NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260: A Full Review – Is it Worth it?
© railway fx/Shutterstock.com
Key Points
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 is a classic gaming graphic card that can only be used to play very low spec games.
- The GTX 260 was launched on June 16th, 2008.
- The GTX 260 was designed as a middle ground between the GTS 250 and the GTX 280.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260: A Classic Gaming Graphics Card
Released in June 2008, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 is ideal for older games.
©railway fx/Shutterstock.com
If you have been contemplating firing up some gaming classics such as World of Warcraft or League of Legends, you may be overcome with nostalgia. These classic games may have made up a large part of our childhood, and rebooting them years later can bring back happy memories.
But playing them on a newly built PC just doesn’t feel the same. Furthermore, the graphics on newer hardware is so good, that older games lose some of the charms that made them special to begin with. If you want to get the full experience, you either need to look for an old PC, or build a vintage gaming computer from scratch.
In today’s article, we’re going to take it back to a different era in gaming graphics history. We’re going to discuss one of the classic graphics cards that all modern cards stem from, the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260. Although GPU technology has come a long way from the days when this card was in its prime, there is something special about vintage GPUs that can’t be replicated. We’re going to find out what makes this card special with a full review, and find out: is it worth it?
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260: A Brief History
The GTX 260 was launched on June 16th, 2008, and was based on the “Tesla” GT200 graphics processor. Additionally, this card is one of the first graphics cards that hinted at DirectX 11 capability, although it officially only ran DirectX 10, making it incompatible with a large majority of newer games.
Based on the 65 nm process, the GTX 260 was designed as a middle ground between the GTS 250 and the GTX 280.
Basically, the GTX 260 is just a GTX 280 with two texture processing units and ROP blocks disabled. Furthermore, the GTX 200 series cards in general were designed as an upgraded addition to the GeForce family, adding a notable increase in performance over the GTX 100 series cards.
Although the GTX 260 would eventually be replaced when the Geforce GTX 300 series cards came on the scene a little over a year later, this GPU was responsible for adding some powerful features to the lineup. With full support for Coverage Sample Anti-Aliasing, originally seen on Nvidia’s cards as far back as 2006, the GTX 260 showed what was capable with anti-aliasing technology of the time.
Although newer technology has since been released, the GTX 260 was a pioneer in many respects. This period saw many games become “smoother” all while offering better frame rates and more detailed textures. Anti-aliasing allowed jagged edges in polygons to be toned down to smooth and fluid curves. Overall, this made for a more immersive and enjoyable gaming experience that was unrivaled by less expensive GPUs of the time.
AMD brought their competition to Nvidia as usual, and the most similar card to the GTX 260 was the Radeon HD 4870. Although it depends strongly on the particular setup being used, the HD 4870 did provide some stiff competition to the GTX 260, beating it in several benchmarks.
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260: What Are the Specs?
Although we may laugh at the specifications present on this card when comparing them to the modern-day GPUs, it is important to know what was powering this card. Additionally, we’ve broken down the specs to give you an idea of what is under the hood. Have a look at the table below to see for yourself.
| Hardware | Specs |
|---|---|
| Graphics Processor: | GT200 |
| Shader Cores: | 192 |
| TMUs: | 64 |
| ROPs: | 28 |
| Process Size: | 65 nm |
| Transistors: | 1. 4 billion |
| L2 Cache: | 224 kb |
| VRAM Type: | GDDR3 |
| VRAM Capacity: | 896 MB |
| Bus Width: | 448-bit |
| Graphics Clock: | 576 MHz |
| Shader Clock: | 1242 MHz |
| Memory Clock: | 999 MHz |
| Pixel Rate: | 16.13 Gpixels |
| Texture Fill Rate: | 36.86 GTexel/s |
| FP-32 Performance: | 476.9 GFLOPS |
As you can see, compared to newer graphics cards, the specs offered by the GTX 260 are utterly abysmal. Furthermore, we have come so far in graphics processing technology that hardware like this is not even capable of launching most modern games. But looking past the low specs, we can see that theoretical performance is still impressive for the period.
