Having a look at the box, we can see that the majority of it is taken up by a picture of an aircraft that has lightning shooting down in the back ground. Across the top we have the MSI and NVIDIA logo along with "Military Class" highest standard logo which is something new we're seeing from MSI.

(Click the above image for the large version)

Across the bottom we can see that the card is the GTX 260 and carries with it the new Lightning tag that we mentioned in the intro. Below that we can also see some of the main features which includes 1792MB of memory and again we have mention of Military Class.

(Click the above image for the large version)

Turning the box over, we're got a load of information. Apart from a picture of the card and the model we have some information on all the features that are on offer and how they benefit you. How all these features work when it comes to performance, however, will be interesting. Hopefully they’re additions that will benefit the overall performance of the card.

(Click the above image for the large version)

Before we move inside the package, I thought that the box should be shown. From the word go the MSI GTX 260 Lightning is a classy looking product; we've got a nice little design going on where the card and AirForce Panel sit on top while the bottom slides out and carries the paperwork, cables and CD.

(Click the above image for the large version)

In the paperwork department we have the standard quick user guides that we see from most companies. Also included is the AirForce Panel manual. While not something we've spoken about yet, we'll have a closer look at the addition in just a moment. We also have a CD which includes a driver, but more importantly the software that is needed to get the AirForce Panel up and running.

(Click the above image for the large version)

In the cable department we've got a DVI to VGA and HDMI to DVI connector. On the far right we have an S/PDIF loopback cable that lets you get sound through the HDMI port. In the middle we have another two cables; one’s a USB and the others an internal proprietory one for the AirForce Panel.

(Click the above image for the large version)

With the AirForce Panel already mentioned a few times, we can see exactly what's going on here now. The device is a touch panel that lets you adjust the speed of your card, be it the core, memory or shader individually, or using the presets. If you want to get full use of the card you'll have to use it.

Thankfully setup is a breeze, but if you don't have room for the device or simply don't like it, you'll be glad to know that you still get a bump in clocks without it. We'll have a closer look at those clocks in just a moment.

The Card

Having a look at the card itself, it's clear that MSI have really mixed it up. We've got a cooler that carries with it two fans and a really nice aluminum face that not only looks great, but feels of great quality as well.

(Click the above image for the large version)

If we look carefully we can see the heat pipes that come out the bottom of the cooler and work through a number of heatsinks that are also seen behind the fans. As fancy as the cooler looks, though, it will be interesting to see what kind of performance it offers. Before we find out the numbers, though, let's have a closer look at the card.

(Click the above image for the large version)

(Click the above image for the large version)

Looking around the card, there isn't anything too out of the ordinary. At the back of the card we have two 6-pin PCI-E connectors along with a little white one that's used in conjunction with the S/PDIF loopback cable to get sound through the HDMI port. Closer to the front of the card we have two SLI connectors which gives us the ability to run up to three of these cards together.

(Click the above image for the large version)

In the I/O department we can see that the company has mixed it up a bit. Across the top we have the MSI logo which looks pretty cool, while below that we have a standard Dual-Link DVI connector. We also see there is a VGA port to the right and a native HDMI port to the left.

Specifications

As we've already mentioned, MSI has taken the time to overclock the card out of the box. And if you're not interested in hooking up the touch panel, you'll be glad to know that you'll still get some decent MHz out of the card.

We can see that the core has been bumped to 655MHz from the stock 576MHz. This has in turn bumped the shader up to 1404MHz from the stock 1242MHz. The 1792MB of GDDR3 memory which is double the standard amount has been left at 1998MHz. If you hit the game mode on the AirForce panel, clocks start heading north with the core jumping to 680MHz and the memory to 2100MHz DDR.

Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel i7 920 @ 3.8GHz (190MHz x 20)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (Supplied by Noctua)
Motherboard(s): GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)
Memory: 3 X 2GB OCZ Technology PC-12800 DDR-3 8-8-8-24 (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)
Hard Disk(s): Western Digital 300GB Velicorapter (Supplied by Western Digital)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2, Windows Vista SP1 64-Bit
Drivers: ForceWare 190.38

Today we'll be seeing how the MSI GTX 260 goes against the higher end GTX 275 from Palit and GTX 285 from ASUS. We'll see what kind of performance the GTX 260 we have here today from MSI offers with its increased clocks in all our benchmarks.

3DMark Vantage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here

3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.

3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.

Under Vantage we can see that the GTX 260 does fall to the back by a noticeable margin when compared to the higher end NVIDIA offerings.

CINEBENCH R10

Version and / or Patch Used: Release 10
Developer Homepage: http://www.maxon.net/
Product Homepage: http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/cinebench_e.html

CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite that assesses your computer's performace capabilities. MAXON CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winning animation software, CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

MAXON CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores and is available for Windows (32-bit and 64-Bit) and Macintosh (PPC and Intel-based).

CINEBENCH shows all three cards performing quite similar to each other.

