Nvidia XFX 8800 Ultra Extreme
When that puny 8800 GTX isn't nearly enough...

So, GeForce 8800 Ultra deserves the title of today’s fastest gaming graphics accelerator. However, we have also confirmed the results of our preliminary testing that we carried out some time ago: the advantage of GeForce 8800 Ultra over GeForce 8800 GTX may vary from a few percent to 20%, but on average equals 8%-15%. We have detected only two cases when the performance gain from GeForce 8800 Ultra can bear real practical value for a gamer: F.E.A.R. Extraction Point and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl , both tested in 1920x1200 resolution.

In a few other games, such as Prey , Gothic 3 or Neverwinter Nights 2, we can claim that this solution features some performance reserve that may be efficient again in 1920x1200 resolution. GeForce 8800 Ultra may reveal its advantages even better in higher resolutions like 2048x1536 or 2560x1600, but there are very few monitors that can handle resolutions like that and they are pretty expensive. Nevertheless, we are going to check this out in one of our next articles.

All in all, GeForce 8800 Ultra could be a disappointment for an end-user, because it doesn’t boast any significant advantages over the GeForce 8800 GTX except for a few individual cases described above, but costs considerably more. Nevertheless, the solution is still the today’s fastest single-card gaming solution, so Nvidia did successfully strengthen its positions as the manufacturer of world’s fastest gaming accelerator. They have also demonstrated that their technical potential is sufficient to raise the frequency of such complicated chip as G80 without pushing its power consumption beyond acceptable limits – something former ATI Technologies failed to achieve with their R600. Anyway, Nvidia did attain their primary goal: to prove their technology leadership in the consumer 3D market.

Read all about it here, courtesy of xbitlabs.com

Eric