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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed analysis of the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics card. For all the in-depth analysis and testing you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

Click this link to get the full article

The GeForce 8800 Ultra is basically a glorified, overclocked 8800 GTX graphics card with a slightly optimized PCB and core binning in order to bring power consumption to a lower level.  The G80 GPU is still 681 million transistors strong and features 128 stream processors in a unified shader architecture.  We won't get into more of the details on the GPU architecture than that though, but we have TONS of information on it in our original 8800 GTX article. 

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The PCB on the 8800 Ultra is the same size as on the 8800 GTX though the cooler has gone through some significant modifications to enable it to cool with the same power envelope but with less noise.  And the results were noticeable (or rather, NOT) as the new cooler design was quieter than the GTX and much less noisy than the X1950 XTX's cooler.

Here's a quick rundown on WHAT is being overclocked on the 8800 Ultra:

• 612 MHz core clock versus 575 MHz on GTX
• 1500 MHz shader clock versus 1350 MHz on GTX
• 2.16 GHz memory clock versus 1.8 GHz on GTX

Our benchmark suite has moved to Vista 64-bit, just a heads up, but let's see some benchmarks:

The raw gaming performance of the GeForce 8800 Ultra is simply unmatched by any single graphics card on the market today including NVIDIA's own 8800 GTX card.  While the Ultra is in fact just an overclocked version of the 8800 GTX core, those gamers that are always looking to see newer, faster parts are going to fall in love with the 8800 Ultra even if they aren't going to be purchasing one.  And having "just an overclocked GTX" isn't really a bad thing when you look at the performance we are being shown.

Pricing and Availability

Now it's time for those of you that are already rolling eyes or cursing NVIDIA's name: the MSRP on this card is set at $829.  Yes, eight hundred twenty-nine.  Dollars.  The GeForce 8800 GTX can be found for $550; the 8800 GTS can be found for under $400.  Unless you are the most power-hungry of users I think you'll find those cards to be in line with pricing schemes the general public is comfortable.

Final Thoughts

There really isn't much to say about the GeForce 8800 Ultra -- if you want the absolute fastest graphics card for your PC, you will be buying this card for the foreseeable future.  If you want "great gaming" with a few extra hundred bucks in your pocket, might I recommend the 8800 GTX or 8800 GTS cards?

If you have any questions or comments on this review of the product itself, join in the discussion at this thread of our forums!

Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the XFX 8800 GTX XXX Edition, and anything else you may want to buy!

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