Palit GTX 260 Sonic 216SP

The video card industry is hurting as bad as anyone is during this economic recession, and nobody is walking around happy about PC graphics these days. They can't, really, not when many of the latest video game titles for the personal computer are released only after console versions have been made available first. Even once you get past that burn, you're greeted by yet another. In 2008 there were dozens of great video games released on the PC platform, but very few of them demanded any more graphical processing power than most games demanded back in 2006. Of the recent PC video games released, Far Cry 2 is one of the very few which demand modern graphics to enjoy decent performance, which older games such as Crysis and Battlefield 2 are also guilty of. Yet, somehow the need for better PC graphics hasn't become a prerequisite for new games, because when Battlefield 2042 and Crysis 2 came out they both required less graphical processing power than the former versions. I discussed this topic at-length in my Year In Review: 2008 Computer Hardware Industry Failure article, and it seems that all of the key players are comfortable with more of the same.

Because of the various factors working against desktop graphics, I'd say that now is the time for manufacturers to stop building a bigger mousetrap, and instead build it better. That's what Palit does, and their approach to discrete graphics products usually follows the rule of function before fashion. In this case, it's function and realistic performance needs before fashion and marketing hype. Sure, NVIDIA would love for you to believe that SLI is necessary to play the newest video games, but oddly enough the nearly all new games still work fairly well with a single three-generation old video card. So where's the sweet spot? Benchmark Reviews tests the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP model NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 video card to see just how much money you need to spend to enjoy fast frame rates at high resolution.

NVIDIA Continues to refine (and redefine) the GT200 GPU, and the latest 55nm version offers better efficiency and higher performance. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will test performance of the Palit GTX 260 Sonic 216SP (SP stands for Shader Processors) against a wide range of video cards from the GeForce 8800 GT to the GeForce GTX 285 and Radeon HD 4870 X2. With 896MB of GDDR3 video memory clocked to 1100MHz, and 216 shader cores working at 1348MHz, the NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 part will hope to push frame rates into a new high for the GeForce GTX 260 name. Benchmarks will help set these video cards apart, but price will ultimately decide the products fate.

It's not easy for consumers to understand the NVIDIA GeForce roadmap, at least not with routine name changes and re-labeling of series names. The more recent changes are the GeForce GTS 250, which is a re-labeled GeForce 9800 GTX+, which was itself a re-launched 55nm version of the 9800 GTX. The GeForce GTX 285 is a 55nm re-launch of the GTX 280, and the GeForce GTX 260 ²¹⁶ is a confusing re-launch of the same-named GeForce GTX 260, only with a 55nm process and more shader cores. Got all that? If not, here's the table:

About Palit Multimedia, Inc.

Palit Multimedia Inc. provides a wide range of industry-leading graphics cards to North and Latin America with a focus on service, support and innovative products. Palit Multimedia is affiliated with Palit Microsystems, a world-leading supplier in the design, manufacture, and distribution of PC graphics accelerators which was established in 1988. Palit is well positioned to maintain an industry leadership due to the vast array of NVIDIA and AMD's ATi VGA products and on-going development efforts.

NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 Specifications

The GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ video card is the second-fastest single discrete graphics solution available. Utilizing an enhanced GT200 GPU architecture based on a 55nm fabrication process, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ is faster, quieter, and uses less power than the previous version of the GTX 260. Including a total of 216 processing cores (24 short of the GeForce GTX 285) and 896MB of onboard frame buffer memory, the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ provides the highest-end gaming experience for a single GPU system configuration across the widest range of applications and quality settings.

Coupled with PureVideo HD technology, the NVIDIA GTX 260²¹⁶ video card delivers an astounding multimedia experience. The GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ features two dual-link, HDCP-enabled DVI-I outputs for connection to analog and digital PC monitors and HDTVs, a 7-pin analog video-out port that supports S-Video directly, plus composite and component (YPrPb) outputs via an optional (and included) dongle.

• Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP NE3X262SFT394-PM8026
• HDMI resolutions: 480p/720p/1080i/1080p
• PCI Express 2.0 interface
• Dual card-slot active cooling solution
• PureVideo HD technology with hardware decoding of high-definition video formats
• Dual dual-link DVI - up to 2560x1600
• DVI HDTV output: 480p/720p/1080i

Bus Support

• PCI Express 2.0
• PCI Express x16 Backwards Compatible

3D Acceleration

• Microsoft DirectX10 support
• Unified Shader Model 4.0
• OpenGL 2.1

Others

• HDTV Ready (using dongle adapter)
• Vista Ready
• SLI and 3-Way SLI Ready
• HDCP Ready
• DVI Audio (using digital audio connection)
• Dual Link Dual DVI
• RoHS Compliant

Dual-Stream Decode

Recently, studios have begun taking advantage of the additional space high-definition media such as Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs provide by adding dual-stream picture-in-picture functionality to movies. Often the PiP content is coupled with advanced BD-J (Java) or HDi (XML) features, so taking the processing burden off of the CPU is even more important for titles with these advanced features. The latest PureVideo HD engine now supports dual-stream hardware acceleration which takes the workload off of the CPU and gives it to the more powerful GPU.

GT200 Graphics Processing Unit

• 1.4 Billion transistors
• Local 16k shared memory
• 625 MHz Graphics engine clock speed
• 216 Graphics processor cores
• 1348 MHz graphics processor clock speed
• 400 MHz RamDAC
• Max. Resolution @ 2560 x 1600
• True 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting with 16x full- screen anti-aliasing
• Double precision 64-bit floating point computation support
• 2^nd Generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture
• Supports future 10-bit color and and 120 MHz LCD panels

GT200 Video Memory

• 896 MB GDDR3 video memory
• 1100 MHz memory clock (2200 MHz Date Rate)
• Memory package: uBGA
• 448-bit PCI-Express bus bandwidth

HDCP over dual-link allows video enthusiasts to enjoy high-definition movies on extreme high-resolution panels such as the 30" Samsung SyncMaster 305T at 2560 x 1600 with no black borders. The Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic also provides native support for HDMI output, using a certified DVI-to-HDMI adaptor in conjunction with the built-in SPDIF audio connector.

GTX 260²¹⁶ Sonic Features

Engineered for world class gaming performance, the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP offers top-performance graphics processing power for gaming and beyond. Users can experience top new games such as Far Cry 2, Mirror's Edge, and Call of Duty 5: World at War at extreme HD resolutions and high image quality. Three GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ graphics cards can be combined in a 3-way SLI configuration for the ultimate gaming experience, or two can be joined for standard SLI.

