XFX GTX260 896MB ‘Black Edition’

Introduction
 
Black EditionBlack is a colour that typically depicts power, stealth, death, prestige, and mystery. If you’re looking for a dominating presence, you don’t wear a kipper tie, you wear a black suit and black tie. From Darth Vader to Reservoir Dogs, down to your city centre doorman, all choose black attire for good reason – to instill fear into their subjects.
 
The XFX GTX260 has evolved into the ‘Black Edition’ which  comprises of 2nd generation unified architecture, and an increase from 192 stream processors to 216. Known throughout the world as the ‘GTX260 216’ because of the increase in shaders, this card is the revised edition of the already high performing GTX260. The new card should give a significant increase in performance as the clockspeed has been increased over the XFX GTX260 XXX card (reviewed here) from 640mhz to a devilish 666mhz. The card also sees an increase in shader clockspeed from 1363 to 1440. While this might not seem like a major difference in speed, one has to take into account that this is compared to XFX’s previous overclocked edition of the GTX260. With a little luck and perhaps with a little help from the ‘Dark Side’, we will be able to overclock the Black edition even further!
 
 
Specifications
 
Specifications
 
An impressive specification indeed! Incorporating Nvidia’s latest features along with 2nd Generation Unified Architecture, an increase in stream processors as well as blistering clockspeeds, the Black Edition has set the scene for some serious performance for the serious enthusiast.
 
Let’s take a look at the GTX260 Black edition in its new package…