Introduction and Package
It has been a bit of a quiet start to the year when it comes to video cards. Both AMD and NVIDIA have chosen not to do much with new models. Today, though, we see NVIDIA expand the GTX 700 series with the release of a new mid-range model: the GTX 750 Ti 2GB.
While AMD chose to launch the whole R series of cards in a short period of time, NVIDIA has taken a different approach. To be completely honest, I'm not sure what's better. In the end, though, if NVIDIA was happy with what the previous generation model was doing at the particular price segment, then there's probably no need to add more models into the mix.
Set to launch with a starting price of $149, the new GTX 750 Ti 2GB is designed to go squarely against the R7 270X 2GB from AMD, which hits at a similar price point. With NVIDIA being quiet in this price bracket for months now, we're really looking forward to see what they bring to the table, especially since we feel that AMD has done such a great job when it comes to pricing the new R series of video cards.
Due to the fact the card is a reference one, we'll simply be moving on from here to the card itself. Once we've done that, it's on to the specifications before we get into the fun stuff: the performance.
The Card and Specifications
The Card
Looking at the card, you can see there's really not much to it. We've got a small footprint, no power connector or SLI connector, and a small fan. We expect partners to make the offerings look a little fancier, as the reference one doesn't really wet our appetite. The size of the cooler is slightly worrying, and the smaller fans tend to be a bit louder then we like. We'll find out more, though, when we get to the noise levels of the card.
Looking above, you can see we're dealing with just a single slot card and cooler. There is clearly a focus on size when it comes to the card due to the small footprint and the thin design. As for the expansion side of things, you can see we're dealing with a pair of Dual Link DVI connectors, with one being DVI-D and the other being DVI-I.
Along with this, you can see we've got a Mini HDMI connector on the far left of the card. While not pictured here, an option for DisplayPort is also offered. We're sure it's something we'll see some companies offer.
Specifications
Taking a look below, you can see just what we're dealing with today when it comes to key specifications. On the CUDA Core front, you can see we're dealing with 640 on the new 28nm Maxwell core. This is the first Maxwell core from NVIDIA and is said to bring with it improved power efficiency.
We'll get to take a closer look at this later when we check out the power draw on the model. As for the clock speed, the GM107 silicon comes with a base clock of 1,020MHz and is boosted to 1,085MHz via NVIDIA's "Boost Clock" feature.
As for the memory side of things, the particular one we're looking at today comes with 2GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit memory bus at 5,400MHz QDR. Along with this model, companies will also have the ability to launch a 1GB version of the card, which will come in slightly cheaper at $139.
This particular model is still a few weeks away, though, from being launched. Hopefully we'll get the chance to take a look at one later down the track.
Benchmarks - Test System Setup
We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASUS and Corsair.
When it comes to the cards in our graphs here today, the main focus is going to be on the AMD R7 260X 2GB, which comes in at around the same price, give or take $10 depending on the brand and variation.
While this particular model will be the main focus against the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB, we've also got the HIS R9 280 IceQ X2 2GB and AMD R9 270X 2GB in our graphs here today.
The FPS Numbers Explained
When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS that we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Seconds (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother. There are three numbers we're looking out for when it comes to our benchmarks.
30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy firefight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no drama.
60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better and, as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.
120 FPS - The new number that we've been hunting down over recent months. If you're the owner of a 120 Hz monitor, to get the most out of it, you want to get around the 120 FPS mark. Moving from 60 FPS / 60 Hz to 120 FPS / 120 Hz brings with it a certain fluidity that can't really be explained, but instead has to be experienced. Of course, if you're buying a 120 Hz monitor to take advantage of 3D, an average of 120 FPS in our benchmark means that in 3D you will have an average of 60 FPS, which again means you should expect some smooth gameplay.
Why are some graphs incomplete?
Adding new game benchmarks is a long, tedious and time consuming task as every video card has to be re-tested in those new benchmarks. Because of that reason, we have always just evaluated our benchmark line up every six months. To stay up to date and current with the latest benchmarks and games available, we've changed our approach to adding new benchmarks.