Of course the GTX 260²¹⁶ doesn't just deliver great 3D graphics, it also includes NVIDIA CUDA technology built-in to deliver "Graphics Plus" capabilities such as:

• GPU-accelerated NVIDIA PhysX gaming effects (Mirror's Edge, Cyrostasis, UT3, GRAW2, Warmonger, and many more coming soon)
• NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision stereoscopic 3D gaming
• High-speed CUDA-enabled HD video transcoding and/or filtering (Elemental Badaboom, CyberLink PowerDirector, Arcsoft Total Media Theater, TMPGenc xPress, MotionDSP Carmel)
• Lightning-fast and smooth image processing (Adobe CS4)
• Distributed Computing ([email protected], [email protected], BOINC Platform, GPUGrid, [email protected])

The GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ supports PhysX technology, which is powering the next generation of games such as Mirror's Edge and Cryostasis. PhysX technology provides an enormous boost to both performance and realism. With NVIDIA's Forceware series drivers, two GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ boards can operate in SLI mode or dedicate one GPUs to PhysX and the other to graphics. Users may also choose to use an older GeForce 8-series and above board as the dedicated PhysX card, while using the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ as the main graphics board.

Backed by NVIDIA's Lumenex Engine, the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ Features delivers true 128-bit floating point high dynamic range (referred to as HDR), lighting capabilities with up to 16x full-screen anti-aliasing. Second-generation NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology with HDCP compliance delivers the ultimate high-definition video viewing experience to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ video card.

With hardware decoding for Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, PureVideo HD technology lowers CPU utilization when watching high-definition video formats by decoding the entire video stream in the graphics processor, freeing up the processor for other tasks. In addition to low CPU utilization, PureVideo HD enhances standard definition video content with de-interlacing and other post-processing algorithms to ensure standard DVD movies look their best on the PC screen and high-definition television sets. High definition content protection, or HDCP, technology ensures a secure connection between the GTX 260²¹⁶ graphics card and an HDCP capable monitor for viewing protected content such as high-definition Blu-ray or HD DVD movies.

Coupled with PureVideo HD technology, the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ deliver the ultimate multimedia experience. HDMI technology allows users to connect PCs to high-definition television sets with a single cable, delivering high-definition surround sound audio and video with resolutions up to 1080p. PureVideo HD technology scales video in the highest quality up to resolutions of 2560x1600 - from standard and high-definition file formats - while preserving the details of the original content. PureVideo HD technology also accelerates high-definition video decode, freeing up CPU cycles while watching high-definition Blu-ray and HD DVD movies or other VC-1 and H.264 encoded file formats.

NVIDIA Unified Architecture

• Unified shader architecture
• GigaThreadTM technology
• Full support for Microsoft DirectX 10
• Geometry shaders
• Geometry instancing
• Streamed output
• Shader Model 4.0
• Full 128-bit floating point precision through the entire rendering pipeline

NVIDIA Lumenex Engine

• 16x full screen anti-aliasing
• Transparent multisampling and transparent supersampling
• 16x angle independent anisotropic filtering
• 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting with anti-aliasing
• 32-bit per component floating point texture filtering and blending
• Advanced lossless compression algorithms for color, texture, and z-data
• Support for normal map compression
• Z-cull
• Early-Z

NVIDIA Quantum Effects Technology

• Advanced shader processors architecture for physics computation
• Simulate and render physics effects on the graphics processor

NVIDIA Triple-SLI Technology

• Patented hardware and software technology allows three GeForce-based graphics cards to run in parallel to scale performance and enhance image quality on today's top titles.

NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology

Along with world-class video acceleration, PureVideo HD has been at the forefront of advanced video post-processing. With the Forceware series driver, we are introducing new features for PureVideo HD for GeForce GTX 200-based products. These new features, Dynamic Contrast Enhancement and Dynamic Blue, Green, and Skin Tone Enhancements, are extremely computationally intensive and not found on even the most high-end Blu-ray or HD DVD players. But by tapping into the enormous pool of computational power offered by our processor cores, we can now enable post-processing techniques that have yet to be realized in fixed-function video processors.

• Dedicated on-chip video processor
• High-definition H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 and WMV9 decode acceleration
• Advanced spatial-temporal de-interlacing
• HDCP capable3
• Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
• Noise Reduction
• Edge Enhancement
• Bad Edit Correction
• Inverse telecine (2:2 and 3:2 pull-down correction)
• High-quality scaling
• Video color correction
• Microsoft Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) support

Advanced Display Functionality

• Two dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560x1600
• One dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560x16004
• Dual integrated 400MHz RAMDACs for analog display resolutions up to and including 2048x1536 at 85Hz
• Integrated HDTV encoder provides analog TV-output (Component/Composite/S-Video) up to 1080i resolution
• NVIDIA nView multi-display technology capability
• 10-bit display processing

Dynamic Color Enhancement

By analyzing the color components of each frame, we can also isolate and improve the appearance of blue, green, and skin tones, which the human eye is particularly sensitive to. Unlike televisions which have built-in image processors, PC monitors typically display the input picture without any processing, which can result in comparatively dull images. Dynamic blue, green, and skin tone enhancement alleviates this problem by applying correction curves on these sensitive colors. The result is improved total balance and clarity, without over saturation.

Built for Microsoft Windows Vista

• Full DirectX 10 support
• Dedicated graphics processor powers the new Windows Vista Aero 3D user interface
• VMR-based video architecture

High Speed Interfaces

• Designed for PCI Express x16
• Designed for high-speed GDDR3 and DDR3 memory

Operating Systems

• Built for Microsoft Windows Vista
• Windows XP/Windows XP 64
• Linux

API Support

• Complete DirectX support, including Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0
• Full OpenGL support, including OpenGL 2.0

GTX 260 Sonic First Look

In this section, we give a brief first look at the new Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP. Palit is a well known manufacturer of both NVIDIA and ATI discrete graphics cards, and they work hard to leverage unique engineering over a large range of desktop graphics product lines. Our first evidence of this was the Palit Revolution 700 Radeon HD 4870 X2 Video Card, which consumed three expansion card slots to ensure that cooling performance was second to none. Aftermarket cooling improvements matched to factory overclocked GPUs and plenty of headroom for additional tweaking are all part of the Palit standard.

It's a rare occasion that we see an NVIDIA product using ATI's red-colored printed circuit board (PCB), but since Palit offers both Radeon and GeForce products it's not at all uncommon. Palit has been known to somehow consistently exploit my favorite color combinations in their products. I really liked the orange shroud on the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+, but for the Sonic 216SP they've kept to recent tradition and followed a Black with yellow accents theme. From the top view, it's difficult to tell the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP and Revolution 700 apart. Unlike most NVIDIA AIC partners, who simply brand their allotment of video cards with a decal (or supplies the decal to NVIDIA for distribution), Palit has acquired the engineering information necessary to create a modified variety of the GTX 260 graphics card.

