First GTX280 review

TerrorFirmer

PC Gamer have a review of the GTX280 now.

I'm incredibly disappointed and I will be not upgrading.

The card in itself is very powerful for a single card, but when the card costs about double the 3870X2 and 60% of the GX2, that trade places with it in a certain benchmarks, it's a total failure.....Why would someone pay 550-600 for a card that is a few fps faster then a card costing 250-390 (depending on which card you buy?

As it is, it wins some and loses some games with X2 and GX2. It looses outright in 3dMark06 and Vantage. The PC Gamer seems totally stupid to me, praising the raw power of the card with zero address of the fact it costs double the X2 with a few FPS gain.....when the 8800GTX came out at least, it easily beat the 7950GX2 in newest games, 7900GTX Sli, etc....

It's one true victory is Crysis (and WIC against the X2, but thats a known weakness for Ati cards)....but even THIS card is not enough to run Crysis at above 1600x1200 high settings with 4xAA. Look here, the 8800Ultra can run Crysis at the same FPS as the GTX280 on 2560x1600 with AA. :eek:

So it looks like the GTX260 will be even less impressive, far from the claims that both cards with run Crysis at max settings with AA flawlessly. Also looks like Ati will rob the crown from Nvidia, if 4850 and 3870 are remotely as powerful as is being claimed, as crossfire will still cost less then a single GTX and going by this - seeing as they've stated that 48x0 is far more powerful then 38x0 - will wipe the floor.

EDIT: 4850 user review in now - if this is true, Nvidia are in a bit of bother.

The only thing that can save this now is if newer drivers drastically improve performance. Which I'm holding out for.

takumi

wow.. that is disappointing indeed. . on the other hand. the 4850 only 1699hkd ?? :eek: the 3dmark 06 points look just as good !!

skuzzb

Wait for the new drivers first, then make your mind up!

The price is stupid alright so I dont think its going to take long for the price to drop to 450 quid....might be worth it then....

Another thing is, if this card isnt the huge performance increase we were expecting then what the hell is the GTX 260 going to perform like? Sounds like it could end up just matching the 9800GX2!

DanGerMus

Is that 4850 review a fake. It's a single slot card and i can only see on PCI-e connecter on it and the sticker is hanging off it.

papu

DanGerMus wrote: »

Is that 4850 review a fake. It's a single slot card and i can only see on PCI-e connecter on it and the sticker is hanging off it.

? those stickers are always misplaced on the cards? and it only has 1 PCi-e connector?

PogMoThoin

This concludes my choice, I'm opting for Ati Hd4870 or 4850 regardless of the cost or benchmarks and adding a second in 2 months. I feel letdown by nvidia, shafting customers and false promises of super performance.

MooseJam

not surprised tbh, knew it couldn't live up to the amazing claims

tramoredude

Since when are PCG a reputable source of Hardware reviews?

TerrorFirmer

tramoredude wrote: »

Since when are PCG a reputable source of Hardware reviews?

Certainly not the most in depth or technical minded, but I would count them as fairly reputable in what they do - testing games and hardware for the average user.

DanGerMus

nvr mind, my bad thought the 4850 was the top end card. o'course that would be the 4870.
(papu : i was refering to the pci-e power connector.)

DanGerMus

PogMoThoin wrote: »

This concludes my choice, I'm opting for Ati Hd4870 or 4850 regardless of the cost or benchmarks and adding a second in 2 months. I feel letdown by nvidia, shafting customers and false promises of super performance.

Have to agree with you i have 500-600 quid waiting to be spent on the next gen cards and i had high hopes for the gtx280 but it looks so far to be a leap too short. Price/Performance of the ati offerings just too good. I'll still wait for full reviews though.

TerrorFirmer

They're now saying Nvidia are slashing the price by 150 dollars - which will be quite a saving, should equate to 80-90 euro over here if true...

Sqaull20

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

They're now saying Nvidia are slashing the price by 150 dollars - which will be quite a saving, should equate to 80-90 euro over here if true...

I have set myself a budget of €300 for one of the new cards, I am currently using a €45 8600gt after selling on my 2 8800gtx's,.

Been playing ps3 alot more these days, will be getting Mgs4 on tuesday and havent finished GTA4 yet, so im going to wait till mid July before getting anything.GTX 260 should be €300 by then.

Only game I play these days on pc is Cod4, great weather and my hate for WoW etc, has me playing only a few hours a week.Alone in the Dark is the one that will change that, but I may get it for PS3, not much action games coming out this summer..

WEST

The GTX280 looks disappointing alright. God will I ever be able to play Crysis at max settings with at last 4xAA and 60+ FPS!

Just hope AMD do well this round so that the we the customers can benefit from a price war. Whatever card has the best price to performance ratio, I'll be getting that.

Spear

Overclockers have prices and stock.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=1176

WEST

Good review on Anandtech:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=1

The card is huge! If AMD's card is a flop I'll either wait for a die shrink or wait for a next Gen card.

Flaccus

Lots of reviews everwhere now.
According to Anand the 8800gt in sli is beating it at high res (1920x1200) and higher. Just sold 2 of them on adverts for 100 euro each

AnandTech - NVIDIA's 1.4 Billion Transistor GPU: GT200 Arrives as the GeForce GTX 280 & 260

Guru3D - GeForce GTX 280 review

Hard OCP - BFG Tech GeForce GTX 280 OC & GTX 260

Hardware Canucks - EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB Superclocked Review

***** -BFG (NVIDIA) GeForce GTX 280: does it rock our world?

HotHardware - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 Unleashed

OverclockersClub - XFX GTX 280 Review

PC Perspective - NVIDIA GT200 Revealed - GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 Review

PC Perspective - NVIDIA GT200: Moving Away from Just a GPU

The Tech Report - Nvidia's GeForce GTX 280 graphics processor

Tom's Hardware - Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review

TweakTown - ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Edition

tramoredude

Its a beast in certain things and a bit meh in others. Definitely not worth the 550 euro + price tag considering a 9800GX2 beats it in some cases and a 200 euro 9800GTX keeps up

If you have a 30" Monitor I suppose its the best thing ever!

