Gigabyte Super Overclocked GTX260
You will notice I am running one of the newest GTX 260 cards from Gigabytes lineup.
The card I am using is model no. GV-N26SO-896I
Much like its motherboards It offers the 2oz copper PCB amongst other key features that make it what it is.
Some of the main key features are:
- 2oz Copper PCB
- Top tier Samsung and Hynix memory
- Fully solid state capacitors
- Hand picked, Binned top of the line GPU's
What all of this means to you is you have the best components built by some of the best technicians to ensure you not only get a card that meets the top specs but also will last you a long time and at a clock speed far over other offerings on the market.
These cards are actually the top picked cards that hold the highest clocks of each batch, they must pass what they call the “GPU Gauntlet” in order to ensure it would be a top performer when it reaches you.
Overclocking:
I was able to on the stock cooler get the card to a astounding 724 mhz core clock and it did complete a run of 3dmark 06 but it was quite unstable, the fact that such a high clocked card to start with clocked even that much further speaks volumes to Gigabyte's stringent, and very effective method of binning their cards appropriately. I would say such speeds such as those that were obtained should be reserved for benchmarking purposes only, and keep it more conservative when gaming.
Temps:
Even when pushed very hard I found that the GPU and pcb temps were a very respectable temperature and a bit below what I have seen on other cards. I decided to take a look under the cooler and found that even with an application of a aftermarket thermal material it did little to help the temps as apparently thermal control was a top priority when building this card, as I saw a difference of approximately less than 1C
Aesthetic appeal:
The cards look very nice, as they have a all black theme with just the words “SUPER OVER CLOCKED” across the front in a almost flaming text. I believe it will make a very good looking card in any system be it a case modders or an extreme gamer.
Outputs:
This card is very unique as it offers a DVI, VGA, and a native HDMI hookup, But do not dispair as they have you covered if you use dual DVI displays. It comes with a HDMI to DVI converter.
If you do happen to use hdmi, they also do include the SPDif cable to help pass sound through the card and to your HDMI displays speakers.
You will notice that they only include one molex to PCI-e adapter, I believe that is stricktly for the fact that most power supplies strong enough to push this card has at least one 6 pin pci-e plug, and if your running one that does not have one at least, it probably does not have enough amps to power the card to begin with.
