Leadtek WinFast GTX 260: Package and Accessories

The youngest solution in the new Nvidia family will be represented by a new graphics card from Leadtek, which solutions have received great response from Xbit Labs in the past. Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 has every chance to repeat its predecessors’ success. The card retails in a bright-colored white-and-orange box decorated with a war robot:

This aesthetically modest design is, however, attractive enough. Besides, it really stands out and is quite eye catching. The front of the box is not very informative and the only useful message there is the PCI Express bus version and amount and type of onboard graphics memory. By the way, unlike Gainward, Leadtek states the memory type absolutely correctly. Moreover, here you can also see a mention of the full version of a popular RPG Neverwinter Nights 2 game bundled with the card.

The card and accessories are all very thoroughly packed and are protected with soft inserts. Besides the graphics accelerator, you also get the following items:

• Two 2xMolex → 6-pin PCI Express adapters
• DVI-I → D-Sub adapter
• Internal S/PDIF cable
• Universal YPbPr/S-Video/Composite splitter
• Brief installation guide
• CD disk with drivers and full users manual
• DVD disk with Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

In fact, the accessories bundle of Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 suffers from exact same drawbacks as that of Gainward GeForce GTX 280 1024MB: it is pretty scarce and missing some important components. This time, the power adapters are there, although they are not that necessary since the card features common 6-pin connectors that are available on all contemporary PSUs. However, if your PSU only has one 6-pin connector, one of the bundled adapters may be very useful.

What was actually missing in this box, were the DVI-I → HDMI adapter and S/PDIF cable. Of course, not all of you will be connecting the gaming PC to a plasma or large LCD screen, however, the absence of a corresponding adapter in the era of HDMI interface is a pretty serious drawback.

Just like Gainward GeForce GTX280 1024MB, Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 ships without any HD video player software. Since the corresponding adapters are also missing, you will have to spend some extra cash if you want to use this card in a home entertainment center. However, new Nvidia cards are not the best choice for a HTPC anyway: they are too bulky and consume too much power, so they will not feel at home inside most multimedia cases even if they are equipped with a sufficiently powerful PSU.

Leadtek’s Neverwinter Nights 2 game seems to be a better choice than Gainward’s Tomb Raiser: Anniversary, but tastes differ, so I am sure a lot of gamers will prefer the latter. They are almost identical from the technical standpoint and cannot actually reveal the potential of the new graphics cards.

Our conclusion about the package and accessories of Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 will be moderately positive – while the former definitely scores big, the latter is satisfactory at best. Despite lower price of Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 compared with the above discussed Gainward’s card, the company should consider improving their accessories bundle. At least they should include DVI-I → HDMI adapter and S/PDIF cable, and ideally, they could also throw in special software for HD video playback. Anyway, Leadtek’s solution does make a very well-balanced and positive impression.

Now we should move on to discussing the technical peculiarities of the new Nvidia graphics accelerators. There will be only one chapter devoted to this topic, because both models use the same PCB layout and differ just slightly from one another, at least on the outside.