End User Report: EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 SC

[zlojack]

I've decided to try my hand at a sort of amateur review. We all know there are tons of pro reviewers out there on the net with big slick reviews where they compare video cards they got from the manufacturers against video cards they got from other manufacturers. They use a lot of different cards at a lot of different settings and they try to give an exhaustive and comprehensive view of what these cards can do and how they compare to one another.

If that's what you're looking for, then this Report isn't for you :D

What I'm trying to do here is to give a report from the point of view of the end user. The guy who's read all those reviews and picked a card and gone out and spent his hard-earned money to bring it home and slap it in the rig he also bought with his hard-earned money.

So I'll do my best to use some sort of methodology and I'll give my impressions as best as I can of what the card's doing and how things are going as I play various games and use it for Folding and other activities.

I'll try to make this fun and interesting so it gives you an idea of what this card can do in the hands of a regular end-user.


My testing methodology is simple: I'm going to actually play the games included in the tests.

I'll probably play for several hours then hopefully collect the data in Fraps on how the game played. I'll try to record levels of games played and that stuff, so you get an idea of what you might expect in real-world play.

I'm open to suggestions on how to improve the testing but there's always one condition, I play games for fun, not to test video cards, so don't expect me to go out of my way to test something. This is about having a good time and playing games and collecting a little data as an added bonus :D Hopefully I'll be able to do all the tests on air first, then do them again when I get the water setup up and running. This is all time-permitting as the holidays might be busy :D

The test system is as follows:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58-UD5 (Bios F4k as of right now)
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ TBD
RAM: Mushkin 998679 XP3-12800 7-8-7-20 1.65v 3x2GB
CPU: Corsair HX1000
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit SP1
Sound: Creative Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional
PSU: Corsair HX1000

So, with that out of the way, let's get to it...

[zlojack]

Section One: Initial Impressions

When I first opened up the shipping box from NCIX I was pleased to see the box was well-packed. Both my EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 SC and my Danger Den Tieton Nickel Plated FC waterblock were in perfect condition, though the box for the Danger Den was somewhat the worse for wear. (I'll have more on that block when I get around to installing it - watch for the End User Report!)

I apologize for the poor lighting in the photos. As I move forward and try to do more of these reports, I'll set up a better photography spot, but since this was a spur of the moment thing, these will have to do for now.

1. The Box
Well, there's not much to say about this... it's a box! Not too huge like the box my old Asus 3870 X2 came in (that thing looked like a briefcase) but not as compact as the box my Visiontek 4870 X2 came in. I guess it falls somewhere in the middle. It's got the usual propaganda on the front side of the box and I notice that the card model and version (Core 216 and SuperClocked Edition) are put on with stickers, as is the Far Cry 2 offer. This was one of the pleasant surprises for me because, when I ordered the card, I didn't notice that the game was included! :up:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02330.jpg

2. Opening it up
When I opened up the box I was impressed by the quality of the packaging. EVGA definitely wants to make sure that nothing happens to your $361 card (Canadian Dollars). The card is nicely packaged and I thought it was a nice touch to have the EVGA logo in the packaging here. Sort of corny, but still shows that once again, they are paying attention to detail, probably one of the things that has allowed them to become the number one US-based seller of nVidia products. The other nice thing is that the foam inserts covering the graphics card and the bottom chamber where the accessories are even have little cutouts for your finger to make them easier to remove. I was impressed by these little details.

The software that comes with the card was included in a little folder which can hold the CD, the little installation manual and even a "Powered by EVGA" sticker (I suppose some people like to put stickers on their cases)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02331.jpg

3. Packaging and Accessories
Now we see the card in its anti-static bag as well as the accessories that come with the card, mainly consisting of various connectors and adaptors (2 molex to 6-pin pcie, S/PDIF cable and a DVI to HDMI)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02332.jpg

4. The Card
My first impression when I finally unwrapped the card was that it's bigger than I thought it would be. I guess I just figured it would be a lot smaller than my 4870 X2, but it's only slightly shorter (though it is quite a bit lighter). It's a nice-looking card and I noted that they've put some artwork on the back side of the card, which makes for better eye candy in a windowed case. Of course it's got the S/PDIF connection and the two PCIE six-pin connectors on one side for power and sound. Then there are the SLI connectors near the head of the card, waiting for a multi-card setup and even more graphics power. Finally, of course, it's got the two HDMI connectors for dual monitors (which I won't be using, but it's cool for those of you who do!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02333.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02335.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02334.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02337.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02336.jpg

[zlojack]

Section Two: Installation

This section is pretty simple. Find a PCIE slot that's free (make sure there's one free below it as well!) and insert the card. Make sure to line up the back slots properly and push it in firmly. I'm not going further into it than that because, if you can't figure out how to install a PCIE card into its slot, you shouldn't be messing with your PC internals! Make sure you plug in the two six-pin pcie connectors and you're good to go. Fire up your rig and install the drivers. I had previously downloaded the beta 180.84 drivers from nVidia's website, so I'll probably use those for this report unless they are really unstable.