Our benchmark line up will progress and be updated as newer, more intensive games with benchmarks come to light. While this will mean that initially you may only see a single video card in those particular graphs, as the weeks go on and we test more and more video cards, the results will grow quickly. This will help keep our benchmark line up as up to date as possible as we introduce and remove games on a constant basis.
Benchmarks - 3DMark 11
3DMark 11
Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/
3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world's most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC's gaming performance, 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11, including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.
Starting off with 3DMark 11, we've got a very interesting result with the Performance score sitting a fair bit behind the R7 260X 2GB. The Extreme one, on the other hand, is ahead of the R7 260X 2GB.
We reinstalled the drivers, checked our settings, and rebooted a couple of times and continued to get a similar score minus a bit of fluctuation. The good news is that the result isn't consistent when it comes to other benchmarks.
Benchmarks - 3DMark Fire Strike
3DMark Fire Strike
Version and / or Patch Used: 1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/3dmark
Fire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Fire Strike will only be available in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.
Moving away from 3DMark 11 and into 3DMark Fire Strike, you can see that under both the Standard and Extreme preset the performance of the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB is ahead of its main competitor, the AMD R7 260X 2GB. Let's see if this trend continues for NVIDIA as we test more and more games.
Benchmarks - Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Version and / or Patch Used: 3
Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com
Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/press-releases/091022-heaven_benchmark//
This new benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies.
Heaven performance is well in favor for NVIDIA, as they continue to be extremely strong with Tessellation based engines. You can see at both resolutions there's really quite a significant increase for NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB when compared to the AMD R7 260X 2GB.
Benchmarks - Phantasy Star Online 2
Phantasy Star Online 2
Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.sega.com/?t=EnglishUSA
Product Homepage: http://www.pso2.com/us/html/index.html
Play Phantasy Star Online 2 and experience revolutionary combat in an action-driven, free-to-play multiplayer online RPG from SEGA. Take a journey into an immersive sci-fi fantasy narrative and explore mysterious worlds to unravel their secrets. Join fellow adventurers and fight against the legions of darkness to banish them from the galaxy.
Score explanation: Less than 2000: Please adjust your game settings because the processing load is quite heavy.
2000 through 5000: The game runs fine at the setting, if you have room, you can adjust some settings.
5001+: The game works wonderfully at this setting.
Starting to move into our games, you can see that in our first game benchmark the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB manages to score a strong 800 points more than the AMD R7 260X 2GB. The 3,183 score puts us in the middle of the "game runs fine" category. It's important to remember, though, that we're benchmarking at 2560 x 1600 in this instance, giving us plenty of room to move when it comes to resolution.
Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2
Lost Planet 2
Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark - Test A Scene 1
Developer Homepage: http://www.capcom.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.lostplanet2game.com/
Lost Planet 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, which is also made by Capcom. It takes place ten years after the events of the first game on the same fictional planet. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The plot begins with mercenaries fighting against jungle pirates. After destroying a mine, the mercenaries continue on to evacuate the area, after which a Category-G Akrid appears and attacks them. After being rescued, they find out their evacuation point (Where the Category-G appeared) was a set-up and no pick up team awaited them. The last words imply possible DLC additions to the game: "There's nothing to be gained by wiping out snow pirates...unless you had some kind of grudge."
While the AMD R7 260X 2GB manages to fall short of the 60 FPS number we're on the hunt for at all resolutions, you can see that the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB manages to not only bring us playable FPS at 1680 x 1050, but also at 1920 x 1200, producing a very solid 64 FPS average.
Benchmarks - Just Cause 2
Just Cause 2
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Dark Tower
Developer Homepage: http://www.eidos.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.justcause.com/
Just Cause 2 employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in Just Cause. The game is set on the other side of the world from the original Just Cause, on the fictional island of Panau in Southeast Asia. Panau has varied terrain, ranging from desert to alpine to rainforest. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist, aiming to overthrow the evil dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront his former mentor, Tom Sheldon.