The underside (or top once installed) of the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP shown below exposes sensitive electronic components, but also acts as a heat-dissipating surface similar to many previous GeForce generations. Although the new 55nm GPU does expose surrounding components to less heat, nearly every heat-building component resides on the opposite side of the PCB. Quite ironically, from the PCB it appears the Sonic 216SP nearly looks identical to the Radeon HD 4870 it competes against.

The NVIDIA GTX 260 series graphics card is a performance optimized high-end product on every level. Power is drawn from the PCI Express host bus as well as from two 6-pin power connections (which matches the needs of the GTX 285). Without any auxiliary power provided to the GeForce GTX 260 graphics card, a LED on the header bracket will shine red and the graphics card will not display any picture. In addition, any connector that is not adequately powered will also turn red. Together this functionality offers immediate feedback for enthusiasts concerned about providing adequate power to the GPU.

The Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP utilizes a full-length dual-slot cooling unit to keep the GTX200 GPU well below the reference operating specifications. While the custom-designed fan unit obviously seems to cool the 55nm die well enough, I am very disappointed that more thought was given to a more functional design. The two 80mm cooling fans located atop the cooling unit shroud draw air in and force it over the face of two independent heat-pipe coolers tucked below. This design is exactly identical to the Palit Revolution 700 Radeon HD 4870 X2, all the way from the improved cooling performance to the engineering flaws.

The reference thermal cooling solution design NVIDIA offers may not be perfect, but it's questionable whether or not Palit's version is any better. Even if the new engineering does offers better cooling (which we discuss after the test results), the bigger issue is the lack of externally exhausting air from this video card. The reference design expels nearly all of the heated exhaust outside of the computer case through the grill on the mounting bracket. While the grill used on the Sonic 216SP is the same as reference models, there is nearly no air pushed out of these vents. Instead, nearly all of the heated air is exhausted through the side and rear of the shroud. Ultimately this adds up to an increased internal temperature inside the computer case, which doesn't do the other hardware components any good and can eventually lead to system instability.

Moving on to our detailed look in the next section, Benchmark Reviews will give a close inspection of the technology inside the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 video card.

Palit Sonic 216SP Details

Since Palit redesigned the thermal cooling system on NVIDIAs GeForce GTX 260 for their Sonic 216SP video card, it's difficult to tell where this card gets its blood lines. Based on the looks, you might confuse this product with similarly-looking Palit Revolution 700 Radeon HD 4870 X2. For the most part, the two look nearly identical despite their different parents. So the same conclusion could be drawn against the Palit Sonic 216SP compared to the reference design video card. Since the Sonic 216SP we received was on loan, our detailed look will lack the disassembled view. However, if you were to look under the cooler inside the differences are more obvious.

NVIDIA has completely redesigned the printed circuit board to accept the new 55nm GT200^B1 and a new memory IC layout. The reference core clock speed on the GT200 (revision B1) GPU used inside the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ is 576 MHz, which Palit dials up to 625. Since AIC partners may not use speeds that might render the product unstable and thus dial back the tweaks, there might be some extra head-room available to overclockers. Of the 240 stream (shader) processors available, 216 are active and running at 1242 MHz. The Sonic 216SP takes the clock speed up to 1348 on the NE3X262SFT394-PM8026. Taking advantage of a new actively-cooled location for all GDDR3 IC modules, 896MB of video frame buffer is stretched from 896 to 1100 MHz, which yields a 2.2 GHz data rate on the 448-bit memory interface.

At the upper-right corner of the Sonic 216SP (shown above) there are connections for standard SLI and 3-way SLI configuration. For many extremely demanding applications and video games, a set of GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ video cards placed into a 3-way SLI set will be much faster than a set of Quad SLI GeForce GTX 295's. The big question gamers and hardware enthusiasts will need answer for themselves is if their configuration is will support this functionality in terms of power supply, case, and cooling.

While the twin 80mm cooling fans are going to help do a better job of cooling the GT200 GPU than the reference design cooler, the ventilation system does not exclusively exhaust outside of the case. In my testing I found that majority of heat escaped through the side openings at both sides. Very little heated air, if any at all, exhausted outside the case through vents in the I/O panel.

Taking a look at the I/O panel, which is identical to other GTX 280 and 285 versions, I notice how users must once-again use a DVI-to-HDMI adapter and S/PDIF audio input cable to stream full HDMI audio and video output from the GeForce GTX 260. It's unlikely that AIC partners will be authorized to add a display processor capable of native HDMI or DisplayPort interfaces, as the NVIO2 chip NVIDIA has re-used for the GTX 260²¹⁶ does not support them.

Because the HDMI audio functionality is controlled at a hardware level, there is no need for additional drivers or software. Much like the SPDIF connection on the back of a motherboard, the video cards audio out function is plug-n-play. The P/SPDIF cable included with the kit connects between a small two-pin port directly beside the power connections for this unit and then into the HT Omega Claro Plus+ AD8620BR Op Amp sound card we used for testing. Your setup may be different so the cable may connect between the GTX 285 and the digital audio input pins on either your motherboard or add-in sound card. Not all motherboards and sound cards support this option, so make sure it's available before you make your purchase.

Considering how tightly packed a triple-SLI set of Palit Sonic 216SP video cards might fit, you can see a few disadvantages to Palits exclusive cooler design. One of the primary problems encountered with the 8800 GTS, GTX and Ultra series was the tight confinement created inside the case, which often times led to poor cooling. NVIDIA later redesigned the tail end for their GTX 260/280/285 series using contours to help open up air channels. Since the Palit cooler uses fans instead of blower motors, there's no way for fresh air to be circulated into the fans if triple-SLI configuration is used. Standard two-card SLI sets will work fine, however.

Whether the Palit Sonic 216SP video card will be used in single-unit standalone mode, or multi-unit SLI mode, the GeForce GTX 260 has already proven itself capable of matching the power of NVIDIA's previously most-powerful offering. Continue on to our next section, which clarifies the graphics card testing methodology here at Benchmark Reviews.

VGA Testing Methodology

At the start of all tests, the previous display adapter driver is uninstalled and trace components are removed using Driver Cleaner Pro. We then restart the computer system to establish our display settings and define the monitor. Once the hardware is prepared, we begin our testing. The synthetic benchmark tests in 3DMark06 will utilize shader models 2.0 and 3.0, while the video games will use their own proprietary game engine. For lower-end VGA products we test at 1024x768 (15-17" standard LCD), 1280x1024 (17-19" standard LCD), and 1680x1050 (22-24" widescreen LCD). In our higher-end VGA product tests we conduct add the 1920x1200 (24-28" widescreen LCD) resolution. In some tests we utilized widescreen monitor resolutions, since more users are beginning to feature these products for their own computing.

