BFG Technologies BFGRGTX260896OCXE (896 MB) PCI Express Video Card
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- Special Features: HDTV TV-out Support
- Graphic Processor: NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX
- Card Interface: PCI Express
- Compatibility: PC
- Installed Memory / Technology: 896 MB (DDR3 SDRAM)
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978
An affordable high performer
Pros
Excellent 3D rendering, high frame rates, quiet cooling
Cons
May require that you to get a more powerful power supply
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
This is definitely a good graphics card in the $200 price range. However, you also need to consider the issue with the power supply
I recently bought my 9-year old daughter and my 11-year old son new computers. What I bought was two Dell SMT-116B desk tops (2.33GHz, 6GB RAM, 750GB hard disk). The reason I bought desk tops instead of laptops was because we never travel with the kids computers anyway, and we already had good monitors that we wanted to use. On my son’s computer I replaced the onboard ATI RADEON 3450 256MB video card with this high performing graphics card. The ATI RADEON 3450 256MB was quite insufficient for the types of games that he likes to play. Yeah, he is an 11-year old hard core gamer. The card is larger than most cards but it fit (in our case). However, we had to replace the on-board power supply. The Graphics card was $280.49 at Best Buy as of October 18, however, the prices are coming down.
Our experience
The card is 10.5 inch long and taller than most graphics cards (20% taller than an 8800 GTX card), so it is recommended that you check that you have room before you buy it. We replaced the native power supply with a 650 Watts Antec EarthWatts power supply. I should say that since Best Buy did not tell us that we needed a new power supply before we bought the graphics card, they gave us the power supply for free. Apparently you need at the minimum a 525 Watt power supply and a 550 Watt power supply to power this graphics card and a high end desktop.
This is a blazing fast graphics card and the Visual Quality is stunning. The kids could see a very noticeable performance improvement over for example the NVIDIA 8800 GT 512MB on my sons laptop (3GB RAM). I guess the 896MB GDDR3 Video Memory compared to the typical 512MB for high end graphics cards might have something to do with it. My son has a 1650x1050 resolutions Samsung SyncMaster 226BW monitor and it looks really great. You can expect to double your scores compared to an 8800 GTX card and it is significantly faster than a 9600 GTX card and faster than a 9800 GTX Card. The GeForce 280 graphics card is slightly faster but then it is also $399. According to the Best Buy personal it is among the best graphics card in that price range.
About the
BFG - NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX OC 896MB GDDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card
Specifications
Video Memory – 896MB GDDR3
Clock Speed of Video Memory – 400MHz RAMDACS
Interface Slot Type – PCI Express x16
Type of processor – NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX OC
Core clock speed 590MHz
Maximum 2D Resolution – Up to 2048 X 1536
Maximum 3D Resolution – Up to 2560 X 1600
NVIDIA SLI technology delivers up to 3x the performance of a single CPU
Video format – TV, HDTV
Supports MPEG 1,2, has TV-Out, and DVD Decoding
HDCP-enabled; HDMI capable with adapter kit (not included)
Compatible with HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats
Includes DVI-to-VGA adapter, DVI-to-HDMI, S/PDIF audio cable, 1 dual 4-pin Molex to single 6-pin PCI-Express power adapter, HDTV cable and software CD-ROM
Warranty terms parts – Lifetime limited
Warranty terms labor – Lifetime limited
System requirements
Windows XP or Vista
1GB of RAM
100MB free hard drive space
PCI Express-compliant motherboard
Available PCI Express x16 slot
525W power supply
Additional requirements are:
Two 4-pin Molex and one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors or two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors
Bench Mark
To test how well the graphics card performed I used a 3D benchmark program called 3DMark06 from Futuremark (I used the Advanced version of 3DMark06). The results are listed below.
Main test results (using default 1280X1024)
3DMark Score
11401 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
4376
SM 3.0 Score
5397
CPU Score
3309
Additional test results (using 1680X1050)
3DMark Score
11169 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
4302
SM 3.0 Score
5131
CPU Score
3440
The system
2 Quad processor Q8200 2.33GHz @ 2.333MHz
6MB RAM
64-bit Windows Vista
Final recommendation
This is definitely a good graphics card in the $200+ price range. It is recommende to hard core gamers and others who prefer something better than what desk tops typically come with. However, you also need to check whether you need to replace the power supply.
Our experience
The card is 10.5 inch long and taller than most graphics cards (20% taller than an 8800 GTX card), so it is recommended that you check that you have room before you buy it. We replaced the native power supply with a 650 Watts Antec EarthWatts power supply. I should say that since Best Buy did not tell us that we needed a new power supply before we bought the graphics card, they gave us the power supply for free. Apparently you need at the minimum a 525 Watt power supply and a 550 Watt power supply to power this graphics card and a high end desktop.
This is a blazing fast graphics card and the Visual Quality is stunning. The kids could see a very noticeable performance improvement over for example the NVIDIA 8800 GT 512MB on my sons laptop (3GB RAM). I guess the 896MB GDDR3 Video Memory compared to the typical 512MB for high end graphics cards might have something to do with it. My son has a 1650x1050 resolutions Samsung SyncMaster 226BW monitor and it looks really great. You can expect to double your scores compared to an 8800 GTX card and it is significantly faster than a 9600 GTX card and faster than a 9800 GTX Card. The GeForce 280 graphics card is slightly faster but then it is also $399. According to the Best Buy personal it is among the best graphics card in that price range.
About the
BFG - NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX OC 896MB GDDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card
Specifications
Video Memory – 896MB GDDR3
Clock Speed of Video Memory – 400MHz RAMDACS
Interface Slot Type – PCI Express x16
Type of processor – NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX OC
Core clock speed 590MHz
Maximum 2D Resolution – Up to 2048 X 1536
Maximum 3D Resolution – Up to 2560 X 1600
NVIDIA SLI technology delivers up to 3x the performance of a single CPU
Video format – TV, HDTV
Supports MPEG 1,2, has TV-Out, and DVD Decoding
HDCP-enabled; HDMI capable with adapter kit (not included)
Compatible with HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats
Includes DVI-to-VGA adapter, DVI-to-HDMI, S/PDIF audio cable, 1 dual 4-pin Molex to single 6-pin PCI-Express power adapter, HDTV cable and software CD-ROM
Warranty terms parts – Lifetime limited
Warranty terms labor – Lifetime limited
System requirements
Windows XP or Vista
1GB of RAM
100MB free hard drive space
PCI Express-compliant motherboard
Available PCI Express x16 slot
525W power supply
Additional requirements are:
Two 4-pin Molex and one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors or two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors
Bench Mark
To test how well the graphics card performed I used a 3D benchmark program called 3DMark06 from Futuremark (I used the Advanced version of 3DMark06). The results are listed below.
Main test results (using default 1280X1024)
3DMark Score
11401 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
4376
SM 3.0 Score
5397
CPU Score
3309
Additional test results (using 1680X1050)
3DMark Score
11169 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
4302
SM 3.0 Score
5131
CPU Score
3440
The system
2 Quad processor Q8200 2.33GHz @ 2.333MHz
6MB RAM
64-bit Windows Vista
Final recommendation
This is definitely a good graphics card in the $200+ price range. It is recommende to hard core gamers and others who prefer something better than what desk tops typically come with. However, you also need to check whether you need to replace the power supply.
