GPU Temperature

By default, the GeForce GTX 260's fan runs at 40% of its maximum speed. With such a hot card, we did not dare to try to 0% fan speed we tried on the GeForce 9800 GTX+. So we set it to Auto as well as 100% at both the factory-overclocked speed and when further overclocked to 694 MHz core and 1285 MHz memory. Here are the results :

Even at the standard clock speeds, the GeForce GTX 260 recorded a maximum tempereature of 67 °C at full load with the fan set to Auto. When we forced the fan to run at 100%, its core temperature dropped to just 53 °C.

When we overclocked it by a further 44 MHz (just over 6.7%), the GeForce GTX 260's fan automatically sped up. That resulted in an instant drop in core temperature to 55 °C. Manually boosting the fan speed to 100% only dropped the maximum load temperature by 1 °C.

BioShock Resolution Comparison

In BioShock, overclocking the GPU had the most effect on improving performance. The 20.5 % boost in GPU clock speed translated into a 10-11 % boost in average frame rate. In contrast, overclocking the DDR3 memory by 28.6 % only delivered a small 1-3 % boost in the frame rate.

Overclocking both the GPU and the RAM pushed its average frame rate to deliver an average frame rate of 76 fps at 1920 x 1200, which is 14.6 % higher than its frame rate at default clock speeds. Only with this full overclock was the GeForce GTX 260 able to beat the ATI Radeon HD 4870. Even then, it was only a small lead.

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