The Package

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.