It's a tough place to be, having six hundred dollars to spend on one single video card. It's rough, and if you are there, may God have pity on your soul. You are about to buy a GeForce GTX 280. Some of the glimmer has blown away. This is the fastest single GPU card of all time, but the Radeon HD 4800 is a whirlwind. It's all value though, and the best has and will always require a price premium. NVIDIA people won't be dissuaded, and the GeForce GTX 280 board, despite competitive pressure, is selling well. And a lot of work went into making this a new card, not a streamlined or overclocked G80 part. It's beastly, costly, and if you've any doubts about buying this card, they're warranted. - TechLounge

Zotac GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Graphics Board Review

Fortunately, you can know this. It's quite powerful, and there probably won't be anything like it for some time to come. Zotac has overclocked it and slapped their sticker on this card. Drinking deep from the metal clasped well of GX2 inspiration, the GeForce GTX 280 is armored. There are no chinks in it, and air pulled into its massive fan will shoot out the back. The enameled carapace is flanged and enameled, increasing its surface area and mass, as this card weighs two pounds. It's entire surface is a steely heat spreader. And it's got two power connectors, and both need appropriate cabling to power up.

This card is fast. It's as impressive as the G80, the king GeForce 8800 GTX was when it hit the shelves. And it's also controversial, probably more so. While the G80 loved electricity, it's downright thrifty in hindsight. It was cooled quietly, with surprising overclocking flexibility. All that's gone with the GeForce GTX 280 and all that's left is setting speed records. If it wasn't as fast as it is, people would come down hard against the GeForce GTX 280. It's the return of the $600 video card. It will literally raise your household energy costs. It's freakishly loud, and it's just asking to make headlines setting fires.

All that for some excellent gaming and video performance, and that's just not going to make it valuable but for the power-mad few. Not like there's an alternative, as getting dual Radeon HD 4870's will cost about the same and use just as much power. That's not us calling this card stupid, it's not. This is a demonic machine, heavy and powerful. For the dudes with two, or three, and the power supply to match, enjoy your hereto impossible smooth 30 inch gaming bliss. And turn up the anti-aliasing in Crysis, because you can now. Pick one like Zotac's AMP! edition, it's not like it really costs more.