NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB
Contents
- Introduction
- Graphics card features
- Testbed configuration, benchmark list
- Test results
- Conclusions
Conclusions
So:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB PCI-E is, on the one hand, a purely image product called to attract attention to NVIDIA in the light of AMD's closest announcements and show who's the king with the crown and the top-performing graphics card.
On the other hand, we used to see that "Ultra" suffix is added to products that have no rivals even among lower-end overclocked products. For example, 5900 Ultra couldn't be reached by any overclocked 5900 cards. 6800 GT in its Turbo/Golden Sample modifications still couldn't reach the level of 6800 Ultra. Etc. But here we can see that a previously released overclocked 8800 GTX (while we tested a product from EVGA, there are other overclocked GTX cards) not only catches up with 8800 Ultra, but sometimes outperforms it. This is pure nonsense. And 612 MHz core clock is still not enough to deserve the proud "Ultra" suffix, even with the highest shader unit clock rate. But, of course, as more shader-oriented games are released, the advantage of 8800 Ultra will grow.
And now it's a purely enthusiast product for those willing to pay any money to get the most powerful graphics card. Overclockers will also like 8800 Ultra, because the new A3 revision provides higher overclocking potential (we achieved 652/2200 MHz). But this is related to core only, since memory operates at lower voltage, so it would be impossible to achieve the regular 2500 MHz. Also mind the cooler dimensions, preventing the card from being installed into some motherboards.
In general, the card worked stable without any hardware issues.
As always, the choice is yours, dear readers. We just provide you with information, but restrain from direct instructions regarding certain products. I might just add that the nForce 680i + 8800 Ultra bundle will give you the fastest gaming platform today. And don't remember there are still no DX10 test results. Benchmarking under MS Windows Vista and in DX10 applications might produce a generally different picture. Let's wait for the DX10 benchmarks.
And another thing that we are not tired to repeat from article to article. Having decided to choose a graphics card by yourself, you have to realize you're to change one of the fundamental PC parts, which might require additional tuning to improve performance or enable some qualitative features. This is not a finished product, but a component part. So, you must understand that in order to get the most from a new graphics card, you will have to acquire some basic knowledge of 3D graphics and graphics in general. If you are not ready for this, you should not perform upgrades by yourself. In this case it would be better to purchase a ready chassis with preset software (along with vendor's technical support,) or a gaming console that doesn't require any adjustments.
More comparative charts of this and other graphics cards are provided in our 3Digest.
PSU for testbed provided by TAGAN
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Dell 3007WFP monitor for testbed provided by
NVIDIA Russia
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