Palit GeForce GTX 260 SP216 Sonic review | test

Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 02/22/2009 02:00 PM [ 0 comment(s) ]

Palit GeForce GTX 260 SP219 Sonic

Palit GeForce GTX 260 SP219 Sonic

So once little Sonic boom arrived in our lab, we were immediately intrigued. It might be big, and somewhat weird to look at as it has a red PCB. Your first instinct will be, hey .. they shipped out the wrong card, this one has to be from ATI !

It's all good though. The PCB seems to be based on NVIDIA's new P654 10 layer design, and Palit went for the color red. The biggest eye catcher obviously is the cooler. Palit has decided to use a brawny cooler with two large fans to keep the card chilled down, even when overclocked, which this card is at default. The Sonic suffix means that the card comes overclocked from factory. Palit's uses a dual fan cooling system with two PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) fans and three heat-pipes to provide decent performance.

$ffffffffff NVIDIA specific display adapter information

$0100000000 Graphics core : G100/GT200 revision B1 (216sp)

$0100000001 Hardwired ID : 05e2 (ROM strapped to 05e2)

$0100000002 Memory bus : 448-bit

$0100000003 Memory type : DDR3 (RAM configuration 00)

$0100000004 Memory amount : 917504KB

$0100000100 Core clock domain 0 : 626.400MHz

$0100000101 Core clock domain 1 : 1350.000MHz

$0100000006 Memory clock : 1107.000MHz (2214.000MHz effective)

$0100000007 Reference clock : 27.000MHz

Under the good we'll find a GT200b chip, the GeForce GTX260 SP216. What's good to know is that the product is clocked faster than reference as well. Palit set it's clock frequencies at 625 MHz on the core, 1350 MHz on the shader domain and 2200 MHz on the memory. The memory of course summing up towards 896MB/448bit. Memory itself is rated at 0,8ns. In theory we should be able to reach (1000:0,8)x2= 2500 MHz (!).

And yes, in fact we even had that memory running stable at 2600 MHz .. more on that in our overclocking session though.

Bundles with the product you'll find:

GeForce GTX 260 896MB Sonic edition
Driver CD
HDTV block (3-way RCA component)
6-pin to Molex power cable
manual / quick install guide
VGA->DVI dongle
HDMI adapter
SP/DIF cable
6-pin to 8-pin converter

So while the bundle might be a little sober, in return you get to play around with that customized product, cooler and higher clock frequencies. Fair enough, we like it ...

Palit's Sonic series of products come with a two-year warranty that includes cover for parts and labor. In the first year of the warranty period, you'll need to talk direct to the retailer if you're having problems. In the second year you can contact Palit's support team directly.

Palit GeForce GTX 260 SP216 Sonic edition

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