MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OCv4 GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Comment: I bought this card to play borderlands when it came out back in October, and even though the game was a POS the card is absolutely phenomenal. I am right now trying to tract down a second one so i can sli link them it is that good. GET ONE if you need a 1GB esc card.

Comment: Outstanding card for an outstanding price. Though on its debut it ran for a hot 300 or so depending on who you bought it from, where you'd get and when-- this card now goes for about the price the 8800GT's used to go for more than 2 years ago. Having done that exact type of upgrade (after my eVGA nVidia 8800GT quite literally fried on me) it was good incentive to finally make that leap into more quality standard upgrades-- meaning a replacement in PSU in preparation for it, and ultimately, the new video card.

ATI and nVidia have more recent generation cards (ATI's 5870's and nVidia's codename 'Fermi' GPU architecture coming along the way) but this card performs well over than anything my 8800GT was well over able to do. Those who say their 8800GT could perform just as nominally as this card must either be overclocking their machines (which I do not do) or have something else going on because I've tried everything I could throw at this card and nothing slows it down. I don't have Crysis however, and I refuse to play that game otherwise because of how it's become the kind of substandard benchmark such as FEAR was back in the day. However, comparing performances based on what my 8800GT could do compared to this? The 260GTX smokes it, tosses it butt to the side and stomps the ashes down-- this card is hands down amazing.

I don't run my computer as some kind of custom build-- it's a straight up factory build straight out of HP; a Hewlett Packard Media Center m8120n to be exact and I was wary at first to think I could even fit this thing inside of it-- as well as thinking about heating issues, but a decent PSU that'll move air around as well as careful organizing of wires to ensure air flow are a must otherwise this card might be a bit of a problem, in more ways than one.

So far so good and I'm so happy I made this purchase. I got mine for cheap actually because I'd bought mine off someone else but the price for it now is comparable for even mint-fresh buyers who are even considering this card. Don't even think about it-- do it. You can't go wrong with a budget-safe friendly card like this which screams performance and is conformed by MSI.

I had an old 6800GT from MSI and that thing can still perform tasks I underestimate it to do-- so basing that kind of quality with this higher end card I've switched to now? I can't go wrong.

Computer Specs:

HP m8120's interior=
Intel Q6600 CPU
8 GIG Crucial DDR2 PC2-6400 RAM config
MSI GeForce 260 ocv4 GTX 260
Xigmatek NRP-MC651 ATX12V 650W PSU
(I forget the brand and model of HDDs in here, but they're configured to a RAID 0 config at about 300 GB each, small, I know, but I make alot of transferring in and out through externals)

PS-- this card runs QUIET. I freaked out for a moment because I was so used to my other card, the 8800GT which made some noise after a while and this thing stays at a whisper-- even at full load when running games under max settings, it'll sound like a sighing breeze through the trees. Absolutely outstanding.

Comment: I don't need to say how a 216-655mhz (core), 1408mhz (shader) and a 1050mhz (mem) are cool and do damn good in games. Not a problem til now, just don't use nvidia drivers, I'm using the ones in the cd and they're working just fine. I didn't oc it, because I don't need it, it's working flawless just the way it is.