BFG GeForce GTX 260 896MB Video Card Review

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3DMark 06

3DMark 06

While some may wonder at the use of still including 3DMark06 in the tests it gives us a good idea of the basic limitations of a graphics card. Since the standard test runs at 1280x1024 there will be a fair amount of CPU bottlenecking with higher-end cards and remember that in many cases a higher 3DMark score does not equate better performance. Here we have also included tests with AA and AF enabled

After the first test it seems like the GTX 260 does passably well against the HD4870 but starts trailing behind when AA is turned on. That being said, this is only the first test so let’s see how it does as the review goes on…

 

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3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses exclusively DX10 so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about running this benchmark. However, it presents us with a truly stressful test of any modern graphics card so we have decided to begin including it in our testing procedure.

Overall Score

GPU Score

For the time being, we have not included the CPU score since it is nearly identical from one card to the next in 3DMark Vantage. Here the GTX 260 scores higher than the HD4870 in every test but the Performance preset. It seems like the 260 is able to put its extra memory to good use.

 

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Unreal Tournament III / Prey

Unreal Tournament III

With absolutely stunning graphics, this popular online FPS provides great visuals to go hand-in-hand with palm-sweating gameplay.

For these tests we set up a 15 minute Bot Match on the Serenity level and let it play though. All of the results were recorded with the in-game benchmark tool.

The GTX 260 performs extremely well in Unreal Tournament III but for some reason it trails off a bit at 1600x1200 resolution with what seems to be a minor driver issue. Overall, it seems that if UTIII is your game of choice, this may very well be the card for you.

Prey

Even though Prey may be a bit older game compared against many of the other ones we are testing, it still provides a workout of even the best graphics cards on the market. This time we have enabled its Graphics Boost feature (Gboost in the charts) and run through a custom timedemo.

As usual, the Nvidia cards are really able to stretch their legs in Prey with the BFG GTX 260 performing well straight across the spectrum.

 

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Devil May Cry 4

Devil May Cry 4

Devil May Cry has long been a staple platformer on consoles but has found only moderate success with its PC ports. The 4th iteration of this series aims to buck this trend with stunning visuals and intuitve gameplay

In this benchmark we used the in-game benchmark tool while running FRAPS to measure an average and minimum framerate.


1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

2560 X 1600

Here the GTX 260 really seems to struggle especially considering Devil May Cry is one of Nvidia’s “The Way its Meant to be Played” games. While it is able to hang tough, things aren’t pretty when AA is turned on.

 

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Crysis DX9

Crysis DX9

Crysis is one of those games that comes along every now and then and totally humbles every graphics card on the market. While some people have pointed towards shoddy programming, it is undeniable that this game looks ridiculously good when played at higher settings.

For this test we recorded a custom timedemo on the Harbor level equaling about 20 minutes of game time through jungle, over water and in vehicles. All results were recorded with FRAPS over the course of the timedemo.

1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

1920 X 1080

Crysis has traditionally been comfortably in Nvidia’s pocket since its release and once again the Nvidia cards shine. The GTX 260 is able to hold off the HD4870 in most cases but it has to fight tooth and nail to keep the ATI card from overtaking it.

 

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Crysis DX10

Crysis DX10

1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

1920 X 1080

Crysis DX10 shows a bit different story than the DX9 tests with the GTX 260 really suffering at the hands of ATI’s more efficient implementation of AA. However, if minimum framerates are anything to go by, the 260 has the ATI competition beat hands down.

 

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Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

This has quickly become one of the most popular games for the PC and with good reason. This is one of the few times I have experienced actual excitement when looking for a good area to record the timedemo. The graphics are amazing and at the same time quite demanding when you get into the higher resolutions.

For this test we recorded a 15 minute timedemo on the Crash multiplayer level and recorded framerates using FRAPS. The maximum in-game framerate was bumped to 999.


1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

2650 X 1600

In Call of Duty 4 the GTX 260 plays second fiddle to the HD4870 until the highest resolution with AA turned on and it is then able to stay pretty far ahead of its team red competitor.

 

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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Enemy Territory: Quake wars is the latest iteration of the wildly popular Quake franchise from ID Software. While it was met with luke-warm reviews by both the media and the gaming community, it remains an extremely popular online game.

In this test we set up a 15 minute timedemo on the Refinery level while the framerates were recorded in-game.

This is another good game for the GTX 260 until AA is turned on and things turn a bit sour. Nonetheless, it remains very competitive at every resolution.

 

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World in Conflict DX9

World in Conflict DX9

This is one stunning game. World in Conflict has provided us with some of my most memorable gaming experiences since the first Homeworld game was released and it has not stopped wowing me. In its DX9 form it provides eye-popping visuals and pushes most modern GPUs to their limits. However, in DX10 mode this game will cause nearly every graphics card to beg for mercy.

For this test we used the in-game benchmarking tool.


1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

2560 X 1600

The BFG GTX 260 was able to deliver very good performance throughout our World in Conflict DX9 testing where it was continually able to best the HD4870 in all but one resolution. Overall, this test has always favored Nvidia cards but it is still impressive to see some of the numbers this card put forward.

 

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World in Conflict DX10

World in Conflict DX10

1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

2560 X 1600

Unfortunately, in WiC DX10, the tables are turned a but with the HD4870 thoroughly outclassing the GTX 260 again and again until the 260 is able to pull its but out of the fire in the 2650 x 1600 4xAA test. It seems that at ultra-high resolution the extra memory on this card is able to make a good accounting of itself.