Today we put four factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 580 cards to the test: Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 580 Super Overclock, MSI’s N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC, Sparkle’s X580 Captain, and Zotac’s GeForce GTX 580 AMP²! Edition. Which one is worth its premium price?

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 580 is currently the fastest graphics card based on a single GPU. If you want more performance than what it can do, you need to look at a dual-GPU board or a pair of cards in CrossFire or SLI (and if you don't know what the card is capable of, check out GeForce GTX 580 And GF110: The Way Nvidia Meant It To Be Played).

As we've come to expect, there are board partners who deviate from the company's specification in one way or another in the interest of differentiation. Some employ overclocks straight from the factory, others implement custom cooling solutions, and nearly all try to offer unique features to set their products apart from the pack.

Today we're rounding up four premium GeForce GTX 580s, all of which arrive overclocked, and comparing them to a reference GeForce GTX 580. Our contenders include Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 580 Super Overclock, MSI’s N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC, Sparkle’s X580 Captain, and Zotac’s GeForce GTX 580 AMP²! Edition.

As mentioned, all of these cards sport factory overclocks of varying degrees. But there are some unique features in the bunch, too. Let’s take a closer look at each unique spin on Nvidia’s design.