ASUS R7 260 Performance Review

Having a high-end graphics cards like the GTX780 Ti, R9 290X has always been the dream to many gamer and enthusiasts, but the cost might be out of hand to budget gamer whos unable to afford these beast. This is when middle-end graphics cards with a decent performance and affordable price comes to play. 

Introducing the ASUS R7 260, the middle-end budget graphics card that we will be looking into in today's review. Let's find out what the ASUS R7 260 is capable of, compared to what's above it - ASUS R7 260X.

*SRP for the ASUS R7 260 is set at RM479.00.*

Technical Specifications

Technical Specs	ASUS R7260-1GD5
Dimensions	220.9mm x 111.17mm x40.06mm
Stream Processor	768
Base Clock	1000 MHz
Bus Standard	PCI Express 3.0
Video Memory	1024 MB
Memory Clock	6000 MHz
Memory Interface	128-bit
Display Output	DVI Output : Yes x 1 (DVI-I) Display Port : Yes x 1 HDMI Output : Yes x 1 HDCP Support : Yes

Detailed specifications on TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.7.8

Overview

The feature highlighted at the front of the packaging is the Dual Fan Cooling where ASUS boast to provide twice as much airflow and 3 times quieter that the reference design R7 260.

Back of the packaging comes with a brief introduction on the features of the ASUS R7 260 such as the display output, appearance of the card, cooling options, etc.

what's in the box - the ASUS R7 260, driver & software CD, User's manual, DVI to VGA converter and a Crossfire bridge.

The ASUS R7 260 looks pretty identical to ASUS R7 260X (ASUS classic Black-Red themed shroud and fans), except that it's cooled by a big chunk of Aluminum heatsink instead of the directCU II heatsink.

Display output wise, the ASUS R7 260 comes with 3 options:

• 1 x DVI port
• 1 x Display Port
• 1 x HDMI port

AMD Eyefinity isn't supported on this card, which we find it a little disappointing.

Flipping the card around, we can see that the actual PCB size is shorter.

6pin power connector is required for the card to actually work and giving some extra juice for minor overclocking if user finds it as an absolute necessity. 

Performance Test

Test Rig Configuration
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i
CPU	I7 4770K @4.3 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS Sabertooth Z87
Memory	Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB
Primary Hard Drive	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
Power Supply	Corsair AX650
Chassis	Bitfenix Ronin
Display Monitor	Dell U2312HM

We will be comparing the ASUS R7 260 with the ASUS R7 260X from our previous review as a quick comparison on both cards. Both cards is installed to our test rig with the above configuration and room temperature of 31C°.

Performance

The ASUS R7 260 is slightly overclocked where adjustments is as following:

1120 MHz on the base clock
6100 MHz on the memory clock
No adjustments is done to the voltage

We ran a quick test with several graphically demanding games and synthetic benchmark in our possession at the resolution of 1920 x 1080 and 4x Anti-aliasing, with the result as presented on the graph below:

When overclocked, the ASUS R7 260 appears to be able to perform closer to a non-overclocked ASUS R7 260X in most of the test but there's isn't much improvement in terms of performance from what we have tested so far.

Temperature
Temperature wise, we're using FurMark GPU stress test utility for our stress test for maximum heat output. Do note that purpose of this GPU stress test is to check on the highest temperature both cards will reach and this doesn't represent the actual temperature you will be getting during gaming session.

the large aluminum heatsink seems to be performing quite well on load compared to the DirectCU II cooler on the R7 260X. When it comes to idle, R7 260X DirectCU II cooler leads by a 3C° difference, leaving the R7 260 large aluminum heatsink hovering at 41C°.

Final Thoughts
The ASUS R7 260 performs fairly decent as an entry-level graphics card but it's in an odd position where it doesn't comes with AMD Eyefinity support nor able to Crossfire with any of the current latest AMD APU, leaving us with a mixed feelings.

Pros

• Good heat dissipation and quieter operation
• Support AMD Crossfire for that extra performance 

Cons

• No AMD Eyefinity Support
• Limited models for Crossfire configuration
• Not much performance increase after overclocking

At the price of RM 479.00, the ASUS R7 260 is still a decent entry-level graphics card for medium low settings for several graphics demanding games we've tested. If there's still a little budget to stretch, with a little extra of RM 50.00, you can access to at least the AMD Eyefinity and slightly better performance.

Still, its value is much doubted if it were to be compared side by side with the NVidia GTX 750,  it's not doing really well with the features offered and performance compared its rival that doesn't even requires external power source from the 6pin connector.

Based on its performance and features as what we have tested in this performance review, the ASUS R7 260 is hereby awarded with our Tech-Critter Bronze Award.

ASUS R7 260X DirectCU II Performance Review

ASUS has been one of the most familiar brand to almost anyone  when it comes to PC DIY, therefore we will get to our main focus of the day without any further adieu. This time, we're on the performance review of ASUS' R7 260X Direct CU II OC which falls under the mid-range category, great thanks to ASUS Malaysia for making this performance review possible. 

