Although it was introduced nearly a year ago, graphics cards based on NVIDIA's GT200 graphics architecture are still somewhat rare. There are mid-range parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250, though these are actually based off of older G80 and G92 chipsets. Given the ongoing price war of attrition with AMD, it's not surprising that NVIDIA has driven the prices on its existing line of GT200 based graphics boards to the point where graphics cards that were previously reserved for the very high-end, are now quite affordable mid-range options for the gamer to consider. Such is the case for the GeForce GTX 260, one of the first cards based on the GT200 chip, though opted for the improved Core 216 edition. - PCStats

Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Cool Card Review

This Core 216 part of the Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 card's name refers to the GPU having additional shader processors enabled. While the original GeForce GTX 260 had 192 shader processors, the Core 216 variant has an additional 24 enabled, for a grand total of 216 shaders. That means this PCI Express graphics board has a little more raw computing power than the original version did. This Sparkle board packs in 896MB of onboard GDDR3 memory and retails for about $185. Now the core is clocked at the default speed of 576MHz, the shaders hum away at 1242MHz, while the GDDR3 memory runs at an even 1998MHz speed.

Another change from the original GeForce GTX 260 is that the GT200b revision GPU has been die shrunked from the 65nm to 55nm process. While this should lower NVIDIA's production costs and make the Core 216 more affordable for you, and cooler running,though NVIDIA is still playing catch-up with the RV770 from AMD which is smaller still, cooler and generally more energy efficient. Like most gaming cards, the Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 occupies two expansion slots. The cards can be configured with identical graphics adaptors to run in dual or triple SLI on supporting motherboards, adding an extra dimension to the performance.

When it comes down to it, the GT200 chip at the heart of the Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 card proves itself a worthy competitor to ATI's RV770 series of GPU's that power the Radeon HD 4800 graphics series. Unlike multi GPU cards like the Radeon HD 4870 X2, or such SLI solutions like the GeForce GTS 250, performance from the single GPU GeForce GTX 260 was consistent in pretty much all the benchmarks we threw at it. The GT200 is also a decent overclocker, which is likely a result of its 55nm die shrink. And a few minutes spent in nTune brought about a respectable overclock to 682MHz core and 2442MHz memory.

Most importantly, the new 216 shader endowed Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 cards have enough power to play recent games like Far Cry 2 at high resolutions, with pretty much every eyecandy option dialed up. In the end, what more could you really ask for? And with the requirements of games slacking off a little from the break-neck pace of just a few years ago, the Sparkle GeForce GTX260 Core 216 edition offer up decent staying power. Now that their price has come down to $185, this version ought to be on your short list if a graphics card upgrade is in the cards for you, particularly if you have an SLI friendly mainboard already.