260+" instead of GTX260 (I suppose both chips won't coexist), but that doesn't mean they will have the same name.

Again we don't know anything really. I replied because I think many people were taking conclusions out of some news that, well, are far from being conclusive.

 

[Bull Dog]

Wonderful, just what we need.

Either we are going to get another SKU (the better of the two options). Or worse, we will get a muddled SKU that has two different performance levels. Brilliant.

 

[Solaris17]

i know if a way to see if its a bios tweak...any brave 260 soul out their want to flash it with a 280 bios?

 

[trt740]

wow this will perform almost exactly like a 280 gtx when oced.

 

[candle_86]

not quite, but close yes. About as close as the 8800GTS 640 112 did to the 8800GTX

 

[trt740]

not quite, but close yes. About as close as the 8800GTS 640 112 did to the 8800GTX

no the current 260gtx when overclocked, does already almost match stock 280 gtx performance and when you add these shaders and I bet it's gonna be 55nm, making it overclock insanely, your gonna have 280 gtx performance.

 

[alexp999]

So anyone tried a 280 bios on a 260 like solaris said?

I'm tempted, but dont want to brick it in case i can even blind flash or use another gfx card to flash it.

 

[candle_86]

well i flashed an 8800GS with an 8800GT bios, it was screwy in windows for sure, 4 rops, 64 shaders ect, but i flashed it back and all went normal

 

[alexp999]

well i flashed an 8800GS with an 8800GT bios, it was screwy in windows for sure, 4 rops, 64 shaders ect, but i flashed it back and all went normal

Do you reckon it would work if you know the 260 can do 280 clock/shader/mem speeds?

 

[candle_86]

well to be on the safe side id modify the bios with stock 260 clocks and flash it just to be safe.

 

[alexp999]

well to be on the safe side id modify the bios with stock 260 clocks and flash it just to be safe.

Just thinking about it, it prob wont work cus the mem config is different.

Would still be interesting to try the bios that comes out for this one, maybe it will even be implemented into a bios editor...?

 

[candle_86]

it worked on my 8800GS didnt make it a 256bit bus i only had 6 chips. Nvidia bios detects memory on boot up, not like ATI bios where bus width and size are hard coded into bios.

 

[alexp999]

it worked on my 8800GS didnt make it a 256bit bus i only had 6 chips. Nvidia bios detects memory on boot up, not like ATI bios where bus width and size are hard coded into bios.

Ok fair enough, that actually seems sensbile (so would that mean if one chip busted it could still carry on functioning?)

Still I think i will leave it to someone more experienced in gfx card flashing.

 

[candle_86]

yes actully, i had a 6600GT loose one of its ram modules and it kept working

 

[trt740]

flashing it won't work as you have said

 

[Megasty]

I wouldn't even attempt that sort of flash anyway. The card is fast enough already...yeah, I know I keep on surprising myself with the stuff I say at times. The 280 bios wouldn't be just a massive OC for the 260 because of the points mentioned above - hardware & structure limitations. The 280 bios would just fry it instantly.