I stated it in a previous Black Edition review as well, once you go black you never go back. And it's the truth in this case as well. The black edition clocked products are pre-selected and tested products that next to a bundles items are guaranteed to run at high clocks absolutely stable. It's therefore very hard to resist the XFX 9800 GTX BE as it definitely is the fastest product in within its product category.

I'm however not 100% sure how well pricing will be. After the entire Radeon 4850 slash GeForce 9800 GTX release the entire pricing scheme needs to reconfigure. The GeForce 9800 GTX+ will be available for 229 USD. Now the clocks on that product are a little slower than this BE, yet the difference performance wise will be small. Currently at the writing of this conclusion there is nothing solid on the final price, which hinders my conclusion a little bit. If the product will remain under 239 USD I say .. fair deal, that's a fair price for a product of this caliber. Here's XFX's latest on that:

''From next week we (23 June and upwards) will be repositioning our XXX and BLACK EDITION product in the market, to be as competitively priced as our future GTX+ edition; with no 3 week delay''

But with the Radeon 4850 out and the 4870 pending for release things are not that easy anymore. And for you as a consumer that is just great ! A week ago a GeForce 9800 GTX would have cost you a neat 300 bucks, you can not get it for 199,- USD. Performance wise, surprisingly, there's even more headroom in this product as we were able to push the clocks even higher than the XFX defined clock speeds. Remember, this is the best batch available. XFX even tests these cards in a cold- and hot chamber. So the cream selection can go even higher. Let's refocus and also recap a little:

GeForce 9800 GTX reference clocks

• Core 675 MHz
• Shader processors 1675 MHz
• Memory 2200 MHz effective

GeForce 9800 GTX+ reference clocks

• Core 738 MHz
• Shader processors 1836 MHz
• Memory 2200 MHz effective

GeForce 9800 GTX XFX Black Edition

• Core 756 MHz
• Shader processors 1890 MHz
• Memory 2288 MHz effective

Guru3D GeForce 9800 GTX XFX Black Edition - overclocked

• Core 810 MHz
• Shader processors 1998 MHz
• Memory 2430 MHz effective

Pretty spectacular clocks to be honest. No matter what though, the 9800 GTX BE is a really great product which, if not priced too high, will offer you a fantastic gaming experience. Included you get for free Assasins Creed which again is a lot of extra value.

It's a really good time to pick up a mid-range product right now guys !

Update: as expected the price will be roughly 239-249 USD, though stock seems to be low right now due to the new pricing schema.