Each benchmark test program begins after a system restart, and the very first result for every test will be ignored since it often only caches the test. This process proved extremely important in the World in Conflict and Supreme Commander benchmarks, as the first run served to cache maps allowing subsequent tests to perform much better than the first. Each test is completed five times, with the average results displayed in our article.

Our site polls and statistics indicate that the vast majority of visitors use their PC for playing video games, and practically every one of you are using a screen resolutions mentioned above. Since all of the benchmarks we use for testing represent different game engine technology and graphic rendering processes, I feel that this battery of tests will provide a diverse range of results for you to gauge performance on your own computer system. Since most gamers and enthusiasts are still using Windows XP, it was decided that DirectX 9 would be used for all tests until Microsoft offers Windows 7 to replace the Vista.

Test System

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME (Intel X58/ICH10R Chipset) with F5c BIOS
• Processor: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalem 2.66 GHz (BX80601920)
• System Memory: OCZ 6GB 1600MHz CL7 DDR3 OCZ3P1600LV6GK
• Disk Drive: OCZ Vertex 120GB SATA SSD OCZSSD2-1VTX120G
• Monitor: SOYO 26-Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor DYLM26E6 (1920x1200)
• PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU 1200W Modular PSU
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP-3 (optimized to 16 processes at idle)

Benchmark Applications

• 3DMark06 v1.1.0 (8x Anti Aliasing & 16x Anisotropic Filtering)
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.7.568 (4x AA/16x Trilinear AF using FRAPS)
• Crysis v1.21 Benchmark (High Settings, 0x and 4x Anti-Aliasing)
• Devil May Cry 4 Benchmark Demo (Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA)
• Far Cry 2 v1.02 (Very High Performance, Ultra-High Quality, 8x AA)
• World in Conflict v1.0.0.9 Performance Test (Very High Setting: 4x AA/4x AF)

Video Card Test Products

• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Reference Design (600 MHz GPU/1457 Shader/950 RAM - Forceware 181.22)
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 102-B50102-00-AT (625 MHz GPU/993 MHz RAM - Catalyst 9.02)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ Reference Design (576 MHz GPU/1242 MHz Shader/999 MHz RAM - Forceware 181.22)
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 102-B50701-10-AT (750 MHz GPU/900 MHz RAM - Catalyst 9.02)
• Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 (625 MHz GPU/1348 MHz Shader/1100 MHz RAM - Forceware 181.22)
• ASUS GeForce GTX 285 ENGTX285 TOP (670 MHz GPU/1550 MHz Shader/1330 MHz RAM - Forceware 181.22)
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 Atomic ST-6026 (800 MHz GPU x2/100 MHz RAM - Catalyst 9.02)

Now we're ready to begin testing video game performance these video cards, so please continue to the next page as we start with the 3DMark06 results.

3DMark06 Test Results

3DMark is a computer benchmark by Futuremark (formerly named Mad Onion) to determine the DirectX 9 performance of 3D game performance with graphics cards. 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests.

3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today. Some enthusiasts may note that Benchmark Reviews does not include CPU-bound tests in our benchmark battery, and that only graphic-bound tests are included.

Here at Benchmark Reviews, we believe that synthetic benchmark tools are just as valuable as video games, but only so long as you're comparing apples to apples. Since the same test is applied in the same controlled method with each test run, I believe 3DMark is a very reliable tool for comparing graphic cards against one-another.

Shader Model 2.0

Our first series of synthetic tests are performed at 1680x1050, and demands only 1.764 megapixels from the graphics card. Beginning with Shader Model 2.0 tests, Return to Proxycon and Firefly Forest are two fast-paced fast-moving scenes that put strain on the GPU's efficiency by calling for large amounts of low-demand graphics in need of high-speed output. Shader Model 2.0 tests have historically performed at slower frame rates when compared to Shader Model 3.0; at least this is the case on newer, more complex, video cards with larger overhead.

Shader Model 3.0 / HDR

The Shader Model 3.0 and HDR (High Dynamic Range) test series in 3dMark06 includes the Canyon Flight and Deep Freeze. Both of these test scenes demand intense graphical computations from the GPU, and when paired with newer (AMD Phenom or Intel Nehalem) processors can actually produce better frame rates than Shader Model 2.0 scenes with the same hardware (and overhead). At 1920x1200 the graphics card is called-on to produce 2.3 megapixels, which is enough to separate the weak from the strong.

While these results we've charted can speak for themselves, allow me to add a bit of commentary. The GeForce 8800 GT, while excellent for low-resolution 1024x768 gaming and fine for 1280x1024, still falls beneath the 30 FPS range at 1650x1200 and drops down into the teens at 1920x1200. The Radeon HD 4850 is the most affordable video card to handle 3DMark06 graphics within acceptable range, with the reference GeForce GTX 260 performing a few frames better at each scene. The Radeon HD 4870 goes toe-to-toe with the Palit Sonic 216SP, depending on the test scene. The GeForce GTX 285 proves that it deserves the top spot, and posts performance gains on every scene. Added for good measure is the Sapphire Atomic 4870 X2, which dominates the tests with its extremely-overclocked dual RV770 GPU's.

Take the 3DMark06 tests at face value (as you should any synthetic benchmark), because in our next section we begin real-world testing on a cadre of popular video games known for taxing the graphics processor, and the performance curve is expected change. Our first up is Call of Duty 4, so please continue on...

Call of Duty 4 Benchmarks

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on a proprietary game engine that Infinity Ward based off of the tried-and-true Q3 structure. This engine offers features such as true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field. "Bullet Penetration" is calculated by the Infinity Ward COD4 game engine, taking into account things such as surface type and entity thickness. Certain objects, such as cars, and some buildings are destructible. This makes distinguishing cover from concealment important, as the meager protection provided by things such as wooden fences and thin walls does not fully shield players from harm as it does in many other games released during the same time period. Bullet speed and stopping power are decreased after penetrating an object, and this decrease is calculated realistically depending on the thickness and surface of the object penetrated.

This version of the game also makes use of a dynamic physics engine, a feature which was not implemented in previous Call of Duty titles for Windows PC's. The new in-game death animations are a combination of pre-set static animations combined with ragdoll physics. Infinity Ward's use of the well-debugged Quake 3 engine along with new dynamic physics implementation allows Call of Duty 4 to be playable by a wide range of computer hardware systems. The performance may be scaled for low-end graphic cards up to 4x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Tri-linear anisotropic texture filtering.

