GeForce GTX 260 vs Quadro M520

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 260 and Quadro M520, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the GeForce GTX 260 stacks up against Quadro M520, check out specs charts below.

Quadro M520 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Quadro M520 is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Quadro M520 here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Quadro M520
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 25 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video
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  • GeForce GTX 260 has 628% more power consumption, than Quadro M520.
  • GeForce GTX 260 has 894 GB more memory, than Quadro M520.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is used in Desktops, and Quadro M520 - in Mobile workstations.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Quadro M520 - with Maxwell.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 260 is 486 MHz higher, than Quadro M520.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Quadro M520 - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 9−10
ultra / 1080p 1−2 5−6
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 14−16 21−24
medium / 1080p 5−6 12−14
The average gaming FPS of Quadro M520 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 100% more, than GeForce GTX 260.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Quadro M520
Architecture Tesla 2.0 Maxwell
Code name GT200
Type Desktop Mobile workstation
Release date 16 June 2008 13 January 2017
Pipelines 192 384
Core clock speed 1242 MHz 756 MHz
Boost Clock 1019 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 36.9 billion/sec
Floating-point performance 476.9 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 448 Bit 64 Bit
Memory clock speed 999 MHz
Memory bandwidth 111.9 GB/s 40 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) 12
Shader Model 4.0 5.0
OpenGL 2.1 4.5
OpenCL 1.1
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
CUDA cores 192
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 30 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Optimus +
nView Display Management +
3D Stereo +
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