Additionally, gamers of this time were very happy with performances on older games such as League of Legends or World of Warcraft.
If you aren’t playing games at all, you don’t need to worry so much about specs, since the card only needs to fulfill its display function. Sadly, most of the GTX 260s out there in the world today are not being used for gaming or graphics-intensive tasks because they simply aren’t powerful enough.
Power, Cooling, and Connections
Despite its age, the GTX 260 is surprisingly compatible with a wide range of newer power supplies. As long as you have two 6-pin PCI power connectors and at least a 450-watt power supply, you will be able to install this card on your PC. Additionally, the GTX 260 is not even a massive power hog; it only uses 182 watts under full load. If you are comparing it to entry-level modern graphics cards, you’ll be disappointed. Vastly superior cards such as the 1060-6GB and GTX 970 use under 120 watts of power, all while offering much better performance.
Besides that, the GTX 260 does a good job of cooling itself with an average thermal design. Running noticeably cooler than the GTX 280 in a range of tests, the GTX 260 remains silent while not under load. When pushed to the limit, the fans will spin up and get rather loud. The large plastic shroud does an excellent job of funneling hot air out through the back of your PC case as opposed to letting it build up.
Additionally, you get the standard DVI connections found on most graphics cards of the time. There is also an S-Video connection, something which has been lost to the sands of time and is no longer used on modern GPUs. You will still be able to use most gaming monitors thanks to the dual DVI connections found on the back.
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260: How is Pricing?
When the GTX 260 first launched, it was not the most expensive GPU in Nvidia’s lineup. It was released with an MSRP of just $449. In contrast, newer graphics cards are often seen for over $1,000, so this is a sign of the times and how far GPU technology has come.
The good news is that you can find a GTX 260 for much less if you are really searching.
Furthermore, it is still possible to find this GPU new at certain retailers, although there might not be many of them left. In contrast, the used market is going to be a much more cost-effective option for finding this card. The only thing to be careful of is thermal degradation. In other words, you may need to replace the thermal paste and give the card a general tune-up if you want to use it reliably.
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260: Can it Game?
We kept our expectations low when testing this card, as it is 14 years old as of this writing. The good news, however, is that it is still a great gaming graphics card for playing vintage games. If you like classic titles like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4, and League of Legends, then this GPU is going to be everything you need.
One of Activision’s games is the ever-popular World of Warcraft.
©By Dinosaur918 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27842309 – License
In contrast, newer titles like GTA V and Assassin’s Creed are simply out of the question. You may be able to play some less demanding new titles like Fortnite or PUBG, as long as you keep the settings turned all the way down.
To give the GTX 260 a fair benchmark, we stuck to running classic games in 720p resolution. Although it may be capable of 1080p gaming, frame rates would suffer and it would not be an enjoyable experience. On lower resolutions, the GTX 260 showed some decent results, even when running titles on the highest settings. Have a look at the benchmarks to get an idea of the results.
| Average Frame Rates | |
|---|---|
| Counter-Strike Global Offensive | 61+ FPS |
| World of Warcraft | 31+ FPS |
| Crysis | 25+ FPS |
| Race Driver: GRID | 98+ FPS |
| Enemy Territory: Quake Wars | 123+ FPS |
| Call of Duty 4 | 102+ FPS |
| League of Legends | 104+ FPS |
The Final Verdict
Overall, the GTX 260 makes a decent graphics card if all you want to do is play classic games.
Besides that, the truth of the matter is that newer GPUs are going to offer far superior performance, lower power consumption, and wider game compatibility.
Furthermore, GPUs like the 1050-Ti and GTX 1650 offer entry-level performance that is still many times better than the GTX 260.
If you have your heart set on building a vintage gaming machine and can find a GTX 260 at a reasonable price, then there is no reason not to get it. Additionally, the GTX 260 plays classic games just as well as newer cards, so if that’s all you want to do, then you have nothing to lose.