*SRP for ASUS' R7 260X Direct CU II OC 1GB is RM529.00 while ASUS' R7 260X Direct CU II OC 2GB is RM589.00.

Technical Specifications

Technical Specs	ASUS R7260X-DC2OC-2GD5
Dimensions	215.9mm x 129.54mm x38.1mm
Stream Processor	896
Base Clock	1188 MHz
Bus Standard	PCI Express 3.0
Video Memory	2048 MB
Memory Clock	7000 MHz
Memory Interface	128-bit
Display Output	DVI Output : Yes x 1 (DVI-I), Yes x 1 (DVI-D) Display Port : Yes X 1 HDMI Output : Yes x 1 HDCP Support : Yes
Highlights	·         Factory overclocked ·DirectCU II Cooler

Detailed specifications on TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.7.8

Overview

ASUS' usual approach in highlighting the prominent features at the front of the packaging can be seen on the R7 260X Direct CU II OC - the signature Direct CU II cooler is the main highlight as from our first sight. 

The miniature preview of the R7260X DirectCU II OC and the highlighted features allows end user to have a brief idea on the appearance of the card and the features offered. 

The content includes the R7 260X Direct CU II OC itself, user's manual, software & drivers CD, DVI to VGA converter and a lovely CrossFire bridge.  

ASUS' signature Direct CU II Cooler that is boasted to be able to provide 20% cooler and quieter operation.

Heat pipes to allow fast and efficient heat transfer to the large chunk of heat sink which will later be dissipated by the cooling fans.

The actual size of the PCB appears to be much smaller in size compared to the massive heat sink that makes up the length of 215.9mm. 

6pin PCI Express power connector gives you that extra power to juice up the R7 260X Direct CU II OC for extra performance.

A CrossFire finger is spotted on the R7 260X allows you to have two R7 260X cards in a CrossFire configuration for that extra performance gain the AMD way.



The ASUS R7 260X Direct CU II OC offers multiple display output options: 

• 2 x DVI ports
• 1 x HDMI port 
• 1 x Display Port 

It is possible to configure and triple-monitor with only a single card, all thanks to the AMD Eyefinity technology.


Performance Test

Test Rig Configuration
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i
CPU	I7 4770K @4.3 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS Sabertooth Z87
Memory	Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB
Primary Hard Drive	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
Power Supply	Corsair AX650
Chassis	Bitfenix Ronin
Display Monitor	Dell U2312HM

Our test will be conducted using the ASUS GTX 750 OC from our previous review as a quick comparison for mid-range card around the similar price range. Both cards is installed to our test rig with the above configuration and room temperature of 31C°.


Performance

The ASUS R7 260X Direct CU II OC is slightly overclocked where adjustments is as following:

• 1260 MHz on the base clock
• 7150 MHz on the memory clock
• No adjustments is done to the voltage

We ran the test with several graphically demanding games and synthetic benchmark in our possession at the resolution of 1920 x 1080 and 4x Anti-aliasing, with the result as presented on the graph below:

It turns out that the ASUS R7 260X Direct CU II OC wasn't doing very well in overall compared to the green camp competitor even after being overclocked.

Temperature
The commonly used GPU stress test utility, FurMark is used for our stress test for maximum heat output. Do note that purpose of this GPU stress test is to check on the highest temperature both cards will reach and this doesn't represent the actual temperature you will be getting during gaming session. 

The Direct CU II cooler at the same time, is doing a pretty good job in heat dissipation as the moment when the stress test ends, temperature of the R7 260X Direct CU II OC plunged from 76C° to 42C° in less than a minute and hovers at around 40C.

Final Thoughts

The result is clear that the ASUS R7 260X Direct CU II OC suffers a crushing defeat in performance and we couldn't really think of any reason for someone who is building a mid-range gaming rig to consider for it if the GTX 750 were to be an available option. 

Pros
- Factory overclocked and impressive fast memory clock of 7000 MHz
- Comes with AMD Eyefinity that supports up to 4 display simultaneously 
- Faster heat dissipation and quieter operation with Direct CU II cooler
- Comes with AMD Crossfire support for extra performance
- Can be crossfire with a 7790

Cons
- It's rather expensive 
- Price/performance ratio is below average

The ASUS R7 260X Direct CU II OC will not be our first choice when it comes to building a gaming rig when it comes to budget constraint as we clearly knows that there's other budget friendly alternative that is able to perform better in overall. However, the multiple display output options and AMD Eyefinity support available is something worth to consider especially if 3 output from the green camp GTX 750 isn't enough to satisfy your needs.

Based on its performance and feature that we have experienced throughout the performance review, we're glad to announce that the ASUS' R7 260X Direct CU II OC is hereby awarded with our Tech Critter Bronze Award.

