On the example of the reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB DDR3 (575/1240/2000 MHz).

Features:

• GPU: GeForce GTX 260 (GT200)
• 896 MB GDDR3 SDRAM in 14 Hynix chips on both sides; 1200 (2400) MHz peak clock rate
• Interface: PCI-Express x16
• GPU (ROPs/Shaders) clock rate: 575/1240 MHz (nominal)
• Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal)
• Bus width: 448-bit
• Vertex processors: -
• Pixel processors: -
• Unified processors: 192
• Texture processors: 64 (BLF/TLF)
• ROPs: 24
• Size: 270x100x33 mm (the latter is max. width)
• PCB color: black
• RAMDACs/TDMS: on the separate NVIO chip
• Outputs: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), TV-out (integrated into GPU)
• VIVO: -
• Multi-GPU: Hardware SLI

This card can receive an audio stream from a sound card to transmit it via a DVI-to-HDMI adapter. If this feature is important for you, make sure the adapter is bundled.

This card requires two additional power connections: 2 x 6-pin.

This card features an original TV-Out interface, so an adapter is required to output video via S-Video or RCA. Such adapters are usually bundled.

This card requires a DVI-to-D-Sub adapter to be connected to an analog monitor with a D-Sub interface.

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz maximum refresh rate
• 2048 x 1536 x 32bit @ 85Hz Max - analog interface
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz Max - digital interface (all Dual-Link DVIs)

MPEG2 playback (DVD-Video) was analyzed back in 2002 and little has changed since that time. Modern graphics cards do not load CPUs during video playback by more than 25%.

The HDTV review is available here.