MooseJam

anandtech is sooo slow, must be getting a lot of hits, I've got 8800GT's in sli guess I won't be ugrading or at least will have to wait and see what ati come up with

MooseJam

oops double post

skuzzb

Komplett has the GTX280 and 260 up with Point of View and EVGA flavours up.
POV cards are set at 549 and 349 and the EVGA's are 575 and 399.

At what price would any of you consider buying one?

If the GTX280 hits the same price as the GX2 is at now (around €415) i think it would be worth it but I have a feeling its going to be a few months before we see a a €130 drop in price....

TerrorFirmer

I would think about it at 450-ish but not at 550. Don't think I'd bother with the GTX 260 at all, unless I was coming from a something like the older g80 GTS.

HWV have the Club3D 9800GX2 for 380 which is pretty good.

8800GS Sli will do me until September anyway.

skuzzb

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

8800GS Sli will do me until September anyway.

Ya think something decent will be out in September or waiting for price drops?

TerrorFirmer

More so waiting for price drops. I'll be looking for a new power supply at that time as well....and possibly a new case - going from pictures it'd be a struggle to even fit one of those cards in a 'normal' sized case. Even in my 900 a single 8800GTS 512mb was cutting it close....

I reckon in a few months time, something like GTX260 SLI might be worthwhile as well.....

Slutmonkey57b

Wow, that review is the first time I've read HardOCP in ages .... now I remember why. A gushing article full of hype copypastad from the marketing department, and a "gold" recommendation for a product that provides marginal benefit over its predecessors at a vast price. And why did they think that people need to be told the backstory of Crysis when benching it? Anyone who doesn't know what crysis is wouldn't be looking up the review in the first place! Even hexus had the guts to call it what it is. Anand's rant on Nvidia's refusal to implement DX10.1 and the PR spin was the only place other than the Inq where I've seen some serious thought going into a review though.

uberpixie

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Wow, that review is the first time I've read HardOCP in ages .... now I remember why. A gushing article full of hype copypastad from the marketing department, and a "gold" recommendation for a product that provides marginal benefit over its predecessors at a vast price. And why did they think that people need to be told the backstory of Crysis when benching it? Anyone who doesn't know what crysis is wouldn't be looking up the review in the first place! Even hexus had the guts to call it what it is. Anand's rant on Nvidia's refusal to implement DX10.1 and the PR spin was the only place other than the Inq where I've seen some serious thought going into a review though.

Hardocp have always, imho biased towards Nvidia.
Their reviews are worth reading,for the benchmarks, just read between the lines for their conclusions and you are fine.

Tbh there are plenty of graphics cards on the market with plenty of poke.
The fact that you can get 9800X2s for €450, that sits right between the 260 and the 280 in price point and can match both/beat is not helpful.

9800GTXs are €250 and as people have pointed out a 8800GS for feck all will play any game going well for most.
I honestly cannot remember a better time for value in graphics. It's crazy.

The 260/280 reek of a quick future die shrink/revision, buy one now and you prob will regret it in 6 months when the "real" version comes out.

Be interesting to see where ATI come into the market now: it's a tough market to break into again with the 8 series being so cheap.

For myself it looks like I am sticking with my 8800GTS 320mb. Just not worth it yet to replace it, prob will drag antoher 6-8 months out of it unless ATI pull out some magic and come out with a great cheap performer.

WEST

Hardocp revews are good but the conclusions are a joke, maybe they are just too enthusiastic about graphic card in general and they cant give any really bad conclusions? With the GX280 at that price point it should never of got a gold recommendation especially since much cheaper cards can keep up with it.

I have a GTS 320 too and have overclocked it to the limit and its running all my games at good frame rates. Only bummer is I upgraded to a 22" monitor so the memory is a bit on the small side when I need to use AA so I was thinking of an upgrade. If AMD/ATI can do another "9800 pro" I'll be getting that. Otherwise I'll wait for a refresh of the new cards.

Sqaull20

The guys that got 8800gtx etc on adverts for cheap are the only ones laughing now.

Cute fuc!ers

Slutmonkey57b

WEST wrote: »

I have a GTS 320 too and have overclocked it to the limit and its running all my games at good frame rates. Only bummer is I upgraded to a 22" monitor so the memory is a bit on the small side when I need to use AA so I was thinking of an upgrade. If AMD/ATI can do another "9800 pro" I'll be getting that. Otherwise I'll wait for a refresh of the new cards.

As someone who's still using a 9800pro, I can only say that the only card getting my goat at the moment is the 8800gt! HWV had them for €110 there a while ago...

TomCo

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

As someone who's still using a 9800pro, I can only say that the only card getting my goat at the moment is the 8800gt! HWV had them for €110 there a while ago...

Have my parents bringing me one back from the states on Monday, cost feck all.

Sqaull20

Card is not as good as I thought it would be, but its sli/ tri sli performance is incredible

Crysis @ 2560 x 1600

single = 39 FPS
sli = 54 FPS
tri-sli = 81 FPS

Very High 2560 x 1600

single = 15 FPS
sli = 27 FPS
tri-sli = 38 FPS

http://guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-280-sli-triple-review-test/13