With the release of the new GeForce GTX 200 class of GPU's we see that rare time when enthusiasts and graphics lovers are avidly following the developments and performance of the new generation video cards. Around this time there's always a lot of speculation about the previous generation and how it compares to the current generation. There's always a generous amount of truth, a modest amount of speculation, and a dash or two of hype to spice up the debate. It's a lot more uncommon to see an actual evolution of graphics solutions but things began to get exciting when NVIDIA came out with the G80 core, things heated up and got really exciting with the release of the G92 core. - Bjorn3D

Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 (GT200) Video Card Review

After NVIDIA acquired PhysX technology and applied it to the new GT200 core the GeForce GTX 200 series were born. Having been consumers of graphics cards for many years, with a great appreciation for the new technology and eye candy it can provide we can tell you there's a special feeling we get when basking in the glow of a high-end GPU. Nay sayers will argue that the GeForce GTX 200 line is nothing more than a G92, they would be wrong. After basking in it's glow we can tell you definitively it's not a G92 it's a GT200 core with a side of PhysX thrown in for good measure and extra gaming experience.

Let's touch on a few of these more interesting special features of the Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 starting with PureVideo HD. Not only will PureVideo HD clean up an image on the fly it allows Vista users to run high definition video without Aero reverting back to basic mode providing a more seamless user experience. Without PureVideo HD images that appear crisp and clean might look blurred and muted. We saved the newest hottest for last, PhysX technology. While PhysX has been around for a while in the form of an additional expansion card in addition to a GPU, this is not integrated by NVIDIA in one single package.

PhysX allows for a much more interactive, visually rich environment without kiling the frame rates or slowing down frame rates by having the CPU do the task. The complicated equations are seamlessly shifted to the GPU allowing that eye candy we all love so much to proliferate in games. The Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 comes in an attractive orange box that has a holographic layer that shimmers in the light. Inside the Leadtek organization there's a marketing guy probably having coffee with a packaging guru laughing about the holographic layer, thinking we will never be able to get a picture of that box.

The Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 is a GT200 core GPU, despite it's lower out of the box core clock than previous generation G92 cores it consistently out performed the older architecture. It performed very well in all the testing we did and after spending a couple of weeks with it in the test rig we never really needed to overclock it for any thing more than benches. It's big brother the GeForce GTX 280 is the fastest single GPU card we've tested and it's little brother is right behind it. With some overclocking and a well tuned rig we were able to clock the WinFast GTX 260 up to 711/2202MHz and it remained stable with no artifacts.

During overclocking it only scored 408 points less than an overclocked GeForce GTX 280 we recently tested in 3DMark06, but to be fair each piece of hardware overclocks differently and the Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 we received might just be an exceptional overclocker. Just a few days ago our conclusion might have been different but given the recent price drops on the GeForce GTX 260, they've been spotted at $260 after rebate and a modest $290 before rebate. Given it's level of performance it's a bargain worth considering and from what we have seen thus far a gem of an overclocker and ready for some serious gaming.

Temperatures with the whole card enclosed in it's plastic shell with the squirrel cage fan were more than reasonable at the stock setting and the Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 performed in near silence until we kicked the adjustable fan up. With the fan on high like most cards of this class it was a little loud. No pricing was available on the WinFast GTX 260 at the time of posting, but if it comes out of the gate close to the $260-290 we've spotted on selected models it is an attractive choice for the budget minded enthusiast and we can't wait to get a couple of these in SLI to see just how sweet it can get!