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Rumour control: GeForce GTX 260 GX2 in January
Move to 55nm process could enable GeForce GTX 260 GX2
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 280 chips might be the fastest single-GPU offerings at the moment, but they’re having a tough time competing with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 at the top end. The problem is that the GTX 280 is a packed 65nm chip that Nvidia recommends powering with a 40A 12V rail, and putting two of them on a card would make an extremely hot and power-hungry beast. However, the rumour is that Nvidia is planning a dual-GPU GTX 260 card after the company has shifted the GPUs to a 55nm process.
Tech site Expreview claims to have spoken to an anonymous informer, who says that Nvidia is planning to make GeForce GTX 260 GX2 card with two GTX 260 GPUs, and that the cards will be released in January 2009.
We asked Nvidia about the rumour, but were given the usual line that Nvidia ‘can’t comment on unannounced products.’ However, the move would make sense given that the dual-GPU Radeon HD 4870 X2 is currently a major threat to Nvidia at the top end of the market. What’s also interesting is that the rumour concerns a dual- 260 card, rather than a card with two 280 chips, implying that even a move to a 55nm process still wouldn’t make a dual-280 card practical, if this rumour is true.
Of course, this is all very much just rumour and speculation at the moment, so take it all with a firm pinch of sodium chloride.
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9800 GX2 was two G92s not two G80s and came out shortly after the 8800 GTS 512 and has higher performance than the GTX280, likewise GTX2x0 is about to have it's 55nm (or possibly 40nm) die shrink so a GX2x0 card is imminent.
Comment by Initialised at 8:12pm 25th November 2008
if you took the time to notice what type of 4870 i have you would see that it does not run hot under 50 on full load, so lol to you:]
Comment by iceman at 2:51pm 23rd November 2008
GTX 260 long in the tooth haha! A few frames per second difference either way, lower power consumption and heat on the 260 compared to the 4870 and it is long in the tooth? How did you work that one out?!
Comment by gavomatic57 at 12:15am 23rd November 2008
Who needs a GTX260x2? Apart from Nvidia to reclaim pole position of course (and gamers with 30" monitors). Nowadays nearly all games are consul imports and a 4870 can run them on Very High settings at 1920x1200. Games are currently being aimed at the lowest common denominator which only changes once every four or five years. So if PC gamers are expected to make do with consul leftovers what are top-end GPUs for?
Comment by Cybersciver at 1:55pm 22nd November 2008
just got a gainward 4870 golden sample what a great card had the choice of a 260 but i think its a bit long in the tooth,i think nvidia just flooded the market with cards just to confuse eveybody,made my choice easy, 4870 big bangs less bucks, cant go wrong
Comment by iceman at 12:49pm 22nd November 2008
nvidia have awful stock coolers? maybe, but every top ATI card bar the 3870 for the past 3 years has had rubbish, noisy, hot stock coolers and worse power consumption than the nvidia top single cards in most cases too. X1800, X1900 was appalling, 2900XT was smoking hot and sucked more power than the faster 8800GTX, 4870 stock coolers are also rubbish. i have been looking at the improvements brought on by the forceware 180 drivers, and it certainly looks like the core 216 has made massive gains over 4870. so unless theres more to come from ATI, core 216 does seem faster now.
Comment by vulcanproject at 12:53pm 21st November 2008
There is no such thing as overkill at CPC. Just a 'Crazy But Cool' sticker and some lucky buggers who can afford to buy them.
Comment by CSQuake at 4:05pm 20th November 2008
speculation and rumours moving to something of picture and gorgeous physxy goodness.. Im not really interested. 2x260GTXs would beat a 4870X2 though using custompc based methods of benchmarking and reviewing. Thats hands down. 2x280GTX would be overkill and something in the silly price range of £500+
Comment by Lightning_Pete at 2:57pm 20th November 2008
None of the previous GX2's have used the flagship cards in SLI - the 7950GX2 was two 7900GT's not GTX's, the 9800GX2 was two 8800GTS, not GTX's...Using two GTX 260 is predictable and does make sense, especially when you consider it is going up against a Crossfire card based on two 4870's that are roughly on par with the 260 anyway. Considering Nvidia's stock coolers tend to be much quieter than the ATI ones, I don't know how anyone can say they are awful. My GTX 260 is barely audible even when running Folding@home.
Comment by gavomatic57 at 1:22pm 20th November 2008
Just take into account the heat.It would be a lot :( as Nvidia has got awfull stock coolers.
Comment by BLAKIE33 at 9:51am 20th November 2008
Know you know how us 7950 gx2 owners felt.
Comment by bluetuba at 7:45am 20th November 2008
55nm chips should be far more common than they are in nvidias line up all i can think of is that they want to squeeze money from the production lines they already have.
Comment by Cool_CR at 11:37pm 19th November 2008
Not a fan of either - ATI or Nvidia, but i cant understand why did Nvidia take so long to do this GX2 card for the counter-attack! and isn't it historically Christmas a good time to release products, not after? There must be some sort of an explanation of some kind what we all don't know about - be it a technical issue or strategical planing!
Comment by vaduk at 11:30pm 19th November 2008
i think this was likely, i mean its been talked about for a few months now. a pair of 260 core 216 cards would at least match the 4870 X2, cherry picked overclocked cards would potentially beat it. the 280 as i said still seems to consume too much power to be viable as a GX2, even if you shrink the die and cherry pick those parts it'll end up far n excess of 400w. too much for a single card
Comment by vulcanproject at 6:13pm 19th November 2008
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