Before I discuss the results, I would like to take a moment to mention my general opinion on Fraps software when it comes to game performance benchmarking. If you're not familiar with the software, Fraps (derived from Frames per second) is a benchmarking, screen capture, and real-time video capture utility for DirectX and OpenGL applications. Some reviewers use this software to measure video game performance on their Windows system, as well as record gaming footage. My opinion is that it offers a valid third-party non-bias alternative to in-game benchmarking tools; but there is one caveat: it's not perfect. Because the user must manually begin the test, the starting point may vary from position to position and therefore skew the results.

In my testing with Fraps v2.9.8 build 7777, I used the cut-scene intro to the coup d'etat scene when Al Asad takes over control. First I allowed the level to load and let the scene begin for a few moments, then I would use the escape key to bring up the menu and choose the restart level option, I would immediately press F11 to begin recording the benchmark data. This scene is nearly four minutes long, but I configured Fraps to record the first 180 seconds of it to remain consistent. Once the scene would end, I would repeat the restart process for a total of five tests. So within a 2 millisecond starting point margin, all benchmark results are comparable which is probably as accurate as it can possibly get with this tool.

In our frame rate results, all five of the collected test scores were within 0.5 FPS of one-another and then averaged for the chart you see above. Because the products we are testing compete for the high-end segment of discrete graphics, the frame rates in Call of Duty 4 all share similar results with only small degrees of difference between 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions.

The GeForce 8800 GT plays Call of Duty 4 with moderately acceptable frame rates, scoring 48 FPS at 1920x1200 and making up the bottom end of our charted results. The Radeon HD 4850 renders at 68 FPS, followed by the reference GTX 260 with 80 FPS. Moving the Radeon HD 4870 yields 85 frames per second at 1920x1200, and is barely out-performed by the Palit Sonic 216SP. Even the ASUS ENGTX285 TOP, with all of its new muscle, can only outpace the others by a small margin with 99 FPS rendered.

Essentially, almost all of the graphics products tested produced frame rates between 80-99 FPS at 1920x1200. The Atomic 4870 X2 on the other hand, burned through 130 FPS without breaking a sweat (it's water-cooled, after all). Because of the shear muscle the Sapphire Atomic packs, the video cards we've tested on CoD4 fall into one of two categories: those that aren't the Radeon 4870 X2 Atomic, and those that are. The GTX 285 did extremely well, but the difference between its single GPU and the dual RV770's on the Atomic is the same difference as it shares with the 8800 GT.

In our next section, we shall see if the performance-demanding video game Crysis will help strengthen this position.

Crysis Benchmark Results

Crysis uses a new graphics engine: the CryENGINE2, which is the successor to Far Cry's CryENGINE. CryENGINE2 is among the first engines to use the Direct3D 10 (DirectX10) framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX9, both on Vista and Windows XP.

Roy Taylor, Vice President of Content Relations at NVIDIA, has spoken on the subject of the engine's complexity, stating that Crysis has over a million lines of code, 1GB of texture data, and 85,000 shaders. To get the most out of modern multicore processor architectures, CPU intensive subsystems of CryENGINE 2 such as physics, networking and sound, have been re-written to support multi-threading.

Crysis offers an in-game benchmark tool, which is similar to World in Conflict. This short test does place some high amounts of stress on a graphics card, since there are so many landscape features rendered. For benchmarking purposes, Crysis can mean trouble as it places a high demand on both GPU and CPU resources. Benchmark Reviews uses the Crysis Benchmark Tool by Mad Boris to test frame rates in batches, which allows the results of many tests to be averaged.

The very first thing we discovered during our 1680x1050 resolution tests was how well NVIDIA products performed compared to the Radeon product line. Test results like these begin to raise the question of how unbiased games like Crysis are when they proudly proclaim "NVIDIA: The way it was meant to be played". I don't consider this to be coincidence, but at the same time it's probably also not coincidence that Crysis demands more GPU power than any other product, which was perfect for a time when AMD/ATI couldn't build a decent VGA product to save their lives (literally).

Analyzing the chart below illustrates two distinct trends. The first is that the Radeon HD 4870 and GeForce GTX 260 are virtually identical in terms of performance. The second trend tries to convince us that an overclocked GeForce GTX 285 can beat or match the performance of an outrageously overclocked (and liquid-cooled) 4870 X2. I suppose that some of readers, those famous for skipping to this (Crysis) test and the conclusion, will fall for the punch line. The rest of us have seen the test results from the previous two sections, and already know the joke.

With only a small dose of anti-aliasing added to Crysis, there are very few products that would make for playable frame rates. Our Island time-demo mixes a some beach and water views, so it's going to be on the high side of frame rates when compared to actual game play. The results shown in the chart below illustrate (more distinctly) how well NVIDIA products scale with anti-aliasing enabled.

It would be easy to accuse NVIDIA of some level of driver code favoring, but there is one glaring piece of evidence in their defense: AMD/ATI graphic cards stop at 8x AA, while modern GeForce products reach 16x Q AA before calling it quits. So with this being an undisputed fact among our test products, it makes more sense to see the GTX 285 outperform the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 Atomic ST-6026.

At the end of our Crysis testing, it was apparent that heavy post-processing effects are still an obstacle that Radeon HD video cards have yet to clear. ASUS should be proud to see the ENGTX285 TOP make the top of our charts for performance with 4x AA enabled. It's worth noting that most products used in this review have been used in other articles and tested at-length on our X48 benchmark system, with the results being comparable all throughout.

In our next section, Benchmark Reviews tests with Devil May Cry 4 Benchmark. Read on to see how a blended high-demand GPU test with low video frame buffer demand will impact our test products.

Devil May Cry 4 Benchmark

Devil May Cry 4 was released on PC in early 2007 as the fourth installment to the Devil May Cry video game series. DMC4 is a direct port from the PC platform to console versions, which operate at the native 720P game resolution with no other platform restrictions. Devil May Cry 4 uses the refined MT Framework game engine, which has been used for many popular Capcom game titles over the past several years.

MT Framework is an exclusive seventh generation game engine built to be used with games developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and PC ports. MT stands for "Multi-Thread", "Meta Tools" and "Multi-Target". Originally meant to be an outside engine, but none matched their specific requirements in performance and flexibility. Games using the MT Framework are originally developed on the PC and then ported to the other two console platforms.

On the PC version a special bonus called Turbo Mode is featured, giving the game a slightly faster speed, and a new difficulty called Legendary Dark Knight Mode is implemented. The PC version also has both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 mode for Microsoft Windows XP and Vista Operating Systems.

