Which is the better card

[saltynay]

896-P3-1255-ER - 896MB EVGA GTX 260, 1998MHz GDDR3, 55nm GPU 576MHz, 216 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV + FREE voucher - Scan.co.uk
vs
GX-260N-ADBF - 896MB XFX GTX 260 Black, 2300MHz GDDR3, GPU 666MHz, 216 Cores, 2xDL DVI-I + Far Cry 2 + FREE voucher - Scan.co.uk

I wanto know which one is the best card between the two with £5 between its not much of a price difference (2 pints as my monetary system works). They are both 55nm so the new architecture.

I would like to know if you or your friends have either of these cards and if they have overclocked them and give me temps and clock speeds or say stock and temp. I will be watercooling at first but with a next upgrade may regress it back to air so all results are valid. I am an experienced Techie so I know how to pick graphics cards and would normally just go on price, but as the clock speed of the XFX black edition is so different from the EVGA and prices so close I am unsure.

I want to know whether the XFX is pushing the limits of its chips or if they are actually cooler temp and better overclocking batch. I also want to know whether the coolers are any different.

I will be looking up tons of reviews but want some real world feedback please.

 

[aspire]

It is very possible they used higher spec'd memory on their cards allowing for the higher mem clock, and some companies are able to handpick gpu cores which is where "Superclocked" cards come form.

 

[saltynay]

Precisely why I want user feedback to get a holistic view of the nature of the cards. Nvidia I am sure can tell which gpu's are good clockers and which are less so and charge a premium for the better chips and I want to know whether the XFX black is one of these "enhanced" gpu's or has a better stock cooler or memory to give it higher speeds.

 

[aspire]

Precisely why I want user feedback to get a holistic view of the nature of the cards. Nvidia I am sure can tell which gpu's are good clockers and which are less so and charge a premium for the better chips and I want to know whether the XFX black is one of these "enhanced" gpu's or has a better stock cooler or memory to give it higher speeds.

Well the only way to tell if it has better memory is to tear open a card and see who makes the chips.

It looks like the pictured XFX card is the reference heatsink while the EVGA one looks custom.

Chances are, nobody on here will have the exact card your looking for and it kinda comes down to the luck of the draw. My XFX 8800GT came with the known to be terrible Qimodia memory which really doesn't like to overclock...

 

[saltynay]

Its worth a chance though and I reading up on reviews atm it would seem the xfx gtx260 216 was one of the best 260 core 216's. I say was as some of these reviews are dated back to october time so its not the 55nm they are talking about. I think the coolers look fairly similar below is a not perfect but another view of the blacks cooler. The only difference I see is a slight lifted area on the EVGA cooler which makes it appear like its slightly larger but this could just be the angle. Both of these cards are the lowest priced versions I could find so I am not expecting the coolers to be too different but would like to be proved wrong

Wow just found some benches where the black outperforms a 280 (ofcourse I will take it with a grain of salt until I see more to backup the results)
Dark performance: XFX GTX 260 (216) Black Edition Review - Page 5 - Synthetic benchmarks

Lol what are the chances whirlwind just posted a pic with him and a XFX black edition gtx260 just pm'd him

 

[Whirlwind]

I own the XFX Black Edition GTX 260........never had a problem so far....and it has a nice overclock on it.....I have never had a problem and have had a few 8 hour gaming sessions when the card never got a nap

 

[saltynay]

Gone with the black and I am so excited to get it!!!

 

[philbar71]

i would prefer the XFX, mainly because of the double life time warranty better resale value.

 

[aspire]

i would prefer the XFX, mainly because of the double life time warranty better resale value.

Meh, In my experience people don't really pay extra for an XFX card versus other similar cards.