Just Cause 2 sees the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB perform very similarly to the AMD R7 260X 2GB. We're 5 FPS ahead at the lower resolution, but just a single FPS at 1920 x 1200. The same average is seen at 2560 x 1600.
As for being playable, you can see that 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 isn't a problem. Just like we saw under Lost Planet 2, though, moving to 2560 x 1600 brings with it an average FPS that is just too low.
Benchmarks - F1 2012
F1 2012
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/
Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com
In F1 2012, players will feel the unparalleled thrill of becoming a FORMULA ONE driver with a host of new features, wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements, and extensive competitive and co-operative multiplayer components. F1 2012 will feature all of the official teams, drivers, and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including the debut of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX at Austin, Texas, and the return of Germany's famous Hockenheim circuit to the calendar.
F1 2012 numbers look good, and you can see we're ahead of the AMD R7 260X 2GB at all resolutions. What's more important, though, is the 2560 x 1600 average of 66 FPS. Not only is it in the realm of playable numbers, but it's also ahead of the R7 260X 2GB, which isn't able to break into that 60 FPS realm.
Benchmarks - Metro Last Light
Metro Last Light
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.4a-games.com/
Product Homepage: http://enterthemetro.com/ /
Metro: Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones. The Rangers have since occupied the D6 military facility, with Artyom having become an official member of the group. Khan, the nomad mystic, arrives at D6 to inform Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. Khan believes the Dark One is the key to humanity's future and wants to make peace with it, while Ranger leader Colonel Miller wants to kill the creature due to its potential threat. Miller sends Artyom to the surface with a mission to kill the Dark One; he is accompanied by Anna, Miller's sarcastic daughter and the Rangers' best sniper.
Metro Last Light sees the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB ahead of the R7 260X 2GB at all resolutions. Unfortunately, you can see even at the lowest resolution the average of 36 FPS is just way too low to be considered playable. Of course, with that not being an option, moving up the resolution table sees numbers that are miles away from where we need to be.
Benchmarks - Dirt Showdown
Dirt Showdown
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/
Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/dirtshowdown/360/
DiRT Showdown is the new arcade racing game from the team that brought you the award-winning DiRT series. Pick-up-and-play controls combine with electrifying events, frenzied crowds, and stunning graphics to deliver high octane, dive-in-and-drive thrills from event one.
Dirt Showdown has always favored the AMD offerings, and you can see here, across the board, the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB sits behind the AMD R7 260X 2GB. More importantly, though, you can see that both cards fall short of that 60 FPS number we're always-on the hunt for.
Fortunately, the good news is that at 1680 x 1050 we're really not that far away from it with an average of 57 FPS. A small detail drop would get us to where we need to be.
Benchmarks - Nexuiz
Nexuiz
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.alientrap.org/
Product Homepage: http://www.nexuiz.com/
Nexuiz is an Arena First Person shooter coming soon to consoles. Nexuiz is fast paced with extremely competitive game play. IllFonic brings Alientrap Software's Nexuiz to next-gen gaming consoles around the world while staying true to the game play refined over the years through development. IllFonic introduces a new Victorian influenced art style that is simultaneously futuristic and sophisticated. Nexuiz for consoles is powered by CryENGINE 3.
The intensity of Nexuiz means that the numbers here are just like Metro Last Light. At the lowest resolution, we've got an average of just 31 FPS and just 11 FPS at the highest resolution. You're going to have to do some serious image adjustments if you want to get playable numbers under Nexuiz with any mid-range video card.
Benchmarks - Sniper Elite V2
Sniper Elite V2
Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.rebellion.co.uk/
Product Homepage: http://sniperelitev2.com/us/age.html
Sniper Elite V2 features detailed sniping simulation with advanced ballistics that take into account gravity, wind, velocity, bullet penetration, aim stability, and more. It is guaranteed to provide players with the most realistic simulation of military sharpshooting yet available.
Sniper Elite V2 sees the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB perform better than the AMD R7 260X 2GB at all resolutions. More importantly, though, the fact that we've got playable FPS at 1680 x 1050 while the AMD option doesn't is the main thing we need to take away from these results.