Next Up…
- AMD Radeon RX 5500: Full Review with Specs, Price, and More
- The Best USB-C Hubs For Every Use: Reviewed and Ranked
- Fitbit Sense Review: Specs, Price, Pros & Cons
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260: A Full Review – Is it Worth it? FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What games can run on GTX 260?
The GTX 260 is ideal for older games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty 4, and Crysis.
Is GeForce GTX still good?
Compared to modern standards, the GTX 260 is very basic. There are many superior cards such as the GTX 1050-Ti which are much newer.
When did the Nvidia 260 come out?
The GTX 260 came out on June 16th, 2008.
How much VRAM does a GTX 260 have?
The GTX 260 has 896MB of GDDR3
Is GTX 260 good for gaming?
Without DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 capabilities, the GTX 260 is not good for running modern games. However, it is still great for running older games.
GeForce GTX 260 [in 1 benchmark]
NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 260
Buy
- Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
- Core clock speed 576MHz
- Max video memory 896MB
- Memory type GDDR3
- Memory clock speed 999MHz
- Maximum resolution
Summary
NVIDIA started GeForce GTX 260 sales 16 June 2008 at a recommended price of $449.
This is a Tesla 2.0 architecture desktop card based on 65 nm manufacturing process and primarily aimed at office use. 896 MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 1 GHz are supplied, and together with 448 Bit memory interface this creates a bandwidth of 111.9 GB/s.
Compatibility-wise, this is dual-slot card attached via PCIe 2.0 x16 interface. Its manufacturer default version has a length of 10.5″ (267 mm) (26.7 cm). 2x 6-pin power connector is required, and power consumption is at 182 Watt.
It provides poor gaming and benchmark performance at
3.12%
of a leader’s which is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
GeForce RTX
4090
Compare
General info
Some basic facts about GeForce GTX 260: architecture, market segment, release date etc.
| Place in performance rating | 635 | |
| Value for money | 0. |
|
| Architecture | Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013) | |
| GPU code name | GT200 | |
| Market segment | Desktop | |
| Release date | 16 June 2008 (14 years old) |
|
| Launch price (MSRP) | $449 | |
| Current price | $58 (0.1x MSRP) | of 49999 (A100 SXM4) |
Value for money
To calculate the index we compare the characteristics of graphics cards against their prices.
- 0
- 50
- 100
Technical specs
GeForce GTX 260’s general performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU base clock, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of GeForce GTX 260’s performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider its benchmark and gaming test results.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 192 | of 18432 (AD102) |
| CUDA cores | 192 | |
| Core clock speed | 576 MHz | of 2610 (Radeon RX 6500 XT) |
| Number of transistors | 1,400 million | of 14400 (GeForce GTX 1080 SLI Mobile) |
| Manufacturing process technology | 65 nm | of 4 (GeForce RTX 4080 Ti) |
| Thermal design power (TDP) | 182 Watt | of 900 (Tesla S2050) |
| Maximum GPU temperature | 105 °C | |
| Texture fill rate | 36.9 billion/sec | of 969.9 (h200 SXM5 96 GB) |
| Floating-point performance | 476. |
of 16384 (Radeon Pro Duo) |
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Information on GeForce GTX 260’s compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it’s interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | |
| Length | 10.5″ (267 mm) (26.7 cm) | |
| Height | 4.376″ (111 mm) (11.1 cm) | |
| Width | 2-slot | |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 6-pin | |
| SLI options | + |
Memory
Parameters of memory installed on GeForce GTX 260: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Note that GPUs integrated into processors have no dedicated memory and use a shared part of system RAM instead.
| Memory type | GDDR3 | |
| Maximum RAM amount | 896 MB | of 128 (Radeon Instinct MI250X) |
| Memory bus width | 448 Bit | of 8192 (Radeon Instinct MI250X) |
| Memory clock speed | 999 MHz | of 22400 (GeForce RTX 4080) |
| Memory bandwidth | 111.9 GB/s | of 14400 (Radeon R7 M260) |
Video outputs and ports
Types and number of video connectors present on GeForce GTX 260. As a rule, this section is relevant only for desktop reference graphics cards, since for notebook ones the availability of certain video outputs depends on the laptop model, while non-reference desktop models can (though not necessarily will) bear a different set of video ports.
