The EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked has the best power efficiency in its category. It has a good balance between performance and power efficiency.
Specifications:
Price $259
Manufacturing process 55nm
Core clock 576MHz
Stream processors 216
Stream processor clock 1242 MHz
Memory 898MB
Memory speed 1GHz DDR3
Review:
The EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked connects directly to the PC’s power supply and is a double-width card. Two six-pin power connector of PCI Express type are available for this. Unlike other competing midrange cards, regardless of the number of GPUs onboard, the GTX 260 Core 216 with a single 3D chip, doesn’t quite match up with the other cards of similar price range.
In spite of not being the fastest n the price range, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked is extremely power efficient. At full load or when idle, it consumed significantly less power than other comparable cards.
This card supports two DVI monitors, but needs to be matched with a minimum of either a 550- or a 600-watt power supply. This is mostly not available in a general purpose PC, but only in rather expensive ones. The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 can also be used effectively for home theatre requirements. It will happily play Blu-ray Discs of encrypted HD video, and even has a DVI-to-HDMI adapter. This card supports Nvidia’s technology of SLI multicard, as well as CUDA-enabled software and hardware-accelerated PhysX.
Conclusion:
At $259, Gamers shopping for a midrange 3D card will not find the power efficiency very useful vis-a-vis the speed factor, but for those who are power conscious, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked is the one card. Otherwise, noticeably better capability and performance can be obtained from a slightly higher priced ATI card.