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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M

The NVidia GeForce GTX 260M is a high-end graphics card of the 200M series based on the G92b core. Therefore, the 55nm chip is essentially a 9800M GTX with slightly higher clock rates (550/1375/950 vs. 500/1250/800). As a result, the 260M is more similar to the desktop 9800GT than the GTX 260.

As with all native DirectX 10 cards, the GeForce GTX 260M renders 3D images using "Unified Shaders". Dedicated pixel shaders and vertex shaders have been replaced with 112 stream processors in the 260M, which now take over most of the graphics workload. The shader units themselves are also clocked higher (1375 MHz) than the core chip.

In general, the performance of the GTX 260M is somewhat higher than the 9800M GTX due to the higher clock speed. For current DirectX 10 games such as Crysis, World in Conflict, Bioshock or Age of Conan, the 260M is sufficient for gameplay under medium to high detail settings. Meanwhile, older games should be able to run fluently under high resolutions and full details. VRAM can be up to 1024 MB GDDR3 at 950MHz  in MXM 3.0 or 800MHz in MXM 2.0.

The GeForce GTX 260M integrates the PureVideo HD video decoder. The GPU is thus able to assist the CPU in the decoding of H.264-, VC-1-, MPEG2- and WMV9 videos.

HybridPower is a Windows Vista-only technology that allows users to switch between the integrated and dedicated graphics core for power-saving purposes. In the future, Nvidia intends to evolve the software for automatic switching depending on the active application (now known as Optimus). GeForceBoost is not supported with the GTX 260M as there would be no performance gain from combining with the integrated GPU.

The high current consumption of up to 75 Watts (of the entire MXM board) means that the GTX 260M can typically only be found in larger notebooks with loud and powerful cooling systems.

Compared with Desktop graphics cards, the GTX 260M is most similar to the GeForce 9800 GT.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GTX 200M Series

GeForce GTX 285M SLI 256@576MHz

GeForce GTX 280M SLI 256@585MHz

GeForce GTX 260M SLI 224@550MHz

GeForce GTX 285M 128@576MHz

GeForce GTX 280M 128@585MHz

GeForce GTX 260M 112@550MHz

CodenameN10E-GT
ArchitectureG9x
Pipelines112 - unified
Core Speed *550 MHz
Shader Speed *1375 MHz
Memory Speed *950 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR3
Max. Amount of Memory1024 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Current Consumption75 Watt
Transistors754 Million
technology55 nm
FeaturesHybridPower, PureVideo HD, CUDA, PhysX ready
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement02.03.2009
InformationMXM 3
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.nvidia.com/object/product_gef...
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 4080     avg: 4953.1 (13%)     max: 5686 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 3840     avg: 4315.8 (12%)     max: 5058 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 9458     avg: 10177.2 (35%)     max: 11209 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 12669     avg: 14772.6 (40%)     max: 16611 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 27301     avg: 29794.3 (20%)     max: 30685 Points
3DMark 2001SE - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 32699     avg: 34053 (56%)     max: 34905 Points
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 4032     avg: 4911.2 (19%)     max: 6382 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 28     avg: 28 (32%)     max: 28 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 3702     avg: 3966.3 (37%)     max: 4425 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 6.8     avg: 6.8 (86%)     max: 6.8 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 6.8     avg: 6.8 (86%)     max: 6.8 points
Windows Vista Experience Index - GPU
0% 100%
min: 5.9     avg: 5.9 (87%)     max: 5.9 Points
Windows Vista Experience Index - GPU Games
0% 100%
min: 5.8     avg: 5.8 (85%)     max: 5.8 Points
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailled information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Mafia 2
Mafia 2 (2010)
med.:
45  fps      Compare
high:
43.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 (2010)
low:
154  fps      Compare
high:
47  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Just Cause 2 (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
low:
79.1  fps      Compare
med.:
54.8  fps      Compare
high:
41.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
23.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Stalker: Call of Pripyat (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
CoD Modern Warfare 2
low:
137.4  fps      Compare
med.:
59.1  fps      Compare
high:
55.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
40  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen
Risen (2009)
low:
51.3 80.3 ~ 66 fps      Compare
med.:
41.3 50.5 ~ 46 fps      Compare
high:
31.7 36.5 ~ 34 fps      Compare
ultra:
26.9  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Resident Evil 5 (2009): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Shift (2009)
med.:
66.5  fps      Compare
high:
61  fps      Compare
ultra:
39.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2
Colin McRae: DIRT 2 (2009)
low:
92  fps      Compare
med.:
79.2  fps      Compare
high:
61.5  fps      Compare
ultra:
35.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
125.2 133 ~ 129 fps      Compare
ultra:
36.2 39 44 49.5 ~ 42 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
ArmA 2 (2009): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Sims 3
Sims 3 (2009)
low:
313  fps      Compare
med.:
105  fps      Compare
high:
89  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
F.E.A.R. 2
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
low:
132 151.2 ~ 142 fps      Compare
med.:
86.5 89 91.1 ~ 89 fps      Compare
high:
63.8 65 67.4 73.4 77.4 ~ 69 fps      Compare
ultra:
41.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto (2008)
low:
57.9  fps      Compare
med.:
48  fps      Compare
high:
36.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (2008)
low:
107 135.8 ~ 121 fps      Compare
high:
69 85.8 103.3 111.7 ~ 92 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2 (2008): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Racedriver: GRID
Racedriver: GRID (2008)
low:
105 111.9 ~ 108 fps      Compare
med.:
61.5 72 75.1 ~ 70 fps      Compare
high:
52.7 53 56.2 59.1 ~ 55 fps      Compare