smackababy
Lifer
I am thinking of upgrading to help future proof my system even more. Worth the $100 or so for the step-up? There is nothing wrong with my 260, just pondering more power.
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GTX260 55nm -> GTX285
- Thread starter smackababy
- Start date
ashishmishra
Senior member
I went the same route, i am not disappointed.
masteryoda34
Golden Member
GTX 260 C216 55nm = ~$220
$100 would be a 45% increase in price.
Is the GTX 280 45% faster? No.
Therefore, I would not make the upgrade on the basis of value.
$100 is pretty reasonable for that particular step-up, you must've paid near retail for the 260. I'd say it depends on how often you upgrade, what resolution you play at and what games you play. I decided not to make the move even though it would've only cost me ~$50 because if I upgraded, it'd literally be just for Crysis. That being said, you should see a nice gain in performance with a 285 and that rig in your sig. 🙂
AzN
Banned
Why do people insist future proofing their computers?
By the time you future proof it there's going to be a video card 50% faster or even 2x as fast the card that you paid $400 4 months ago. Either you buy high end GPU because this is what you want at the resolution you want to play or don't buy a video card to future proof it. It's a bad idea especially with computer video cards that drop in price every month.
We already know 40nm faster GPU is coming this year. Why not just keep what you have and upgrade to new GPU when they come out?
By the time you future proof it there's going to be a video card 50% faster or even 2x as fast the card that you paid $400 4 months ago. Either you buy high end GPU because this is what you want at the resolution you want to play or don't buy a video card to future proof it. It's a bad idea especially with computer video cards that drop in price every month.
We already know 40nm faster GPU is coming this year. Why not just keep what you have and upgrade to new GPU when they come out?
nitromullet
Diamond Member
Of course, you can't really equate price/performance with high end cards because there is always a diminishing return. No one buys a GTX 285 because they think it's the sweet spot. They buy a GTX 285 because it's the fastest single GPU available. It's the most performance you can get without SLI or CF, which has it's own value.
That being said, I don't think there is really anything out that a GTX 285 can run that a GTX 260 can't. I am also not aware of any upcoming games in the near future that might actually push cards harder then Crysis. I personally downgraded from GTX 280 SLI to just a single GTX 280 because the SLI setup just didn't really provide a noticeable enough boost in most games at 1920x1200. IMO, $100 is not a bad deal for the upgrade, but you should be aware that you'd really only be doing it because you want to. It won't drastically change your gaming experience or make your rig any more 'future proof'.
That being said, I don't think there is really anything out that a GTX 285 can run that a GTX 260 can't. I am also not aware of any upcoming games in the near future that might actually push cards harder then Crysis. I personally downgraded from GTX 280 SLI to just a single GTX 280 because the SLI setup just didn't really provide a noticeable enough boost in most games at 1920x1200. IMO, $100 is not a bad deal for the upgrade, but you should be aware that you'd really only be doing it because you want to. It won't drastically change your gaming experience or make your rig any more 'future proof'.
smackababy
Lifer
I suppose I did not mean future proofing. The next time I will most likely upgrade is in a few years (hoping for at least 3, CPU permitting). I was really wondering if the $100 spent now for the upgrade would improve life of my card.
alcoholbob
Diamond Member
If you don't run on any AA I think you're fine. If you play major titles they are all multiplatform anyway. It *will* be playable. Even an 8800GT can handle the likes of Far Cry 2 and Fear 2 on pretty high end settings.
If anything, spend a few $ (or if you have an older card thats in the 7800GT class or better), use that for PhysX. The difference between 285 and 260 isn't big enough that a game is completely unplayable with one vs playable with the the other. Like, if you are running at 10fps now, you'd see what, 15fps on the 285?
Thanks to consoles, games are going towards more multi-threaded performance and brute forcing is less necessary these days. There's the occasional Crysis or Stalker Extreme, but those aren't particularly good games anyway. There's going to be obscure games that might not run well on your hardware. But for 99% of everything else, you're good on high detail settings for years (or whenever the next console generation comes around...2012 chances are).
If anything, spend a few $ (or if you have an older card thats in the 7800GT class or better), use that for PhysX. The difference between 285 and 260 isn't big enough that a game is completely unplayable with one vs playable with the the other. Like, if you are running at 10fps now, you'd see what, 15fps on the 285?
Thanks to consoles, games are going towards more multi-threaded performance and brute forcing is less necessary these days. There's the occasional Crysis or Stalker Extreme, but those aren't particularly good games anyway. There's going to be obscure games that might not run well on your hardware. But for 99% of everything else, you're good on high detail settings for years (or whenever the next console generation comes around...2012 chances are).
nitromullet
Diamond Member
ummm... that would be trying to 'future proof'... 🙂
No need to apologize for the use of the term, future proofing usually does not make sense, as there will often be a faster/cheaper alternative to negate any benefit from the initial future-proofing outlay. However, there's certainly a few recent examples that do make sense with regard to future-proofing:
- 1) Dual Core vs. Quad Core CPU. In the past, the difference in price meant it simply didn't make sense to get the Quad over the Dual. Now that's no longer the case as the premium is often only $20-30 (Q9400 or Q8200 compared to E8400 or E7200 for example).