It's always nice to be able to compare the results we receive here at Benchmark Reviews with the results you test for on your own computer system. Usually this isn't possible, since settings and configurations make it nearly difficult to match one system to the next; plus you have to own the game or benchmark tool we used.

Devil May Cry 4 fixes this, and offers a free benchmark tool available for download. Because the DMC4 MT Framework game engine is rather low-demand for today's cutting edge multi-GPU video cards, Benchmark Reviews uses the 1920x1200 resolution to test with 8x AA (highest AA setting available to Radeon HD video cards) and 16x AF. The benchmark runs through four test scenes, but scene #2 and #4 are the ones that usually offer a challenge. Displayed below is our result for the test.

Judging from the results charted above, it appears that the Capcom MT Framework game engine isn't particular about which brand of video card you use for gaming. The other obvious result is how much more powerful the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 Atomic ST-6026 is when compared to everything else. Please keep in mind that the reference GeForce 8800 GT and overclocked 4870 X2 are included to add contrast.

In these test scenes, the ASUS ENGTX285 TOP offers the best single-GPU performance of any video card available. While the GeForce 8800 GT can still play DMC4, it does so around the 40 FPS range. The Radeon HD 4850 kicks this up to around 60 FPS, while the other take off from there. The reference-design GeForce GTX 260 produced 72 FPS on average, and the Radeon HD 4870 narrowly out-paces the Palit Sonic 216SP which produced 79 FPS on average. The overclocked GeForce GTX 285 scores 94 FPS in both scenes, and on the other side of the fence is Sapphire's Atomic Radeon HD 4870 X2 which scores 154 FPS. DMC4 was intended to replace our UT3 test, which commonly offered results as high as 180 FPS, but the search for high-demand graphics tests is getting tough as the newest games seem to be happy with old hardware. Feel free to write us with your suggestions.

Our last benchmark of the series is coming next, which puts our collection of video cards against some very demanding graphics with Far Cry 2.

Far Cry 2 Benchmark

Ubisoft has developed Far Cry 2 as a sequel to the original, but with a very different approach to game play and story line. Far Cry 2 features a vast world built on Ubisoft's new game engine called Dunia, meaning "world", "earth" or "living" in Farci. The setting in Far Cry 2 takes place on a fictional Central African landscape, set to a modern day timeline.

The Dunia engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2, by Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers realistic semi-destructible environments, special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storms, real-time night-and-day sun light and moon light cycles, dynamic music system, and non-scripted enemy A.I actions.

The Dunia game engine takes advantage of multi-core processors as well as multiple processors and supports DirectX 9 as well as DirectX 10. Only 2 or 3 percent of the original CryEngine code is re-used, according to Michiel Verheijdt, Senior Product Manager for Ubisoft Netherlands. Additionally, the engine is less hardware-demanding than CryEngine 2, the engine used in Crysis.

However, it should be noted that Crysis delivers greater character and object texture detail, as well as more destructible elements within the environment. For example; trees breaking into many smaller pieces and buildings breaking down to their component panels. Far Cry 2 also supports the amBX technology from Philips. With the proper hardware, this adds effects like vibrations, ambient colored lights, and fans that generate wind effects.

There is a benchmark tool in the PC version of Far Cry 2, which offers an excellent array of settings for performance testing. Benchmark Reviews used the maximum settings allowed for our tests, with the resolution set to 1920x1200. The performance settings were all set to 'Very High', DirectX 9 Render Quality was set to 'Ultra High' overall quality, 8x anti-aliasing was applied, and HDR and Bloom were enabled.

Although the Dunia engine in Far Cry 2 is slightly less demanding than CryEngine 2 engine in Crysis, the strain appears to be extremely close. In Crysis we didn't dare to test AA above 4x, whereas we used 8x AA and 'Ultra High' settings in Far Cry 2. The end effect was a separation between what is capable of maximum settings, and what is not.

Using the short 'Ranch Small' time demo (which yields the lowest FPS of the three tests available), we noticed that there are very few products capable of producing playable frame rates with the settings all turned up. The ASUS ENGTX285 TOP and Radeon HD 4870 X2 both offer playable frame rates with maximum settings at 1920x1200, and possibly the newer 216-core GeForce GTX 260s. Everything else seems incapable of producing the required performance to keep motion fluid and lifelike. At 1680x1050, the range of potential products capable of maximum settings is expanded to the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870, but the GeForce 8800 GT falls well below acceptable limits. When there's a strain on the graphics, the GT200 GPU appears to answer back with performance capable 3D rendering.

Our last benchmark of the series is coming next, which puts our collection of video cards against some very demanding graphics with World in Conflict.

World in Conflict Results

The latest version of Massive's proprietary Masstech engine utilizes DX10 technology and features advanced lighting and physics effects, and allows for a full 360 degree range of camera control. Massive's MassTech engine scales down to accommodate a wide range of PC specifications, if you've played a modern PC game within the last two years, you'll be able to play World in Conflict.

World in Conflict's FPS-like control scheme and 360-degree camera make its action-strategy game play accessible to strategy fans and fans of other genres... if you love strategy, you'll love World in Conflict. If you've never played strategy, World in Conflict is the strategy game to try.

World in Conflict offers an in-game benchmark; which records the minimum, average, and maximum frame rates during the test. Very recently another hardware review website made the assertion that these tests are worthless, but we couldn't disagree more. When used to compare video cards which are dependant on the same driver and use the same GPU architecture, the in-game benchmark works very well and comparisons are apples-to-apples.

World in Conflict plays well on most modern graphics cards, as evidenced by the close proximity of frame rate performance between everything from the GeForce 8800 GT to the GTX 285. With a balanced demand for CPU and GPU power, World in Conflict just begins to place demands on the graphics processor at the 1920x1280 resolution. I was expecting more results along the same line I've seen so far, and that is pretty much exactly what I got, only in much smaller differences. There were a few interesting turn-arounds though.

For the first time in our testing, the GeForce 8800 GT performed better than the Radeon HD 4850. Rather odd, I will admit, but WiC isn't particular to GPU; although it does feature NVIDIA's TWIMTBP slogan. The GTX 260 series has gone neck-and-neck with the HD 4850 for most of our tests, but now it seems to be beating out the Radeon HD 4870 for which it was intended to directly compete against. Even the Palit Sonic 216SP beats the Atomic 4870 X2. The ASUS ENGTX285 TOP GeForce GTX 285 tops our chart with an average 63 FPS performance at 1920x1200. This is another game that proves that what you plan on playing might determine what you plan on buying.

