XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX 1GB video card review

Given all of the coverage we've afforded AMD's Radeon HD 4800 series parts on these hallowed pages in recent weeks, you could be forgiven for thinking that there's no competition in the graphics board market this time around.  However, of course, that isn't the case - while recent price drops have thrown NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 260 up against the Radeon HD 4870, so their flagship GeForce GTX 280 part has (for the time being at least) been blazing a trail of its very own.

Today, we get out first opportunity to take a look at the latter of these two parts, not just by taking a reference clocked GeForce GTX 280 out for a spin, but also by examining XFX's 'XXX' take on this SKU.  We've seen many a time before that XFX's XXX boards are more than just your typical factory overclocked board with virtually worthless clock speed increases, as in general they've always managed to pull some truly fantastic factory overclocks out of the hat.  Can the 1GB GeForce GTX 280 XXX follow this trend?  Without further ado, let's check it out.