Here are some shots of the card installed (on air for now, water to come later):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02338.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02339.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/DSC02340.jpg

[zlojack]

Section Three: Overclocking

Overclocking on these cards is pretty easy. The EVGA Precision tool installs with no problems for Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit and right away allows easy adjustment of the core, shaders and RAM speed.

I haven't bothered to unlink the core and shaders yet and I've just played with the sliders a bit.

Using Furmark and ATITool to test the OC, it seems to be able to get to benchmark stability at 700/1509/1075 so far. I ran Age of Conan for a bit and I'm getting some artifacts, so those speeds might not be gaming stable on the stock cooling. This is with the fan set to 100%. It's definitely audible but not screaming loud like my 4870 X2 fan was. It's slightly louder than my case fans, but with my headphones on, I don't notice. Definitely, I'm looking forward to my watercooling as I think this card has more in it.

One thing's for sure, there is a nice boost in synthetic benchmarks so far with the card overclocked!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/OC.jpg

[zlojack]

Section Four: Synthetic Benchmarks

3DMark03 - GPU @ stock, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled.
50341
(For some reason, ORB won't let me make the result public)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMark0332GHzCPUGPUStock.jpg

3DMark05 - GPU @ stock, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled. (No screencap because it doesn't show the score anyway)
22063
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=4655383

3DMark06 - GPU @ stock, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled.
17246
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=9295179
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMark0632GHzCPUGPUStock.jpg

3DMark Vantage - GPU @ stock, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled PhysX ON
P12278
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=611436
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMarkVantage336GHzCPUGPUStock.jpg

3DMark Vantage - GPU @ stock, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled PhysX OFF
P11417
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=613150
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMarkVantage336GHzCPUGPUStockNOPHY.jpg

Overclocked results:

3DMark03 - GPU @ 700/1509/1075, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled.
53771
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMark03336GHzCPUGPUOCd.jpg


3DMark05 - GPU @ 700/1509/1075, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled. (No screencap because it doesn't show the score anyway)
24278
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=4657399


3DMark06 - GPU @ 700/1509/1075, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled.
17868
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=9313400
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMark06336GHzCPUGPUOCd.jpg

3DMark Vantage - GPU @ 700/1509/1075, CPU @ 3.36GHz HT enabled PhysX OFF
P12272
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=613765
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/3DMarkVantage336GHzCPUGPUOCdNOPHYSX.jpg

[zlojack]

Section Five: Games

[zlojack]

Section Six: Folding@Home


Alright, I finally think I've got some consistency in F@H on this card at stock. Since the overclocking instability I've been having with my mobo/CPU, I've decided to leave that stuff at stock and play with the GPU first.

Here are the results for F@H after a couple of days folding where folding has stabilized somewhere between 6100 and 6300 PPD. Temps range between 60C and 65C. The fan has been set to 70% with EVGA Precision and it's surprisingly quiet (not any louder than the Antec Tri-Cools that are temporarily acting as intake fans on my case.)

Here's a screen of STOCK CLOCKS F@H performance so far. Overclocking results to follow later.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/FHStockBenchmark.jpg

Here is a screen of F@HMon after a few days of folding (while I was out of town). The clocks are stable at 715/1500/1150. The PPD has gone up a fair bit from the stock clocks to around 7700 PPD!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/zlojack/FHOverclockedBenchmark.jpg

[zlojack]

Section Sever: Final Thoughts and Impressions

[Snyxxx]

Looks good so far. maybe you can add Power Consumption and Idle / Load temps.

I do not know if you have a kill-o-watt or LCD UPS where you can measure idel vs. load power consumption though.

Just a thought if not too much trouble.

[Xilikon]

Nice amateur review, hope this will start a trend ;)

[zlojack]

I figure that there are already a lot of numbers out there on power consumption and card specs and that I'll focus on the "experience" of the card.

Maybe later on if I do more of these I'll try to get some sort of reader, but it's not something that I would really use. I can do temps for sure from GPUZ and EVGA Precision.

I got F@H up and running today and BOINC as well. I'll check how it works.

I'm still trying to figure out how to work in card overclocks, CPU overclocks and the combination of the two along with the benchmarks in such a way as to make the comparisons worthwhile.

Maybe a chart with the following:
1. Everything at stock.
2. Overclocked Card, Stock CPU
3. Overclocked CPU, Stock Card
4. Overclocked both.

Thing is, that's a lot of playing the same things over and over. I think I'll just do stock vs. stock and then again when I dial in the OCs. Who buys this kind of gear and leaves it at stock anyway? And if they do, would they be reading this?

Maybe just:
1. Stock
2. Overclocked

What do you guys think?

[cian1500ww]

Seems good so far, I'm getting that exact card for Christmas except I'm getting the standard edition but I plan to run it at the overclocked speeds so I'll be keeping an eye on this very closely :)

[Baleful]

Looks good bud.

