GoHigh

Just received my BFG GTX260 Maxcore OC2 this morning via overnight through TD, and I am in absolute love.

A little background...

I had ordered the original GTX260 about a month ago, and it was a great card. I was able to OC it to 730 Core, 1512 Shader, and 2450 Ram giving me a score of 186xx in 3DMark06, and around 30FPS in Crysis 1650x1050 DX10 with Very High settings.

But then the price of GTX280 dropped to around $100 more, and I decided to upgrade to EVGA GTX280 SC. Then the problems started...

My System Specs are as follows:

Antec 1200 Case
Antec Quattro 1000w with updated 28a per rail
Asus P5Q Deluxe P45 Mobo
Intel Q6600 VID 1.2375 OCed to 3.84Ghz @ 1.44v
Thermalright Ultra120X Lapped
OCZ HPC Reaper 4GB OCed to 1068mhz
Blah Blah Blah...
Blah Blah Blah...

Anyway... The first GTX280 ran hot... REALLY HOT!
In less than 1 min on Furmark, the temps would rise to max 105c.

So I returned it and got an exchange for another EVGA GTX280 SC. This time, the card seemed to run fine. It passed all the benchmarks at default clocks, and the temps were around 70c after 30min of Furmark.

But then, when it came to OC the card, it would not budge. I mean, even a modest bump to EVGA FTW clock speeds would make the card crash after 3 min. The temps were fine, everything seemed normal, but it would not stay stable under anykind of OC. Whats worse, the card was actually slower through my typical benchmarks of Crysis, 3DMark06, Furmark, and GRID than my OCed GTX260.

So, I decided to go back to a GTX260, except lucky for me, the new series of GTX260 with 216 cores was released just in time.

The card I decided to go with was the BFG version, called MaxCore OC2 Edition. The card comes modestly overclocked from the factory, but I just finished my Furmark stability test @ 740 Core, 1566 Shader, and 1224 Memory.

Here is the weird part though...

And I know I am the first one to post this...

The temps are around 61c under load. 61c! What the heck? I know from other reviews and my other cards to know, that's impossible. The GTX200 series are notoriously hot, and I could not believe my eyes...

SO, I dug a little deeper...

Using GPU-Z, I pulled the BIOS from the card and examined it under Nibitor.

And there was my answer...

The Extra VID for this series of cards are binned lower than the previous GTX200.

For example, the EXTRA VID of GTX280 is 1.18v and GTX260 is 1.16v. As you can see from the pics, this card runs at 1.06 and the VID bins only to 1.15v

So, how is this possible? How can a card OC that well undervolted?

Your perspectives would be much appreciated...

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Johnny2toes

Not sure about the voltage, but 61C is normal.

ZealotKi11er

Good thing you are happy cause some people are not

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Flatliner

we needs pics!

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G|F.E.A.D|Killa

i dont think you can change the voltage at all.

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I heard Ford is coming out with heated bumpers in 2010 so your hands don not get cold while pushing it.

GeforceGTS

I keep seeing so many people having temp probs with the GTX 280 ;[

Mine arrives monday, I was thinking about getting the 260 216 but here in the uk it isn't in stock anywhere untill another week or so plus it's selling for £20 less than the 280... I hope mine runs reasonably cool D;

ZealotKi11er

GTX280 is better then GTX260 Core 216 and + when you overclock GTX280 it moves ahead.

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Q6600 @ 3.8Ghz/1900Mhz

GoHigh

Update:
I have since played around with VID settings...

I raised the EXTRA voltage to 1.15v from 1.06v. I did this on the 8800GT bios, and it allowed me to raise the overclock few mhz on shader and core.

Well, it seems that I have hit a wall here with my Maxcore 260. I was not able to achieve any higher overclock compared to the original voltage settings overclock, so I went back to the original bios and overclock.

The temperature rose couple of degrees compared to the original voltage settings, which leads me to believe that it did change the core voltage, but I have no way of checking without a voltage monitor, which I won't do.

Whatever they did to bring the temps down though, it has worked. For those who know about how hot these can run, this is a significant improvement. And as for that person who said that 61c is normal, he/she does not know what they are talking about. I have never read anyone getting 61c after 30min of Furmark on GTX200 cards.

I will benchmark this card soon and will post some pics of the results.

Thanks all for looking.

G|F.E.A.D|Killa

the GTX260s cooler is the same as the 280s. it even has the ram spots on the 260 cooler. thats why the 280 has problems. the cooler can barly handle the 260

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I heard Ford is coming out with heated bumpers in 2010 so your hands don not get cold while pushing it.

GoHigh

I am sure that it does move ahead, but I went through two of these cards and still have not found one that works. When you consider the price difference (I picked this card up for $299 vs $439 for EVGA GTX280 SC), its not worth it. Here is why...

1. It doesn't overclock as nice due to high temps. Most people crap out at around 680 core.

2. At that speeds, this 260 Core 216 moves ahead. I will demonstrate soon on my benchmarks.

3. It uses less system power. Not that my 1000w will not support it, it can mean a PSU upgrade for most people.

4. It runs cooler. At 61c load, I don't think I will be upgrading heatsink anytime soon.

5. If there is any advantages in FPS, it is very modest at best. Which means, it doesn't let you raise your AF or AA settings.

So the real question is, you do get 45% increase in performance as reflected on price? ($300 vs $440)

No.

Believe me, I could have bought the GTX280 if I wanted to, but I am very happy with my GTX260.