| Display Connectors | Dual Link DVIHDTV | |
| Multi monitor support | + | |
| HDMI | + | |
| Maximum VGA resolution | 2048×1536 | |
| Audio input for HDMI | S/PDIF |
API support
APIs supported by GeForce GTX 260, sometimes including their particular versions.
| DirectX | 11.1 (10_0) | |
| Shader Model | 4.0 | |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | of 4.6 (GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile) |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | |
| Vulkan | N/A | |
| CUDA | + |
Benchmark performance
Non-gaming benchmark performance of GeForce GTX 260. Note that overall benchmark performance is measured in points in 0-100 range.
Overall score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
GTX 260
3.12
- Passmark
Passmark
This is probably the most ubiquitous benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
GTX 260
1220
Mining hashrates
Cryptocurrency mining performance of GeForce GTX 260. Usually measured in megahashes per second.
| Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) | 30 Mh/s |
Is GeForce GTX 260 good for gaming?
Let’s see how good GeForce GTX 260 is for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in frames per second. Comparisons with game system requirements are included, but remember that sometimes official requirements may reflect reality inaccurately.
Relative perfomance
Overall GeForce GTX 260 performance compared to nearest competitors among desktop video cards.
AMD FireStream 9270
109.62
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
107.05
AMD Radeon HD 6770
101.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
100
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
99. 68
AMD Radeon R9 M270X
98.4
Intel HD Graphics 630
98.08
GeForce GTX 260 AMD equivalent
The nearest GeForce GTX 260’s AMD equivalent is Radeon HD 6770, which is faster by 2% and higher by 3 positions in our performance rating.
Radeon HD
6770
Compare
Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce GTX 260:
AMD FireStream 9270
109.62
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
107.05
AMD Radeon HD 6770
101.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
100
AMD Radeon R9 M270X
98. 4
AMD Radeon HD 7730
97.44
AMD FireStream 9250
95.19
Similar GPUs
Here is our recommendation of several graphics cards that are more or less close in performance to the one reviewed.
GeForce GTX
280
Compare
Radeon HD
6770
Compare
GeForce GTX
295
Compare
FireStream
9250
Compare
Radeon HD
5750
Compare
Radeon HD
4870 X2
Compare
Recommended processors
These processors are most commonly used with GeForce GTX 260 according to our statistics.
Core 2
Duo E8400
3.9%
Core 2
Quad Q6600
2.2%
Core i3
1115G4
2.2%
Athlon II
X4 640
2.1%
Core i5
750
1.7%
Core i3
2100
1.6%
Core 2
Quad Q8200
1.6%
Core 2
Quad Q9550
1. 4%
Core i3
1005G1
1.3%
Core i3
2120
1.3%
User rating
Here you can see the user rating of the graphics card, as well as rate it yourself.
Questions and comments
Here you can ask a question about GeForce GTX 260, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
GeForce GTX 260 video card [in 1 benchmark]
NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 260
- PCIe 2.0 x16 interface
- Core clock 576MHz
- Video memory size 896MB
- Memory type GDDR3
- Memory frequency 999MHz
- Maximum resolution
Description
NVIDIA started GeForce GTX 260 sales on June 16, 2008 at a suggested price of 449$. This is a desktop video card based on Tesla 2.0 architecture and 65 nm manufacturing process, primarily designed for office use. It has 896 MB of GDDR3 memory at 1 GHz, and coupled with a 448-bit interface, this creates a bandwidth of 111.9 Gb / s.
