Date:
Sunday , November 09, 2008
Author:
Mark Warner
Editor:
Brent Justice
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Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version

The GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Edition adds a nice entry to Galaxy's modest product lineup, but does it add value to an already crowded performance video card market? We're going to find out, with some of today's biggest games!

Introduction

Galaxy is a familiar brand to many gamers, but it is certainly not one of the best-known. Founded in 1994, Galaxy Technology manufactures video cards, motherboards, and TV tuners. Galaxy's video cards exclusively feature NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, and their motherboards exclusively feature NVIDIA nForce core logic. Galaxy also operates in North America under the name of video card vendor KFA2.

Today, we'll be evaluating the Galaxy branded GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version video card.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 GPU

The GeForce GTX 260 GPU was originally launched in June of 2008. It featured 192 streaming processors, 28 ROPs, and 64 texture filtering units. The GPU core was clocked at 576 MHz by NVIDIA's recommendation, and the streaming processors were set to 1.242 GHz. It featured 896MB of GDDR3 on board, running at 1.998 GHz on a 448-bit wide bus.

Just 3 months later, NVIDIA launched a supplement to the GeForce GTX 260, adding some enhancements. The updated GPU features 216 streaming processors and 72 texture filtering units. That is an addition of 24 more SPs (a 12.5% increase) and 8 more texture units (also a 12.5% increase). The suggested clock rates, memory capacity, and memory bus remain unchanged.

Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version

The Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Versionis the first GTX 200 series video card we've seen from Galaxy. They currently also offer a non-overclocked GeForce GTX 260 (original version) and a non-overclocked GeForce GTX 280 in their GTX 200 series portfolio.

As the name suggests, the GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked version comes to us overclocked by Galaxy. The clock rate on the GPU core has been increased from 576MHz to 656MHz, and the streaming processors have been overclocked from 1.242GHz to 1.405GHz. The memory is also overclocked, from 1.998GHz stock to 2.26GHz out of the box. That overclock increases the memory bandwidth on this video card from 111GB per second to 126GB per second.

This video card, and all other Galaxy and KFA2 branded video cards bought on or after 10 October 2008, carry Galaxy's new 2 year hardware warranty.

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The packing this video card arrived in is solid. It feels strong and does not flex when handled. It is small, but not so small as to cause concerns about shipping it. The outer carton itself appears to be a generic GTX 200 series box, with stickers attached to denote the actual contents. Interestingly, the "Overclocked" banner in the top right corner of the front of the box is not a sticker, which seems to indicate to us that Galaxy has more overclocked video card in the pipeline. One side of the box shows the system requirements, including motherboard and power supply requirements for GeForce GTX 280 video cards and GeForce GTX 260 video cards.

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The video card itself is identical to virtually every other GeForce GTX 260 based video card out there (water-cooled models being the exceptions). It features a large, high gloss black plastic shroud covering the entire video card, front and back. On the "front" of the video card and on the fan's hub, there are Galaxy brand stickers applied. There is a black rubber plug protecting the SLI connector when it is not in use, and another plug protecting the S/PDIF connector located at the back end of the video card, next to the two 6-pin auxiliary power connectors.

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The back side of the video card is also covered with the same shiny black plastic, but with some ventilation slits exposing a bit of the black PCB. The business end of the Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version sports two dual-link DVI connectors and a TV out connector, as usual.

Bundled with this video card is a user manual, a quick installation guide, and a driver CD-ROM disc. The included accessories are an s-video cable, a component video output dongle, a DVI to VGA adaptor, a DVI to HDMI adaptor, a S/PDIF cable, and two dual-Molex to 6-pin auxiliary power adaptors.

Interestingly, the serial number label indicates that this video card is of the KFA2 brand, even though the box clearly states otherwise. In addition to that, the KFA2 website proudly presents the Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version as its own. Obviously Galaxy owns the KFA2 brand, but this makes us really wonder why Galaxy maintains two separate brand names in North America, if they are just going to use the brands interchangeably like this.

The Competition

Apart from competing with other "new" GeForce GTX 260 based video cards, the Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version primarily competes with the original NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 and the ATI Radeon HD 4870.

Right now, you can buy an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 for $244.99 after rebate or an ATI Radeon HD 4870 for $214.99. Lastly, the Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked is available for $324.99.