Final Thoughts

MSI's decision to offer an out of the box overclock straight away is great. The extra MHz on the core and memory give us a nice little bump in performance, making it constantly faster than the stock model and faster than the older 9800 GX2 in most situations.

While it would have been nice to have seen a full version game in the package for such an expensive card, it isn't the end of the world. We get everything we need to get up and running along with the inclusion of a DVI to HDMI adapter.

The thing that we really have to think about is if we looked at this card a few weeks ago we wouldn't have liked it as much as today, for the plain fact that it would have been too expensive.

Today, though, paints a different picture. With aggressive price drops and the same fast performance, the GTX 280 looks like a better option for people who are willing to stretch their budget and don't want to go a dual-card solution.

If you find yourself looking for a GTX 280 that packs a bit more punch out of the box over the standard GTX 280, the MSI looks to be a good option with an aggressive price tag and great out of the box performance.