Benchmarks - Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://eu.square-enix.com/en
Product Homepage: http://www.sleepingdogs.net/
The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely. Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. On foot, the player character has the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles, and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts in combat. Players also drive a variety of vehicles, including cars, boats, and motorcycles.
Moving into Sleeping Dogs, you can see the trend for the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB continues when compared to the AMD R7 260X 2GB. As for playable numbers, you can see that we've got no issue at both 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050, with a very strong 78 FPS average being seen at 1920 x 1200.
Benchmarks - Hitman Absolution
Hitman Absolution
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.ioi.dk/
Product Homepage: http://hitman.com/
Hitman: Absolution is an action-adventure stealth game developed by I/O Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth entry in the Hitman game series and runs on I/O Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine. Before release, the developers stated that Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise. The game was released on 20 November 2012, which is in the 47th week of the year (in reference to the protagonist, Agent 47).
While Hitman Absolution manages to see strong minimums at 1680 x 1050 and 1920 x 1200, the average in the latter resolution is a little too low. While the 56 FPS average at 1680 x 1050 is also below that 60 FPS number we're always-on the hunt for, the fact that our minimum is 45 FPS means that overall the game play would be very smooth. Against the AMD R7 260X, you can see we manage to sneak just ahead of it at all resolutions.
Benchmarks - Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://www.nixxes.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.tombraider.com/us/base/agegate?refer=184&
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure platform video game. Published by Square Enix, Tomb Raider is the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasizes the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character Lara Croft. Tomb Raider was released on 5 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows to universal critical acclaim.
Tomb Raider sees the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB and AMD R7 260X 2GB perform very close to each other, with not much difference being seen. More importantly, though, you can see that the performance of both cards is just too low at all resolutions, with an average of just 36 FPS being seen at 1680 x 1050.
Benchmarks - BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark
Developer Homepage: http://irrationalgames.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game and the third installment in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus," it is being developed by Irrational Games and was released worldwide on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms on March 26, 2013. BioShock Infinite is not part of the storyline of previous BioShock games but features similar gameplay concepts and themes.
BioShock Infinite performance on the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB is extremely strong against the R7 260X 2GB. You can see that the performance here isn't actually all that far behind the HIS R9 270 IceQ X2 2GB. Unfortunately, all three cards see FPS below that 60 FPS number we want at all resolutions.
You're going to have to do a bit of a detail drop on the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB to get the numbers to where we want them to be. The good news is the detail drop wouldn't have to be as much as the AMD R7 260X 2GB.
Benchmarks - Battlefield 4
Battlefield 4
Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Origin Update
Timedemo or Level Used: Custom 60 Second Run with FRAPS
Developer Homepage: http://dice.se/
Product Homepage: https://www.battlefield.com/games/battlefield-4
Battlefield 4 (also known as BF4) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game is a sequel to 2011's Battlefield 3. Battlefield 4 features several changes compared to its predecessor. The game's heads-up display is much the same, composed of two compact rectangles. The lower left-hand corner features a mini-map and compass for navigation, and a simplified objective notice above it; the lower right includes a compact ammo counter and health meter.
Battlefield 4 performance at both 1680 x 1050 and 1920 x 1200 is really strong. You can see excellent minimums and averages at both resolutions. It's only when we move to 2560 x 1600 that we see the performance drop to an unplayable level.
Considering how new the game is and the cost of the card, though, performance on a whole is really fantastic.
Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF
High Quality AA and AF
While we test all our games with maximum in-game settings, turning on Anti-Aliasing (AA) and Antistrophic Filtering (AF) helps take the intensity of our testing to another level.
Here we see video cards go from playable FPS to unplayable FPS and the real power houses continue to help break that 60 FPS mark we always aim for to provide a smooth gaming experience.
With the numbers being too low without AA and AF on under Metro Last Light, it comes as no surprise that turning on AA and AF brings with it even more unplayable numbers.
Just Cause 2 sees the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB perform strongly against the AMD R7 260X 2GB, especially at 1920 x 1200. Looking above, though, you can see that the 51 FPS average is still too low for us to consider it playable.
