A few short weeks ago NVIDIA released to the masses a GPU that redfined high-end gaming. The GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 has taken gamers to new levels of performance that were out of reach only eight short months ago. Of course, this level of performance doesn't come cheap and many people have a hard time swallowing the cost of these cards that ranged anywhere from $400 all the way up to $650. Thankfully in the past few days we have seen substantial price reductions bringing the GeForce GTX 280 within the reach of many more gamers. With 240 unified stream processors and a 512-bit wide memory bus there is a lot to like about this new graphics card bringing new gaming experiences. - Bjorn3D

Leadtek WinFast GTX 280 1GB Graphics Card Review

When a company like Leadtek jumps in and starts offering this card then that becomes the icing on the cake. With lots of accessories and a free game, Leadtek is positioning themselves to offer a top notch product with all the extras we've come to expect from the high-end. The WinFast GTX 280 is a reference card right down to the last megahert. Leadtek uses a colorful box that is filled with your typical marketing info. Thankfully, the box is filled with fitted foam for protecting your rather hefty investment. The GeForce GTX 280 from Leadtek is a sleek looking card with a glossy finish that absolutely loves to collect finger prints.

Its dual slot fan is tilted downwards to provide more efficient cooling while saving as much space as possible. Most the heat that this card generates, and it generates a lot, is vented out the rear of the card. We say most because the underside of this card also get very hot since the PCB is fully encapsulated. This heat is not vented and is left to warm the surrounding components. The side of the card, or top depending on your view, brings us to the power and audio connectors. The GeForce GTX 280 card requires an 8-pin and 6-pin connection to function and Leadtek has you covered with an adapter if needed.

The audio connector is actually a pass through since the GeForce GTX 280 does not have native audio capabilities. Connect the card to the audio out pins on your motherboard and you will be able to pass the audio through an HDMI connector which Leadtek does not included in this case. An extra 100MHz on the core and 286MHz increase on the memory. Our overclocking results should not be taken as the standard but rather one possibility out of many. As always, overclocking your components can result in their early demise so do your research first and don't push it too far but be careful while increasing the clock speeds.

The GeForce GTX 280 board from Leadtek is a solid performing card that was unfathomable just one year ago. With 1.4 billion transistors and a gigabyte of video memory the card is ready for anything. This includes its own power plant. All of this performance does come at a price and that price is substantial power consumption. While NVIDIA is able to curb the card's power usage while in 2D mode, people do not buy this card to stare at spreadhseets and family photos. They buy this card to game and game hard. The amount of power consumed also has a side effect and that is generated heat.

The card as a whole gets very warm and even though much of this heat is vented outside the case, plenty of it is still released inside and that means airflow. You will need to make sure you have a case that provides plenty of cool air to the GPU and surrounding components. If all of this sounds like too much hassle, we would have to agree. The performance is amazing to say the least but when you consider everything else needed to get this thing up and running and keep it running you have to ask yourself if it is all worth it. Only you can truly answer that question.