XFX GTX260 896MB ‘Black Edition’

ConclusionXFX GTX260 Black Edition
 
Halloween may be over, but the powers of Darkness are well and truly at work with the XFX GTX260 Black Edition. From the outset I was, as always, very impressed with the XFX packaging. The included accessories are all there so there’s no excuses not to be up and running straight out of the box. Once you do get the card installed, the included Far Cry 2 game should be the first thing you install (after the drivers obviously). Including a new release of such high calibre is a stroke of genius by XFX, as most who will buy a new GPU will want to buy the latest game to go with it.
 
The card oozes quality from both the cooling (the cooling fan hardly revved up at all during benchmarking), its looks and most importantly its performance. I have no doubt at all that the GTX260 Black Edition will have an effect on its bigger brother’s sales and possibly ATI’s HD4870 512MB cards. How it fairs against the ATI HD4870 1024MB card, I cannot say until we get one for review (watch this space), but the ATI card will certainly have its work cut out if today’s review is anything to go by.
 
Would I buy one? Yes. Simply because it’s hassle free, single core gaming at its best. Sure, the impending revision of the  GTX280’s will no doubt better the GTX260 ‘216’, that’s a given, but when you factor in price, performance and quality, along with an excellent included game, the GTX260 Black Edition should be up there on any serious gamer’s list. So until the newer GTX280’s arrive or the much hyped 260GX2, I can see no reason not to recommend the GTX260 Black Edition and give it OC3D’s ‘Gamers Choice’ stamp of approval.
 
The Good
– Performance
– Cooling
– Packaging
– Far Cry2 game
– Overclocking
 
The Mediocre
– The price (still above ATI equivalent)
 
The Bad
– Nothing to report
 
 
 
Thanks to XFX for providing the GTX260 Black Edition for todays review. Discuss in our forum.