2) 1GB vs. 512MB GPUs, like 4870 or going further back, the 320MB vs 640MB G80 GTS. Again, the incremental price difference was often low enough to justify the expense even though the additional RAM didn't yield any benefit in most games.
In both of those cases, the benefit wouldn't be evident in most daily usage or common tasks, however, the instances where they would benefit resulted in such crippling performance they would compel someone upgrade prematurely or to consider upgrading. If that happens before you planned to upgrade and future-proofing might've prevented or stave off any adverse effects, it would be justified imo.
In this case though, 285 isn't really "future-proofing" as you'll see immediate performance gains right away and reap those benefits over a 260 for as long as you own the card. In the past I used to subscribe to the buying strategy of buying the 2nd fastest, or the part that provided 80% of the perfomance at 50% of the price. But ultimately I found I just upgraded more often and spent the same as I would've anyways if I just bought the highest performance part.
The main difference of course was that you benefit from the additional performance the entire time instead of constantly chasing that level of performance in the next 2nd-best, but cheaper part. To illustrate, instead of having GTX 260 level performance and upgrading in 1 1/2 years to GTX 285 level performance for another 1 1/2 years, you can have 285 level performance for 2-3 years instead by spending more now.
smackababy
Lifer
I think I am going to ponder this one. I still have awhile for my step up and I'm currently "upgrading" to water cooling. I wouldn't mind an over all performance boost on things. I think Crysis is the only real thing that I don't have amazing fps in, and tbh, that game wasn't very good. I think I will wait it out until right before my step-up is running out and maybe get a better deal on the gtx285 if prices drop any.
Grooveriding
Diamond Member
If you overclock your 260 as much as it can take, the different will really not be noticeable between the two cards, I think the only game you'd notice a difference in is Crysis. Unless you game at 2560x1600.
I have a 260 216 and a 280. I can't tell the difference using either rig. This is at 1920x1200.
Cheers
I have a 260 216 and a 280. I can't tell the difference using either rig. This is at 1920x1200.
Cheers
EVGA and BFG rarely drop the MSRP/Step-Up basis pricing and they certainly don't change based on market pricing. Its only happened once iirc with the launch price drops on the GTX 200 series. You can still leverage price differences but you'll have to do it yourself via Ebay, FS/FT etc. But ya if you don't really have performance issues at your resolutons/settings in the games you play, then there's really no point.
While its true the GTX 260 can come close to the 280 once you overclock it, the 280 pulls away again if you overclock it as well. Not to mention the 285 overclocks better than the 65nm and 55nm B2 260s, it also benefits more from each incremental clock increase.
Grooveriding
Diamond Member
I'm sure that's true. I have both cards overclocked though, and I really cannot discern any difference in any game, but Crysis. Which feels a bit more smooth on the 280. There really is not much difference between the two cards, at least in my experience.
Perhaps, but it wouldn't be accurate to say the GTX 260 is just as fast because you can't discern a difference when both are overclocked, unless perhaps you play with Vsync on and the overclock was enough to push you over 60 FPS always.
That's incorrect, at least for EVGA. They subtract rebate amount from the purchase price, they always have and check it to your serial # when you apply for step-up.
A: The Step-Up? Program is free; you are required to pay the difference between your original invoice price, less any applicable rebates, and the price of the new card, plus any applicable tax and shipping. The program itself has no cost associated with it.
masteryoda34
Golden Member
That's if they catch it. When I sent in my step up they didn't subtract the rebate.
Grooveriding
Diamond Member
The topic of the thread was if this was a worthwhile upgrade, my point is just, as an owner of both a GTX 260 and a 280, I cannot tell the difference. So it's not worth it.
If you want a worthwhile upgrade, get the 295 on stepup, buy a second 260 if you have an SLI MB, or sell your 260 and buy a 4870X2.
Those are the only options that are going to show you a real upgrade in performance, the 260 vs the 280 is hardly anything.
If you want a worthwhile upgrade, get the 295 on stepup, buy a second 260 if you have an SLI MB, or sell your 260 and buy a 4870X2.
Those are the only options that are going to show you a real upgrade in performance, the 260 vs the 280 is hardly anything.
Grooveriding
Diamond Member
I use my video cards to play games, not run benchmarks. There is no noticeable difference in attainable playability at max settings between my 260 and 280 except in Crysis. On my friend's 295, he can crank up the AA in Crysis and it's still smooth, my 280 cannot. My old 4870X2 was also noticeably faster than my 280.
I see you're a 280 owner. Don't take it so hard, it's pretty well known there is not much difference between the 260 and 280. Eeesh, relax.
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