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Impressions

Definitely a new generation of GPU powers the GTX 280, but appearance-wise, the GTX 280 is not a very far departure from recent NVIDIA models.

The dual-slot cooler is closely related to the one found on the 9800 GTX, and 8800 GTS 512. The fan is positioned on the far right of the board, beneath the power connectors. The fan is pretty good -- it runs at a high RPM, seems to push a good amount of air, and is audible, but not too loud. Similar to the 9800GX2, the back of the card has plastic covering over it. Also like the 9800GX2, the GTX 280 has a LED, visible on the bracket, which besides looking nice can help diagnose possible problems that might pop up over the life of the video card (such as, for example, if the card is not receiving enough power.)

The GTX 280, 9800 GTX, and 8800 GTS 512 share a similar design for the cooler, because the design works

Make no mistake: the GTX 280 is one big card indeed. Only out-done by the 9800GX2, the GTX 280 will surely hang off the end of your motherboard. As shown in the picture below, a 8800GT almost looks tiny when compared to the girth of the GTX 280.

Length comparison: XFX 8600 GTX, Palit 9600GT Sonic, GTX 280    Width comparison: XFX 8800 GT, GTX 280, Asus HD4870X2

The GTX 280 is capable of tri - SLI.  The SLI connectors are kept under a removable plastic covering.

Specifications

 The GTX 280 has the following attributes:

• DirectX 10.0 /  Shader Model 4.0 capable
• 32 improved ROPS
• 80 texture filling units
• can manage 30,702 concurrent processing threads (in comparison, the 8800 GTX can handle 12,288)
• improved Z-cull and compression which leads to better performance, especially at higher resolutions