[Snyxxx]

I figure that there are already a lot of numbers out there on power consumption and card specs and that I'll focus on the "experience" of the card.

Maybe later on if I do more of these I'll try to get some sort of reader, but it's not something that I would really use.

That's cool. I have always been miffed by the bullshit PSU requirements when a new GPU comes out. I have 8800GTXs in SLI and my whole rig only consumes 365W max under GPU load and a Seasonic M-700W PSU works fine. According to Nvidia, I am suppose to have a 1,000W minimum. :shrug:

[Fitseries3]

pffffffffft

i run 3 gtx260s OCed on my pc power and cooling 860watt. its more than enough.

let me know if you notice throttling when the shaders get too hot. mine all seem to do it.

[skinnee]

What PSU are you using? Any coil whine with this card revision and psu combo?

[zlojack]

What PSU are you using? Any coil whine with this card revision and psu combo?
I was hearing some whining, but I'm not sure if that's the crappy fans or the coils.

To be honest, I'm having some stability issues with my board/CPU/RAM so I haven't been able to advance much on the game installation and stuff. Last night was spent in frustration :o

PSU is the Corsair HX1000 (I updated the OP)

[skinnee]

I noticed the coil whine during 3DMark Vantage tests. If you have time, give it a shot and let me know.

[Fitseries3]

oh... most of the big cards i have had in the past year have made that noise. its the video cards from what im hearing.

on the 4870x2 its the PLX chip

on the gtx260/280 idk what it is but its not near as loud.

i have also noticed that highly OCed cpu's also make this noise you describe.

this sounds dumb but this is how i figured it out. a common tool a mechanic uses to diagnose noises....

take a piece of tubing and put one end to your ear and the other to where you think the sound might be coming from and then you can get a better approximate location of where the noise is located at least.

[zlojack]

Yeah, I think it's the caps on the card that make that noise.

It's barely noticeable.

[Fitseries3]

my 4870x2s SCREAM when in 3dmode. its not THAT loud but it is annoying. its louder than the fan at 60%

[zlojack]

Well, I usually game with headphones on.

Anyway, I'm stuck with instability issues on my board. I'm going to run everything at stock for now. I guess it's a good time to test baseline numbers :D

[Fitseries3]

i beat the daemons out of my pc today and got a new personal best


http://img.techpowerup.org/081218/Capture020.jpg

[zlojack]

Nice work!

I'm going to go for that soon.

I'm still stuck at the installing stage. Things have been bogged down by instability. I'm now running everything at stock and even contemplating trying a different mobo :(

[Fitseries3]

if you need any help just ask me man. i had to up the pcie freq to 113 and up the pcie voltage to 1.56v and NB to 1.35v to get this to run this well.

[zlojack]

Well, my cooling isn't up to snuff for sure, so that doesn't help. But I am not having much luck with the CPU at higher bclk even with lower multis.

I am thinking about trying the EVGA board as well. In the mean time, I'm installing my games and will run everything at stock, then OC the vid card and report those results over the next week or so (after that I should have watercooling up and running.)

[Fitseries3]

i run a high cfm can on top and on back...

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=21001&stc=1&d=1229658051


it helps alot. about 10c

[zlojack]

LOL...well, you can see my setup in my buildlog in my sig.

No extra fans, that's for sure.

[Fitseries3]

the h2go yeah. my buddy had one and ran a pa120.2 on it. it did pretty well to keep his cpu cool and then keep the gpu's cool as well. he ran 3 gtx280s in his on a 790i with a q9550.

mine is a bench rig as you might be able to tell. no case for me ;)

[zlojack]

I'm going to run a PA 120.2 at either end of the case with two loops :D

And an extra 120.1 down below on the GPU loop.

[zlojack]

F@H Stock clocks results updated.

[zlojack]

Futuremark results posted under Synthetic Benchmarks (http://www.realredraider.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=5473&postcount=5)!

[zlojack]

Some overclocked results updated in Section 3 and Section 4.

[utnorris]

Very nice review Zlojack. Very thorough too. Thanks for doing it. Makes me want to go replace my HD4870x2 for one.

[zlojack]

F@H Section updated with overclocking results.

[shazza]

Helpful thread, zlojack.

I just started playing with EVGA Precision ( 2 x GTX 260s - 55nm, 626 stock clock). Was able to get them to something like 736 / 1480 with good stability (on air). Running my 920 at 3.6 GHz - best 3DMark06 score I got was 20K+.

[zlojack]

Nice stuff Shazza. I'm playing around with my new board right now, but then I'll update the thread again now that I've got some cool new games.

Looks like the 55nm overclocks nicely! I'll have to see what this card can do on water. Hopefully I can get this report done before I step up to the GTX 285 :D

[zlojack]

Ok...so I've had a bunch of issues with getting my OC stable and stuff and I haven't had much of a chance to play any games for this report. I'm going to do that this week and post my results.

Hopefully I'll get this report done before I step-up my card :D