It has been a very interesting couple of months with the GPU market with the emergence of new releases from the graphics card giants in this sector, ATI and NVIDIA. With the GeForce 9800 GTX failing to live up to expectations and the GeForce 9800 GX2 being ridiculously priced, NVIDIA sought to further increase its lead over ATI with the unleashing of its GeForce GTX 200 series of GPU's. The new cards however had the traditional your card for a kidney price tag with the flagship GeForce GTX 280 costing an wallet crushing price well above $600. Even its little brother, the GeForce GTX 260, cost in excess of $450 which in days gone by would have easily purchased you a flagship model. - Overclock3D

XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX SLI Setup Gaming Review

ATI in the meantime had been busying themselves with the Radeon HD 4800 series of cards which, if you believed the rumours, were about to trump NVIDIA in both power and price. Add to that the worldwide economic slump meant that NVIDIA had their backs to the wall with many PC enthusiasts finding little reason to buy expensive graphics cards that offered little gain for a lot more cost. With the release of the fantastic Radeon HD 4800 series of cards, NVIDIA have had to drastically reduce the price of the GeForce GTX 200 series in retaliation. Which is nothing but good news for the consumer in the long run.

XFX, being a long top tier NVIDIA partner, have both stock clocked cards and overclocked editions available and it is the latter of the two we will be looking at today in the form of the XXX edition. Immediately noticeable is the massive overclock applied to the core. From a stock 576MHz, the boffins at XFX have increased this value to a mouth watering 640MHz and the memory clock speed has also been enhanced by a whopping 302MHz to 2300MHz. These values now exceed that of the GeForce GTX 260's bigger brother, the GeForce GTX 280. But of course that means some extra money will need to put on the table.

We have long been an admirer of XFX packaging as it is not only pleasing to the eye but, perhaps more importantly, the contents are very tightly packed ensuring that the product reaches you in perfect condition. The exterior is adorned in NVIDIA green and is typical of XFX packaging of late. The Alpha Dog still makes an appearance albeit more of an afterthought than previous incarnations. The outer sleeve is matt in appearance with the features glossy and embossed. The product is much classier than a lot of the competitors designs who just rely on scantly clad elves or demons with ridiculously oversized weapons.

The card is quite heavy because of this but heavy in a reassuring way. The length of the card is on a par with the previous generation GeForce 8800 GTX so please check that this card will fit in your case as it will overhang the motherboard slightly. The angled fan section is a great idea from NVIDIA ensuring that the fan is not blocked should you wish to SLI the card. In testing the fan was both quiet and powerful, only noticeable on initial boot up and under heavy loading conditions. Heat dissipation was very good with the majority of the hot air being exhausted through the rear of the graphics card out of the inner computer case.

Ask on most forums which card is best and the reply will most likely be the Radeon HD 4870. Best is, however, a figure of speech. If you are talking bang per buck then we have to agree that the Radeon HD 4870 is perhaps the better buy than the GeForce GTX 260. If you are talking overall power then we would have to edge towards the GeForce GTX 260 XXX edition, especially if you are gaming at a higher resolutions. The main advantage the GeForce GTX 260 has over its rival is the additional memory which enables it to take less of a hit once the trimmings are applied, and therefore able to sustain better game play.

It is clear that the ATI blows the NVIDIA card out of the water in this department and surely at this price point, in the current economic climate, every ounce of performance per pound counts. Perhaps the major disadvantage the XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX version has is its price. Weighing in at a little under $400 it is certainly not cheap. For another $75 or so, the higher GeForce GTX 280 could be had. So it seems NVIDIA has become a victim of its own success and unless further price cuts are made or leaps in performance then the immediate future could be a bleak one, but you can be sure that NVIDIA has more to come.

If it were our money on the table then we would have a very hard time deciding between the two. Their can be no doubting the ATI Radeon HD 4870 is a fantastic card for the money. The XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX edition on the other hand has a very slight performance advantage but for that slight advatange you are paying a $75 premium. The decision therefore would perhaps be decided on how much you value that little extra performance.