Anotch lower is the GTX 260, which is a 192 SP part. It has 896 MB of GDDR3 RAM running at 2 GHz, and is fed by a 448-bit memory bus. Its core runs at a slightly lower 576 MHz (nearly identical as the old 8800GTX which ran at 575 MHz). With such on-paper specifications the GTX 260 is expected to be fast. A new addition to the GTX 260 family is the GTX 260 216 core edition. As the name suggests this part has 216 SPs instead of 192 SPs. Initially, we thought these were new 55nm parts, but they are based on the tried and tested 65nm fabrication process. Here's how NVIDIA gets 216 cores a GTX 280 has its 240 SPs grouped into ten distinct clusters of 24 SPs each. This cluster is called a TPC or Texture / Processor Cluster. Disable two clusters and you get 192 SPs a GTX 260. Disable one, and voila, you get 216 SPs. The best silicon yields birth GTX 280s, while the lower binned silicon produces GTX 260s. Incidentally the GTX 260 and the GTX 260 216 core are clocked identically.

Features
We managed to get a ZOTAC GTX 2602 in our hands, which is basically based on the new 216 SP design. The other two GTX 260s were 192 SP based models, one each from XFX and ZOTAC. The ZOTAC card was their AMP! Edition, which signifies aggressive overclocks. This card was clocked at 650 MHz a significant hike over 576 MHz. The XFX card ran at stock speeds. All cards were on reference NVIDIA coolers. XFXs GX-260N-ADF9 ships with Assassins Creed which is a popular game, while ZOTACs GTX 260 ships with GRID. The ZOTAC GTX 2602 doesn't ship with any game as of now, but we're told this card is spanking new and the in all probability a game will be bundled with retail versions of this card.

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Performance
In our opinion the GTX 2602 closes the gap between the GTX 260 and the GTX 280, and this card responds to overclocking quite well. It can come quite close to a stock clocked GTX 280 in some of the tests with the core at around 650 MHz. We expected the extra 24 SPs on the ZOTAC GTX 2602 to push it close to their GTX 260AMP! Edition. This doesn't happen at stock speeds. It seems the GTX 260 architecture benefits a lot from core speed increments, and the ZOTAC GTX 260 AMP! Edition was ahead by some margin. XFX's offering, the GX-260N-ADF9 trailed by a good bit, mainly because it was set at stock speeds. Frames in Crysis dip dangerously southwards of the magic 30 fps mark, even at 1280 x 1024 this game is a real GPU hog beware.

In UT3 we see the ZOTAC GTX 2602 score equally at both resolutions, meaning that the 216 SPs are actually working wonders for NVIDIA, as the 192 SP versions of the GTX 260 both have a drop in fps at higher resolutions. Company of Heroes and S.TA.L.K.E.R. are very playable these cards will play most games at the highest available settings. Amongst the GTX 260s both the ZOTAC cards impress the most.
At identical prices ofRs 22,999 the ZOTAC GTX 260 AMP! Edition and the ZOTAC GTX 2602 make very good buys for someone looking for a fast gaming solution that is likely to be future proof for around another year.