In our next section, we discuss electrical power consumption and learn how well (or poorly) each video card will impact your utility bill...

Sonic 216SP Temperatures

This section is probably the most popular for me, not so much as a reviewer but more for my enthusiast side. Benchmark tests are always nice, so long as you care about comparing one product to another. But when you're an overclocker, or merely a hardware enthusiast who likes to tweak things on occasion, there's no substitute for good information.

Benchmark Reviews has a very popular guide written on Overclocking the NVIDIA GeForce Video Card, which gives detailed instruction on how to tweak a GeForce graphics card for better performance. Of course, not every video card has the head room. Some products run so hot that they can't suffer any higher temperatures than they already do. This is why we measure the operating temperature of the video card products we test.

To begin my testing, I use GPU-Z to measure the temperature at idle as reported by the GPU. Next I use FurMark 1.6.0 to generate maximum thermal load and record GPU temperatures at high-power 3D mode. The ambient room temperature remains stable, and for this test was 20.0°C while the inner-case temperature hovered around 34°C. The Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 video card recorded 45°C in idle 2D mode, and increased to 77°C in full 3D mode.

FurMark is an OpenGL benchmark that heavily stresses and overheats the graphics card with fur rendering. The benchmark offers several options allowing the user to tweak the rendering: fullscreen / windowed mode, MSAA selection, window size, duration. The benchmark also includes a GPU Burner mode (stability test). FurMark requires an OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card with lot of GPU power! As a oZone3D.net partner, Benchmark Reviews offers a free download of FurMark to our visitors.

FurMark does do two things extremely well: drive the thermal output of any graphics processor higher than any other application of video game, and it does so with consistency every time. While I have proved that Furmark is not a true benchmark tool for comparing video cards, it would still work very well to compare one product against itself at different stages. FurMark would be very useful for comparing the same GPU against itself using different drivers or clock speeds, of testing the stability of a GPU as it raises the temperatures higher than any program. But in the end, it's a rather limited tool.

I must admit that 77°C is not the coolest-running GeForce product I have ever tested. Since the vRAM has been relocated to a position surrounding the GPU, it's understandable that heat output would be better (or match) what we recorded for our reference GTX 260 under maximum load. The idle temperature on the Palit Sonic 216SP hasn't really been improved by the proprietary cooling system. However at 77°C, the GTX 260 is actually in very good form (compared to 86°C for the reference GTX 260). For gamers who like to keep it cool, the surprisingly silent fan under load can be dialed up using tools like RivaTuner.

The most favored feature of past upper-level GeForce designs has been the focused exhaust design. Heated air recirculating around inside the computer case is could reduce stability for your sensitively overclocked computer system. While 77°C is considerably hot under maximum load, it's almost twenty degrees cooler than a reference-design Radeon HD 4870. But here's a little-known fact: the GT200 GPU is designed operate safely up to its 105°C thermal threshold. What happens after that? Believe it or not, if the GPU exceeds this temperature the clock speed will automatically be dialed down to avoid damage.

VGA Power Consumption

Life is not as affordable as it used to be, and items such as gasoline, natural gas, and electricity all top the list of resources which have exploded in price over the past few years. Add to this the limit of non-renewable resources compared to current demands, and you can see that the prices are only going to get worse. Planet Earth is needs our help, and needs it badly. With forests becoming barren of vegetation and snow capped poles quickly turning brown, the technology industry has a new attitude towards suddenly becoming "green". I'll spare you the powerful marketing hype that I get from various manufacturers every day, and get right to the point: your computer hasn't been doing much to help save energy... at least up until now.

To measure isolated video card power consumption, Benchmark Reviews uses the Kill-A-Watt EZ (model P4460) power meter made by P3 International. A baseline test is taken without a video card installed inside our computer system, which is allowed to boot into Windows and rest idle at the login screen before power consumption is recorded. Once the baseline reading has been taken, the graphics card is installed and the system is again booted into Windows and left idle at the login screen. Our final loaded power consumption reading is taken with the video card running a stress test using FurMark. Below is a chart with the isolated video card power consumption (not system total) displayed in Watts for each specified test product:

At a mere 52W of power consumption at idle, the factory-overclocked Palit Sonic 216SP is closely on par with a reference GeForce GTX 260 which consumed 42W. Full output power consumption is a different story, however. Under full load, the Sonic 216SP draws 204W of electricity. This is very close to what a set of Radeon HD 4850's in CrossFireX consume, and slightly lower than a reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280. Nevertheless, only two six-pin PCI-Express power connections are required to fuel the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP.

GT200 GPU Final Thoughts

Paying to be an early adopter of technology or buying from the top-shelf has never really been my personal taste, even for someone as immersed in technology as I am. There are always new technologies that people talk up as they are developed, such as Blu-ray Disc for example. Yet, because there isn't enough value behind the added features or functionality to warrant paying for the premium price tag, most people simply wait extended periods of time before making their purchase. There is occasionally the rare exception however, when you can find a revolutionary new product that really makes the price worth the purchase.

For me, the GT200 graphics processor that conducts a symphony of 240 processor cores inside the GeForce GTX 280 video card has made me believe a uniquely rare exception had occurred. Months later we see the GT200 (B1 revision) launch inside the GTX 285, and I begin to see that waiting would have also been a good idea. Now I'm not going to tell you that GT200-based video cards are a must-have item for everyone. After all, the GTX 260, 280, 285 and GTX 295 are now NVIDIA's top-shelf premium GeForce products and demand a high price for admission in the midst of an economic recession. However, the technology enhancements offered by the GT200 will improve the experience for everyone from the gamer to someone encoding video.

There has been the occasional mention of parallel computing architecture throughout this article, and for very good reason. The GT200 isn't just a graphics processor, at least not in the sense we have experienced for the past decades of video card products. NVIDIA began the movement towards parallel computing with the GT200, which helped the GPU perform many of the same tasks a CPU would; only better. While they each have their strengths, these days they tend to play more of a multi-purpose role. Intel and AMD processors have long since be capable of lower-level graphics processing (mostly 2D limited), and lately they have "evolved" into four Hyper-Threaded cores with the introduction of Intel Core i7 Platform. Built at 55nm, the GT200 is beginning to look, and work, in many of the same ways a CPU does.

For everyone else who actually reads through this entire article, there's a lot going on with the GT200 that is not available anywhere else. For those with deep pockets, NVIDIA SLI technology has taken graphics to unreachable level with GeForce GTX 200-series graphics cards. NVIDIA PhysX technology, which is becoming mainstream in game development, will require no additional accelerator to enjoy the amazing new graphical effects of upcoming game titles. Even Enterprise computing environments will benefit from CUDA applications coded to make use of the many cores inside the GT200, more threads, double-precision math, and increased register file size.

