NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M SLI

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M SLI is a combination of two Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M graphic cards for laptops that can run in SLI mode. The combination can be up to 40% faster if the game and driver support SLI properly. Some games may even run slower than a single 260M (but SLI can also be deactivated). The current consumption is twice as high as a single 260M.

The graphic memory of both cards can't be added and compared to single cards, as each card stores the same information. Therefore, a GTX 260M SLI with 2x512 only counts as 512 MB graphic memory for games.

As all SLI combination, the GeForce 260M SLI may suffer from micro stuttering at frame rates between 20 to 30 fps. Because of the different frame times (e.g. two frames may be shown shortly after each other and then a long pause comes), an SLI combination may need higher frame rates for fluent gameplay.

As all cards with DirectX 10 capabilities, the GeForce GTX 260M SLI combination renders the 3D images using "Unified Shaders". There don't exist any more dedicated pixel- and vertex shaders but 2x112 so called stream processors make the graphic work (which has been done by pixel and vertex shaders in former days). Furthermore, the shader units are higher clocked than the chip (1375 MHz).

The performance of the GTX 260M SLI is in the region of a single GTX 260M (with proper SLI support above, else beyond). A single GTX 260M is only a bit faster than a 9800M GTX due to the higher clock speed. For current DirectX 10 games like Crysis, World in Conflict, Bioshock or Age of Conan, the performance of this graphic card is sufficient with medium and high details. Older games and less demanding ones run fluently with high resolutions and full details. The memory equipment is up to 2x1024 MB GDDR3 (up to 950MHz in MXM 3.0 boards and up to 800 MHz in MXM 2.0 boards).

An advantage of the GeForce GTX 260M SLI is the integrated PureVideo HD video processor. It is able to help with the decoding of H.264-, VC-1-, MPEG2- and WMV9 video material in HD quality and therefore eases the CPU usage.

Both chips also support PhysX and CUDA applications. A single GTX 260M can also be used to calculate PhysX effects and this way improve the overall performance.

HybridPower is a technique to choose between the integrated and dedicated graphics core, if performance or battery runtime is needed. This works only in Windows Vista. Up to now the user has to use a tool to switch between the GPUs. Later Nvidia wants to switch automatically in the drivers. GeForceBoost is not supported with this card, as there would be no performance gain to combine the integrated GPU with the video card.

The current consumption of up to 2x75 = 150 Watts (of the whole board) allows the use of the card only in laptops with a strong cooling system. Therefore, the GTX 260M SLI can be found only in heavy and big notebooks.

Compared with Desktop graphic cards, the performance is about at the level of the GeForce 9800 GT SLI combination (600/1500/900).

benchmarks

3DMark 2001: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 30910, avg: 30910, max: 30910 Points ... More Details

3DMark 03: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 47633, avg: 49182, max: 50730 Points ... More Details

3DMark 05: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 12820, avg: 14510, max: 16199 Points ... More Details

3DMark 06:
0% 100%
      min: 10794, avg: 11989, max: 13184 Points ... More Details

Cinebench R10: - Shading
0% 100%
      min: 3995, avg: 3995, max: 3995 Points ... More Details

3DMark Vantage: - P Result 1280x1024
0% 100%
      min: 8959, avg: 8959, max: 8959 Points ... More Details

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
Based on 9 benchmarks

Game Benchmarks

Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)

low:

102

[X] Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.5GHz 4096MB RAM
GeForce GTX 260M SLI (550/1350MHz) (950MHz) , 179.85

 fps

med.:

64

[X] Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.5GHz 4096MB RAM
GeForce GTX 260M SLI (550/1350MHz) (950MHz) , 179.85

 fps

high:

51

[X] Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.5GHz 4096MB RAM
GeForce GTX 260M SLI (550/1350MHz) (950MHz) , 179.85

 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)

low:

132

[X] Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.5GHz 4096MB RAM
GeForce GTX 260M SLI (550/1350MHz) (950MHz) , 179.85

 fps

med.:

65

[X] Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.5GHz 4096MB RAM
GeForce GTX 260M SLI (550/1350MHz) (950MHz) , 179.85

 fps

high:

52

[X] Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.5GHz 4096MB RAM
GeForce GTX 260M SLI (550/1350MHz) (950MHz) , 179.85

 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

:: No reviews found for this graphics card.