purchase this item on release day on Amazon when it be on backorder . surprisingly enough , my order go through and ship on the same day ! get it the next day , since I pay for overnight shipping . have to pay sale tax though , since I have it ship to New York . sigh . anyway , more about the card . this thing be huge ! significantly larger than my old gtx 560 ti -lrb- which die on I and have rma'e -rrb- . performance-wise , the card push most game out today at Ultra . it easily get 80-100 fp in battlefield 3 . most of the time I have it set with v-sync turn on , though , so it use less power and run cooler . the GPU overclock like a beast , too . get it run at around 1227 MHz stable on my first try . I reckon I can push it much further than that , but it seem unnecessary at this time . temperature-wise , the stock cooler on this card surprisingly perform really well . it run much cooler than my gtx 560 Ti , which use to run at 85c . the stock cooler be really silent on idle up until the 75 % mark . by the time you reach the 85 % -lrb- max -rrb- fan speed , the card 's fan get fairly loud . one thing to note , though : when overclocking , this card will start to slightly downclock the GPU core once the temperature hit 70C , which be fairly peculiar since 70 degree be practically cool enough for a GPU . this be one more reason why I will not tinker with the Power target just yet until my gtx 680 Backplate & High-flow bracket arrive -lrb- as increase voltage would increase temp -rrb- . but on stock GPU clock , I have get it barely hit 65c with a slightly more aggressive fan curve -lrb- which be variable in EVGA precision x -rrb- . OC temperature reach around 69-70c for my card , and that be with a case with decent airflow -lrb- Cooler Master Cosmos II -rrb- in a very hot summer climate here in the Philippines -lrb- ambient temp around 36c \/ 102f -rrb- . I have no qualm about order this item halfway around the world , since EVGA 's new 3-year global warranty policy definitely make it real easy for I to conduct warranty claim should any problem arise in the future . give you extra piece of mind if you want to sell it in a few year ' time . so in summary , for $ 499 , this be one heck of a card . I be really happy I wait out until this card come out . be suppose to purchase a gtx 580 . this card be definitely worth the wait - even if it be on backorder . : -rrb- UPDATE : get my EVGA gtx 680 high flow bracket and backplate . just try to push it a bit more today . Got to 1234MHz , and then 1254mhz - still without change the power target . temp be about 67-68c now . awesome .