Due to the particularities of this video card, we decided to test it differently, as we were curious to see the maximum overclocking level we could get with the AirForce panel and the temperatures that we would achieve with this video card compared to the standard GeForce GTX 260/216.

We used only two programs, 3DMark Vantage (running the “Extreme” preset, which runs at 1920x1200 with all image quality enhancements enabled) and Call of Duty 4 (at 1920x1200 with all image quality enhancements enabled, running the demo wetwork).

The maximum overclocking we could achieve with AirForce panel was putting the GPU at 680 MHz (18% above standard GTX 260), shader at 1,458 MHz (17% above standard GTX 260) and memory at 1,050 MHz (5% above standard GTX 260).

Temperatures were measured in two different locations: at the base of the cooler (marked “Temp. 1”) and on the solder side of the printed circuit, right behind the GPU (marked “Temp. 2”). They were measured while running 3DMark Vantage and they reflect the maximum temperature achieved (as seen at the end of the second graphics test, called “New Calico”).

The results you can see in the table below.

MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition was 8.85% faster than the standard GeForce GTX 260/216 on Call of Duty 4. Further overclocking this card didn’t improve performance on this game.

On 3DMark Vantage the GPU score from MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition was 9.10% higher than the one achieved by the standard GeForce GTX 260/216, increasing 4.75% when we overclocked it, making it to achieve a score 14.28% higher than the standard GTX 260/216.

The 3DMark Vantage Extreme score from MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition was 9.09% higher than the one achieved by the standard GeForce GTX 260/216, increasing 4.73% when we overclocked it, making it to achieve a score 14.25% higher than the standard GTX 260/216.

But the good thing about MSI N260GTX Lightning Black Edition is the efficiency of its cooler, which was making the GPU to run 10.4º C cooler.

We also measured power consumption using a wattmeter. Notice that the wattmeter measures the total AC consumption of the whole system, and not only from the video card. With the system idle, the consumption remained the same (around 133 W), no matter what preset we chose on the AirForce panel. Then we decided to run the 2D video test from PCMark Vantage to see if we could see any difference in consumption. At “Game” preset, consumption was between 218 - 219 W when playing the first video of the test, while at “Office” preset consumption lowered to 213 - 216 W. At “Power Saving” preset consumption dropped to 205 - 208 W, however we could see a lot of lag (stuttering) on the video being played.

So while having a “power saving” feature sounds like a good idea, in practical terms you won’t save a lot.