World in Conflict

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.0.5
Timedemo or Level Used: Built-in Test
Developer Homepage: http://www.massive.se
Product Homepage: http://www.worldinconflict.com

World in Conflict is a real-time strategy video game by Massive Entertainment and to be published by Sierra Entertainment for Windows (DX9 and DX10).

The game is set in 1989 where economic troubles cripple the Soviet Union and threaten to dissolve it. However, the title pursues a "what if" scenario where, in this case, the Soviet Union does not collapse and instead pursues a course of war to remain in power. It is an intensive new game is sure to put plenty of stress on even the latest graphics cards and we use the built-in benchmarking for our testing.

We again see at up to 1920 x 1200 the GTX 260 from MSI performs similar to the more expensive and higher end models. At 2560 x 1600, though, we do see it fall back slightly.

Crysis Warhead

Version and / or Patch Used: unpatched
Timedemo or Level Used: Airfield
Developer Homepage: http://www.crytek.com
Product Homepage: http://crysiswarhead.ea.com/
Buy It Here

Crysis Warhead updates and refines the gameplay of the original game through a sidestory plot involving Psycho, one of previous protagonist Nomad's allies. The game is a parallel story that follows Sergeant Michael "Psycho" Sykes, a character from the original Crysis, as he faces his own trials and challenges on the other side of the island during the time period of the first game.

It also showcases a new, enhanced and optimized version of CryEngine 2 using full DX10 extensions and is the first game developed by Crytek's Budapest studio.

Under Warhead we can see that the GTX 260 and GTX 275 perform quite similar to each other, especially when it comes to resolutions of 1920 x 1200 or lower.

Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01
Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long
Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/
Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/
Buy It Here

The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry® 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montréal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.

Far Cry 2 paints a similar picture to what we've seen all along. At up to 1920 x 1200 the three cards perform quite similar, especially in the event of the GTX 275 and GTX 260. Climbing to 2560 x 1600 does separate the cards a bit more, though.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Clear Sky

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.5.07
Timedemo or Level Used: Custom Timedemo
Developer Homepage: http://www.gsc-game.com/
Product Homepage: http://cs.stalker-game.com/en/
Buy It Here

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, is the stand-alone prequel for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, a first-person shooter computer game by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World.[3] The game consists of a roughly 50/50 mix of new areas and old, remodeled areas from the previous game. The X-ray graphics engine has been updated to version 1.5 and includes DirectX 10 support (later patch 1.5.06 included DirectX 10.1). Additionally, the AI received an overhaul to accommodate the new faction wars feature.

Under Clear Sky we see that all three cards really struggle to give us any decent numbers

High Quality AA and AF

Our high quality tests let us separate the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls. If the cards weren’t struggling before they will start to now.

Far Cry 2

We can see the MSI GTX 260 sits only just behind the more expensive GTX 275.

World In Conflict

We again see that the GTX 260 and GTX 275 perform very close to each other

Temperature Tests

With the TES 1326 Infrared Thermometer literally in hand we found ourselves getting real-world temperatures from the products we test at load (3D clock speeds).

There are two places we pull temperature from - the back of the card directly behind the core and if the card is dual slot and has an exhaust point we also pull a temperate from there, as seen in the picture.

The aftermarket cooling does an alright job of keeping temperatures down; not quite as good as the Palit GTX 275, but better than the ASUS GTX 285 one.

Sound Tests

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

What we see here is that the MSI cooler is a fair bit quieter then the other ones here.

Power Consumption Tests

Using our new PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

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There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum – only a 7,200RPM SATA-II single hard drive is used without CD ROM or many cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.

It was interesting to find that the MSI GTX 260 Lightning really sucked the power out of our AC socket. But while higher, it isn't really anything we'd be too worried about

Final Thoughts

The first thing we have to talk about is the AirForce Panel. Honestly, as cool as the idea is, the bottom line is that it's a pain in the ass. The ability to adjust things are a bit sensitive. Sometimes you really need to give it a good push to register. The other thing about the device is the LEDs. It's so bright that anyone with the computer in their room is going to find it really annoying.

With that said, though, it really is only one opinion. Devices like this aren't for everyone. I'm standing in the disapproval area, but other people are going to love the device with its ability to adjust clocks on the fly. Then there's the group of people who have an odd obsession for LEDs. While not for me, there's no doubt there are people out there who are going to love not only how the AirForce Panel looks, but what it does.

On to the card itself, clocks are good out of the box. If you want even more power, though, you're going to have to install the AirForce Panel. It was a bit sad to see that the temperatures on the card weren't that much better to the stock GTX 285, but we found ourselves pleasantly surprised when it came to noise levels which were significantly better than both the other cards we have here.

It's nice to see MSI step outside the box. It takes courage to mix it up and we're glad the company has decided to do so. The good news is if you take away the AirForce Panel, you still have a great card on your hands.

What it ultimately comes down to, however, is performance. And compared to the GTX 275 it's able to offer some serious power. At 284.99 U.S. Dollars, however, you're in GTX 275 territory. You're going to have to decide if you want something a bit older that packs a pretty good package and cooler, or simply want to jump to a GTX 275 that misses out on the bells and whistles.

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