Hopefully, the money-wise hardware enthusiast will begin making smarter decisions when purchasing new computer systems, and might conduct a rudimentary performance analyses to optimize their PC to match the CPU with the GPU. I think that they will find out just how well a realistic mainstream CPU paired with a higher-end GPU will actually produce better gaming performance than the reverse; and for the same price. This idea of heterogeneous computing is what NVIDIA has been working hard to accomplish with the GT200. Selecting the most appropriate graphics processor is now exactly as important as choosing the right processor any specific task. Please see our NVIDIA GPU Computing FAQ for additional information on this topic.

Even if you're only after raw gaming performance and have no real-world interest in CUDA, there's reason to appreciate the GT200 GPU. New enhancement products, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Gaming Kit, double the frame rate output and hence require more powerful graphics processing. This is where products like the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ and GTX 280/285 deliver the performance necessary to enjoy the extended gaming experience.

NE3X262SFT394 Conclusion

Benchmark Reviews begins each conclusion with a short summary for each of the areas we rate. The first is presentation, which takes product packaging into consideration to the extent that it provides adequate packing material and consumer information for an informed purchase. Video cards, while not an item many would consider to be pulled off of store shelves without research, actually do have several units sold sans review-research. So it's important that the manufacturer give as much information as possible and list accurate specifications. Palit has done a decent job of this, listing system hardware requirements such as power and motherboard interface along with the maximum refresh rates for connected monitors, but they neglect to disclose any of the technical specifications for the video card itself. Other than knowing that the Sonic 216SP is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 product with 896 MB of GDDR3, there's no additional information available to help compare products while standing in the isle.

Graphics cards are beginning to take on two forms: those with integrated thermal management systems, such as the GTX 200 series, and those that use an exposed heatsink and fan. Rating the product appearance, or any of the product aspects for that matter, is very subjective. So while my opinion and perspective is only my own, you must consider the same as someone who rates movies or music. In this regard though, I confess that the GeForce 200 series has always appealed to me by design. While I never really considered the entire pre-G92 GeForce 8800 series to be very attractive as a whole, primarily because of the awkward half-covered products. One particular problem created with Palits exclusive cooling system is that heated air doesn't exhaust outside the computer case via the video card. Although twin cooling fans help the Sonic 216SP stand apart from others, the extra looks outweigh the added benefits in the long run.

In the past I have been forced to replace older GeForce products when a capacitor might break away from the PCM from rough handling or an errant cable. So thankfully Palit has protected all of the small upright-standing electronic components with a large heatsink and protective plastic shroud. Unlike the past generations of GeForce series products, the Sonic 216SP leaves very little exposed to potential damage, with exception to the bare backside of the PCB. Palit has engineered the GeForce GTX 260 to sustain above-average abuse, which also means you'll have very little change of having to RMA this product because it falls apart on you. The plastic shell covering the Palit GeForce GTX 260 will work very well in cramped environments where the video card will be in contact with cables and components, just so long as it can fit and wires don't interfere with the fans.

With regards to performance and functionality, NVIDIA has redefined the graphics card space. Beginning with 216 processor cores built on a 55nm process, the Palit GeForce GTX 260 is everything that previous products have not been: parallel-computing ready and extremely high-performance. Without question, the GeForce GTX 260²¹⁶ has earned a top-shelf position for NVIDIA's single-GPU product line. The core, shader, and memory clocks have all been increased for better performance, and drivers are now stable and optimized after several revisions since the original GTX 280/260 launch. Post-process effect compression combined with a future-proof 896 MB of video frame buffer will make this the must-have card for extreme gamers for the foreseeable future (*see intro). A large 448-bit memory bus calls upon the PCI-E 2.0 bandwidth opportunities, but GDDR4 and GDDR5 memory technology have continued to elude NVIDIA products. Finally, HDMI audio and video output is available for HTPC builds (through the included dongle adapter) for viewing high definition copyright protected (HDCP) material. Unfortunately though, there is no DisplayPort functionality in the new GTX 260²¹⁶.

As of late March 2009, there weren't many online retailers offering the Palit NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 SKU. Our price comparison tool found a few listings other Palit GTX 260 products, but Sonic 216SP video card didn't appear at NewEgg and other popular retailers. What did appear there was a an alternative manufacturers' product, which offered the most affordable GTX 260²¹⁶ for only $169.99 after rebate.

In summary, the Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP video card has proven itself to be a welcomed update into the NVIDIA GeForce product line. Performance in video games allows maximum settings for most modern titles, but also dramatically improves transcoding, rasterization, and graphics ripping. With the power of CUDA technology and the new CUDA runtime for Windows Vista (and soon for Windows 7), intensive computational tasks can be offloaded from the CPU to the GPU making this an outstanding product worthy of graphics-heavy Enterprise computing environments. The GT200 processor was already a remarkable achievement for NVIDIA, and the B1 revision at 55nm along with the revamped PCB layout have earned my highest recommendation; but it's not without some reservations. It's nice that the GTX 200-series offers HDMI video output (via adapter) along with digital audio output through the attached S/PDIF audio cable, but I think that a product of this level should also be looking at native DisplayPort connectivity to fully secure the idea of future-proof hardware. If multimedia transcoding is a selling point, than connecting to the equipment that cutting-edge professionals will be using should be just as important. Although the Palit NE3X262SFT394-PM8026 is a well built product, I can't really recommend the Sonic 216SP version over reference designs because the added cooling doesn't add up to much more than looks. This might not matter in the long run, since it doesn't appear that this product will be found at retailers anytime soon.

Pros:

+ Outstanding AA/AF performance from demanding games
+ 896 GDDR3 448-bit 1100MHz video frame buffer
+ 625 MHz GPU and 1348 MHz Shader processing power
+ Parallel Compute ability for CUDA applications and GPU physics
+ Ultra-efficient 55nm GT200^B1 processor
+ Second-best single-GPU performance - occasionally matches original GTX 280
+ Double-precision floating-point support
+ 216 Compute-capable processing cores
+ HDMI Audio and Video supported for HDCP output
+ Proprietary thermal management unit offers improved airflow and cooling
+ 16x Coverage Sampling Antialiasing (CSAA) algorithm
+ Supports triple-SLI functionality
+ Extremely quiet fan under full load
+ Supports DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1, and Shader Model 4
+ Enables NVIDIA HybridPower technology

Cons:

Ratings:

• Presentation: 8.75
• Appearance: 9.00
• Construction: 9.00
• Functionality: 9.00
• Value: 7.75

Final Score: 8.7 out of 10.

Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.

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