In terms of compatibility, this is a two-slot PCIe 2.0 x16 card. The length of the reference version is 26.7 cm. An additional 2x 6-pin power cable is required for connection, and the power consumption is 182 watts. nine0005
It provides poor performance in tests and games at the level of
3.12%
from the leader, which is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
GeForce RTX
4090
Compare
General information
Information about the type (desktop or laptop) and architecture of the GeForce GTX 260, as well as when sales started and cost at that time. nine0005
- 0
- 50
- 100
Features
GeForce GTX 260’s general performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core clock, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. They indirectly speak about GeForce GTX 260’s performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider its benchmark and gaming test results.
969.9 (H200 SXM5 96 GB)
9022
Information on GeForce GTX 260 compatibility with other computer components. Useful for example when choosing the configuration of a future computer or to upgrade an existing one. For desktop video cards, these are the interface and connection bus (compatibility with the motherboard), the physical dimensions of the video card (compatibility with the motherboard and case), additional power connectors (compatibility with the power supply). nine0053
RAM
Parameters of memory installed on GeForce GTX 260 — type, size, bus, frequency and bandwidth. For video cards built into the processor that do not have their own memory, a shared part of the RAM is used.
| Memory type | GDDR3 | |
| Maximum memory |
Video outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on GeForce GTX 260. As a rule, this section is relevant only for desktop reference video cards, since for laptop ones the availability of certain video outputs depends on the laptop model.
| Video connectors | Dual Link DVIHDTV | ||
| Multi-monitor support 9 9004 5 | + | 0041 |
Benchmark tests
These are the results of GeForce GTX 260 rendering performance tests in non-gaming benchmarks. The overall score is set from 0 to 100, where 100 corresponds to the fastest video card at the moment.
Overall benchmark performance
This is our overall performance rating. We regularly improve our algorithms, but if you find any inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in the comments section, we usually fix problems quickly. nine0005
GTX 260
3.12
- Passmark
Passmark
This is a very common benchmark included in the Passmark PerformanceTest package. He gives the card a thorough evaluation, running four separate tests for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11, and 12 (the latter being done at 4K resolution whenever possible), and a few more tests using DirectCompute.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
GTX 260
1220
Mining hashrates
GeForce GTX 260 performance in cryptocurrency mining. Usually the result is measured in mhash / s — the number of millions of solutions generated by the video card in one second.
| Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) | 30 Mh/s |
Is the GeForce GTX 260 good for gaming? nine0021
FPS in popular games on the GeForce GTX 260, as well as compliance with system requirements. Remember that the official requirements of the developers do not always match the data of real tests.
Relative capacity
Overall GeForce GTX 260 performance compared to its nearest desktop competitor.
AMD FireStream 9270
109.62
nine0003 ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
107.05
AMD Radeon HD 6770
101.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
100
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
99.68
AMD Radeon R9 M270X
98.4
Intel HD Graphics 630
98.08
Competitor from AMD
We believe that the nearest equivalent to GeForce GTX 260 from AMD is Radeon HD 6770, which is faster by 2% and lower by 3 positions in our rating on average.
Radeon HD
6770
Compare
Here are some of AMD’s nearest GeForce GTX 260 competitors:
AMD FireStream 9270
nine0040 109.62
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
107.05
AMD Radeon HD 6770
101.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
100
AMD Radeon R9 M270X
98.4
AMD Radeon HD 7730
97.44
nine0005
AMD FireStream 9250
95.19
Other video cards
Here we recommend several video cards that are more or less similar in performance to the reviewed one.
GeForce GTX
280
Compare
Radeon HD
6770
Compare
GeForce GTX
295
Compare
firestream
9250
Compare
Radeon HD
5750
Compare
Radeon HD
4870X2
Compare
Recommended processors
According to our statistics, these processors are most often used with the GeForce GTX 260.
Core 2
Duo E8400
3.9%
Core 2
Quad Q6600
2.2%
Core i3
1115G4
2.2%
nine0038
Athlon II
X4 640
2.1%
Core i5
750
1.7%
Core i3
2100
1.6%
Core 2
Quad Q8200
1.6%
Core 2
nine0040 Quad Q9550
1.4%
Core i3
1005G1
1.3%
Core i3
2120
1.