Testbed:

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Provided by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Provided by Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Provided by OCZ)
        during testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Provided by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Provided by Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Provided by Artic Cooling)

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM

Futuremark





3DMark Vantage shows a bigger score difference than the older Mark06. XFX 670M XX is 6% faster than Gainward’s reference card and it beats HD 4870 by 28%. Mark06 reports performance difference of only 4%.



Gaming



Something went wrong with ATI HD 4870 in this game, and reinstalling the drivers didn’t help. XFX scored almost 100% better than HD 48070 at 1280x1024 4xAA and 8xAF, whereas it beat the reference Gainward by 5%. Gainward outperformed the HD 4870 by 90%.

Call of Juarez restores HD 4870’s dignity and it ran nicely. It even managed to beat the reference GT280 by up to 12%, but it ran evenly with 670M. XFX 670M ran up to 11% better than reference GTX280.





Crysis was demanding as always so we see that resolution 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 8xAF results in playable number of frames, but not enough to brag about. The exception is XFX 670M XXX that was the fastest and scored 35fps, whereas it beat HD 4870 by 29%.



In F.E.A.R., upping the resolution sees HD 4870 losing its pace, so Gainward GTX 280 emerges as a winner with a 24% better result. XFX tops that so we see no less than 108fps at 2048x1536 4xAA 8xAF. That result is 11% better than reference Gainward’s card and 38% better than HD 4870.



Much like the previous game, GTX 280 shows the greatest advantage at the highest tested resolution. This time Gainward beats Radeon HD 4870 by about 23%, but XFX again tops that and beats it by about 29%. Once again, overclocking proves to be a nice tool, and XFX GTX 280 670M XXX vouches for that by beating the reference Gainward GTX 280 by 5%.



At 16x12 with AA and AF, GTX 280 is faster by 24% but at 2048x1536 that advantage sinks to 13%. XFX GTX 280 670M takes the crown by beating Gainward by almost 12% and HD 4870 by almost 27% at the highest tested resolution.



With Radeon 4870 you won’t be comfortably gaming at rarely used resolutions such as 2048x1536, but 1600x1200 will prove to be nice.  Gainward GTX 280 scores a playable framerate at all the resolutions and performs up to 20% better than Radeon HD 4870.

Our overclocked champ provided that extra something, so it outperforms the reference GTX 280 by about 7% at the highest resolution.

Conclusion

XFX did a good job overclocking the GTX 280 card and we see that it paid off. The core is overclocked from reference 602MHz to 670MHz whereas the shaders got a boost from 1296MHz to 1485MHz. The card packs 1GB of GDDR3 memory, which should be enough for any current or soon to launch game. The new GT200 graphics processor is bursting with power and XFX’s overclock helped in pleasant gaming in all the gaming tests.

It’s time to replace the old, but still popular, Geforce 8800 GTX cards. Luckily, after the initial price shock, we can find GTX 280 priced at around €400. XFX will be a bit more expensive, but if you want the best – then pay for it. Besides, we can’t forget that you also get Assassin’s Creed as a gift.

This overclock definitely makes this card stand up.