Sapphire HD7850 Plug & Play Test

Now I know that a lot of people when they look at a review, they normally see the GPU performance tested on optimum pc hardware. While it's great to see the latest Gpu perform at their full potential, one tends to wonder “what if I don't have a good or balance system?” “Will the game run on my non-optimised pc on high quality settings?” “Will my Cpu that’s bottlenecking the card hampers the game to be unplayable?” And even “will my chassis be big enough to fit it?”   etc.

In short, this test is to see if one can still enjoy the latest games on an older or not-so-great RIG. This test will be focusing more on the playability of the games instead of the capabilities of the card, so I won't be testing on Furmark. I will also leave everything on stock values because I just wanted to know if the system could let the user enjoy playing games when they only know how to plug & play the GPU into their system   this will help the less IT-Savvy community breathe easier.

So having said that, I decided to jump head on & bought the Sapphire HD7850, install it on my own ‘mediocre' pc to see what kind of gaming performance we could get on a pc that most of us are and probably will be stuck with for a few years.

System setup:

• AMD Phenom x3 710 @ stock speed 

• Asus M4N785TD-V Evo

• Kingston DDR3 value ram 1333mhz, 8gb total 

• Samsung 500Gb Hdd & WD Blue 1Tb Hdd

• Huntkey 700W Apfc PSU

• Cooler Master CM690II Advanced 

• Dell 20" monitor (1600 x 900 )

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

• Sapphire HD7850 2GB (non-oc)

Software used: 

• HWMonitor

• Unigine Heaven Benchmark 3.0

• MSI After Burner v2.1.0

Games tested:

• Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0

• Dirt 3

• Battlefield 3

Testing method:

FPS will be recorded through the MSI AB and noted while playing games on the highest settings & explain the experience as best I could. In-game benchmark will be used instead if it’s provided. Temperatures will be captured by HWMonitor where its launched after 10 mins the PC is turned on to get the idle temps while the max temp shall represent the load temp after a game of Battlefield 3 for about 10mins.

The FPS Numbers Explained (Courtesy of Tweaktown.com)

When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which 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.

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 fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no dramas.

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.

So without further ado….let the tests begin  

As you can see, the HD7850 idles at about 33C, which is good but the weird thing is that the fan kicks into 50% speed when it hits 34C, looks like some tweaking on the fan settings is needed. 

Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0 scores

(Quoted from the Unigine website) Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced UNIGINE™ engine. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk. It is the first DirectX 11 benchmark in the world, the original version was released at the moment of Microsoft Windows 7 launch in October, 2009.

The FPS count dips to 18 is when the test started. Average FPS is at 34.8 which is decent so games that have high graphical requirements may be played but I'll need to tone down the details a bit should I need that extra FPS.

Dirt 3 

Dirt 3 was relatively easy to test as it has a built-in benchmarking tool, released in May 2011 it’s a beautiful game utilising DirectX 11 which I expect to have the GPU working hard.

• Here are the settings used on this game with details set to Ultra where available

• And here is the result of the benchmarking

• To my surprise (and joy), the game is very playable on stock settings, although the with the average FPS at 62.13 and even if the minimum FPS is below 60, I hardly notice any difference while the game was running. There are some screen tearing every now and then but the game runs gorgeously nonetheless.

Battlefield 3 

Most of us would look for this game in online benchmarks, Dice’s Frostbite2 engine is said to tax the GPU heavily with its state of the art tessellation and lightings. Again, let me highlight that I'm running an AMD PhenomII x3 710 at stock settungs here so there is bound to be bottlenecks.

• Here is the screenshot of the game settings, which is of course set to Ultra, 4xMSAAAA enabled,16x AF enabled & HBAO enabled

Intro cut scenes are a breeze with over 200fps. However, once in the heat of the action, the game is not as smooth as I’d like it to be as the frame rates would dip as low as 29FPS at some point and as high as 57FPS when there is less action on the screen. So you might wanna tone down the settings a bit to play it smoothly. The game averaged at about 66FPS after a re-test with the AF lowered and HBAO disabled.

Summary & Conclusion

As you can see, even on a mediocre RIG like mine one can enjoy the latest games without sacrificing much on details on 1600x900 resolution. With the Sapphire HD7850 retailing for about RM760 in KL (Apr 2012), I’d say it’s an affordable GPU for most people looking for an upgrade. Size wise, it’s rather small so I doubt it will have trouble fitting in most standard ATX chassis. 

As a bonus, the card runs at a cool 55C on load (room temp) with the fans running at 50% on auto. You will hear a low hum coming from the GPU depending on where you placed your chassis (I had mine beside the monitor BTW) a good job from Sapphire for this cooler. Further tweaking of the fan settings Via MSI AB leaves the card inaudible at 30% fan speed idling at about 36C.

Although some sacrifices need to be made to the details of Battlefield 3, the overall experience is unaffected. Other games such as Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age 2 runs smoothly on full details even with the processor bottleneck in my system. This means that anyone that has the same or slightly better system will be able to enjoy the latest games without much trouble. You do need to consider a few things though, do remember that all the games in this test is running at a resolution of only 1600x900 so for 1080p the results will definitely be different.