Pre-OC Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 and 260

The Zotac GeForce GTX 260 suffers from the same issues that troubled the stock model, namely competing with the phenomenal Radeon HD 4870; a card priced a full £45 below it and delivering very comparable performance. While the extra performance is certainly welcome, it’s still just too expensive when compared to ATI’s wonder card.

However, it's only £10-15 more expensive than stock clocked GeForce GTX 260s so if you really are in the market for a GeForce GTX 260, then a few quid more for a performance that almost always exceeds the Radeon HD 4870 and even scratches the ankles of the stock GeForce GTX 280 cards, certainly seem a tempting offer.

However, board partners are helpless to some extent with regard to the pricing hole that Nvidia has dug itself. Due to the size of the GPU used in the GT200 architecture, chip yields are low and thus prices are forced higher, and while we’ve seen two price cuts on the GTX series cards in as many weeks - what's to say there won't be another price drop next week?

It seems to be the fashionable thing these days.

While our American compatriots have been offered vouchers if they bought GeForce GTX 280s and 260s before the price drops, us British (and Europeans) have yet to see such a sweet deal. Another policy that doesn't make it across the pond? Quite possibly.

Whilst a stock GeForce GTX 280 is an understandable single card extravagance, paying so much more for only a few extra frames per second seems incredibly hard to swallow. I suppose if money is no object and you're chasing 3DMarks, wanting a card(s) guaranteed to do well then it's a no brainer option. If you're into playing games on that 30" screen, the stock card produces very playable frame rates at even the highest resolutions and anti aliasing settings.


BFG GeForce GTX 280 OCX
Manufacturer: BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed): £387.74 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $581.60 (ex. Tax)

While it undoubtedly improves on the GTX 280's already phenomenal performance, we're not sure the performance boost is worth the significant extra investment. A stock GTX 280 can produce playable frame rates on any modern game at even the highest resolutions, so despite the performance improvements, the high price is hard to stomach.

However if your "gaming room" is measured in acres and your budget is measured in GDP, what the OCX version offers is the best possibly performance BFG can muster for you, and you'll probably watercool it to try for more anyway.

The problem is that this card is presently is rarer than rocking horse poop in the UK, while the slightly lower clocked BFG GeForce GTX 280 OC is much easier to get hold of, and £40 cheaper at £339.58 inc. VAT, it's also not much faster than stock clocked cards either.

Out of the two GeForce GTX 280s though this is the card we'd get - it has a better package and better warranty, even if it is a bit more money.

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• 7/10

Asus Geforce GTX 280 TOP
Manufacturer: Asustek
UK Price (as reviewed): £374.84 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $499.99 (ex. Tax)

The same issues are true of the Asus GeForce GTX 280, demanding another £80 over a stock GeForce GTX 280 for a performance improvement that can vary wildly between situations. The extra performance is doesn't feel worth the premium considering the already impressive abilities of a stock GeForce GTX 280 and we'd much rather have BFG's useful HDMI cable as an extra rather than a mouse mat.

The Asus may seem £15 cheaper than the BFG, but the XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX is some £15 cheaper again (should stock arrive at some point). In all it's a good card, but it needs to have a better bundle and comparable warranty, or a unique cooling solution that a big company like Asus can do, to be more competitive.

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Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
Manufacturer: Zotac
UK Price (as reviewed): £225.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $325.99 (ex. Tax)

Compared to the overclocked GeForce GTX 280's the Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP! proves a much more attractive proposition, and offered some very impressive improvements over the stock GeForce GTX 260. In many tests where previously the Radeon HD 4870 had come out ahead of the stock GeForce GTX 260, the Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP! was able to regain the performance lead from ATI.

At just £15-£20 more than a stock GeForce GTX 260 this really deserves to be your choice if you do not want a Radeon HD 4870. While it doesn't completely rescue the GeForce GTX 260 and it is now £45 more than the Radeon HD 4870, we can't help feel that if every GeForce GTX 260 was this fast and this well priced, the whole line of cards would have been much more successful.

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What do these scores mean?