by Rob Williams on October 6, 2009 in Graphics & Displays
NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 260 is not a new card. In fact, it’s been available for over a year in its 216 Core form. So is it even worth a look at today? Where Gigabyte’s “Super Overclock” version is concerned, yes. Although it costs less than a stock GTX 275, this new card beat it out in almost every single game and setting we put it through.
I admit that I’m not a huge fan of RTS titles, but World in Conflict intrigued me from the get go. After all, so many war-based games continue to follow the same story-lines we already know, and WiC was different. It counteracts the fall of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union in the late 80’s, and instead provides a storyline that follows it as if the USSR had succeeded by proceeding with war in order to remain in power.
Many RTS games, with their advanced AI, tend to favor the CPU in order to deliver smooth gameplay, but WiC favors both the CPU and GPU, and the graphics prove it. Throughout the game’s missions, you’ll see gorgeous vistas and explore areas from deserts and snow-packed lands, to fields and cities. Overall, it’s a real visual treat for the eyes – especially since you’re able to zoom to the ground and see the action up-close.
Manual Run-through: The level we use for testing is the 7th campaign of the game, called Insurgents. Our saved game plants us towards the beginning of the mission with two squads of five, and two snipers. The run consists of bringing our men to action, and hovering the camera around throughout the duration. The entire run lasts between three and four minutes.
What a way to wrap up our real-world game results… the exact same way most of our results have been up to this point!
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NVIDIA GTX 295 1792MB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 8xAA, 16xAF
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40
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55.819
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NVIDIA GTX 285 1GB (EVGA)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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34
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49.514
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NVIDIA GTX 260 896MB (GBT SOC)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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37
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48.101
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NVIDIA GTX 275 896MB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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36
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46.186
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ATI HD 4890 1GB (Sapphire)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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31
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46.175
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NVIDIA GTX 260 896MB (XFX)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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23
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39.365
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ATI HD 4870 1GB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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22
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30.027
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NVIDIA GTX 250 1GB (EVGA)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 4xAF
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24
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32.453
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ATI HD 4770 512MB (Gigabyte)
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1920×1080 – Max Detail, 4xAA, 16xAF
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22
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31.561
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Although the game is playable with 4xAA at 2560×1600, the gameplay is made much more smooth, and enjoyable, with anti-aliasing removed entirely. This is also one game where AA isn’t too noticeable in the heat of battle, so it’s hardly even missed.