It comes as no surprise that Sleeping Dogs sees unplayable FPS with AA and AF turned on.
Temperature Test
The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run of 3DMark Vantage at the Performance preset.
Looking at the heat numbers, you can see we're sitting at the bottom half of the pack. The 61c load number is okay. It's not great, but it's not terrible either.
The quality of the fan on the reference card isn't the greatest, though. We're sure that non-reference cooled cards will see better numbers.
Sound Test
Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter, we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.
After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).
While the fan might be small, the good news is that it's not loud. The idle and load numbers are good. NVIDIA could have clearly made the card run louder and cooler if they wanted.
We feel that they've found a good balance here, though. We're more looking forward to seeing what companies like MSI and ASUS do with the cooler.
Power Consumption Test
Using our PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01--or "Power Thingy" as it has quickly become known as to our readers--we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated video cards installed. Keep in mind that it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).
There are a few important notes to remember, though. While our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10 percent more. We test at the exact same stage every time, so tests should be very consistent and accurate.
The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum--only an SSD hard drive is used with a single CD ROM and minimal cooling fans.
So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items will result in a higher draw.
Power draw numbers are really impressive. You can see we're sitting right towards the bottom of the pack with strong idle and load numbers being seen.
At just over 300 watts under load, you're not going to need a hugely expensive power supply to run a card like this.
Pricing, Availability, and Final Thoughts
AMD did a really good job when it came to launching the R series of video cards towards the end of last year. They spread the release out well and stock wasn't too bad, but the most important thing is that AMD really managed to launch the products at an excellent price point. Looking at the cost of the cards and the performance they offered, they really put NVIDIA on the move as the company was forced to look at its pricing and adjust it accordingly.
Launching the 2GB model at $149, with a 1GB variant available in a few weeks for $139, NVIDIA has really priced the new model perfectly. It probably comes in slightly cheaper than we would actually expect. With the R7 260X 2GB coming in around the $139 to $159 mark, the new NVIDIA model sits squarely in the middle. The performance on the model is consistently superior, though, and we're not talking about an extra couple of FPS here and there.
Going through our benchmarks, we see a number of times the GTX 750 Ti 2GB manages to offer us playable FPS while the R7 260X 2GB falls short. Of course, when it comes to 2560 x 1600, a mid $100 card isn't an option. Moving down to the common 1920 x 1080 / 1200 resolution, though, you can see playable numbers under a number of games with the in-game settings maxed out. Looking at 1680 x 1050, though, we consistently see strong performance under most games. The good news is that because we do run our games at maximum in-game settings, we've really got room to move on the detail front if you're looking for some extra FPS.
Launching today, the new $149 card is ready to be picked up from your favorite computer store. At this price bracket, the new model from NVIDIA really is an excellent option. While it lacks some of the flashy features that we see on the new R series of cards from AMD, the bottom line is for the cost this card performs exceptionally well.
What it lacks in those bells and whistles that you might not be interested in, it makes up in true cost per FPS. What we're really looking forward to checking out, though, is variations from partners. We're not a huge fan of the reference cooler; it's a little small, a little ugly, and doesn't perform quite as well as we know a larger fan will. The lower power draw on the Maxwell based GPU also means that we should see some exceptional temperature numbers when it comes to non-reference cooling solutions from companies like ASUS and MSI.
If you're ready to pull the trigger on a new video card that comes in at the mid $100 bracket, this is really a great option. NVIDIA really has done a great job when it comes to the cost of the card; it's really priced perfectly, which means it's priced probably better then we'd expect. While we're sure that a 1GB variant of the card would offer us similar performance, for $10 we're not sure you'd really bother with the saving unless your budget was that tight. If you decide to sell it a little later down the track, we feel that you'd probably lose more than the $10 on the back end as people would prefer to get the 2GB version for slightly more.
As for what AMD can do now, there's really not much. The R7 260X 2GB continues to be priced well and the R series on a whole really manages to offer some great features. If you're looking for straight out bang for your buck when it comes to FPS, though, the new GTX 750 Ti 2GB from NVIDIA is a fantastic option.