I owe heatlessun an apology... re: 8800 Ultra

C

Commander Suzdal

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I, like several others, was quick to look askance at him buying an 8800 Ultra.

In the AnandTech review of DX10 performance, though, there was one constant among all the back and forth over which was the better performance-range card, the 2900XT or the 8800GTS, or which sucked the least, the 2600XT or the 8600GTS.

And that constant was that the ONLY card that delivered consistent playable performance in DX10 was the much-maligned 8800 Ultra. Now that it's dropped from $850 to $600, it just may be the "gotta have DX10" gamer's choice.:eek:
 
It might be the only card that can actually play DX10 games from this generation...

Me thinks an 8800 ultra then step up to next generation might be in order in a few months...
 
The Ultra is just another glorified factory overclocked 8800GTX, albeit one backed by nVidia with a few minor tweaks and a new name.

And if you like factory over-clocked cards, the EVGA 8800GTX ACS3 KO card is actually equal or faster than the Ultra in actual gaming.
 
Technically the Ultra has a better board and memory clocks are much higher... overclock that thing and no KO ACS3 can reach that high. And besides, currently the Ultra from evga is cheaper than the KO ACS3 last i checked so it's not that bad at all
 
ZerazaX said:
Technically the Ultra has a better board and memory clocks are much higher... overclock that thing and no KO ACS3 can reach that high. And besides, currently the Ultra from evga is cheaper than the KO ACS3 last i checked so it's not that bad at all
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Overclocking limits are pure guesswork. You may have an Ultra that is a poor overclocker or one that is. Many people here are using cards that are much faster than the Ultra.
 
The Ultra that I'm planning to get is 660 core and 2300 memory out of the box. Does anyone here run faster than that on an air cooled 8800gtx?
 
Thanks for the apology!

Right now, Ultra's are not as bad as when they were release in terms of price vs performance, and a lot of the Ultra's now are factory OC'ed. The MSI seemed like a good deal two months ago at $750 for 660/2300 speeds, which I don't think a lot of people are toping with GTX/GTS air cooled solutions.

My thinking was at the time that the Ultra, though overpriced, was a lot cheaper than the SLI solutions I had bought, so I was strickly looking at it in terms of best single card performance, period. I just wanted this sig rig to make it to Barcelona/Penryn time.

At any rate, it is the best single card out now, even over OC'ed GTX, as there are plenty of OC'ed Ultra that go even further.
 
Ozoneman said:
The Ultra that I'm planning to get is 660 core and 2300 memory out of the box. Does anyone here run faster than that on an air cooled 8800gtx?
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Is that the MSI? That's what I've got and so far its worked well for me!
 
SuperKeijo said:
How far can you overclock it manually? With atitool ~½ hour no errors..
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I was able to push it to 693 core with no errors in some games, but with errors in others. After tweaking and testing the default speed is what I went with. I really got nothing much out of the extra overclocking with this rig.

Yeah, that NewEgg deal is pretty awsome. Now the GTX looks overpriced! $155 less than what I paid for it just two months ago! Buying technology, like flushing money down a toilet, only faster and no chance of backing up!
 
Ozoneman said:
The Ultra that I'm planning to get is 660 core and 2300 memory out of the box. Does anyone here run faster than that on an air cooled 8800gtx?
Click to expand...

That sounds like quite a good card.

The stock ultra isn't worth the extra cost. But If you can get a guaranteed overclock of 660/2300 and not pay a huge premium, this actually sounds like a good buy.
 
Yeah that MSI is the one I had my eye on. Sweet OC and $594 after MIR? That's less than $100 over the cheapest GTX. It's funny, heatless, I didn't realize that it's the very card you got to begin with. I assume yours has been trouble-free reliability-wise?

Other points: Yes, this is the card that kicked off the A3 revision of the G80 GPU--I think all Ultras are A3 by definition.

While any GTX with an A3 core should be able to clock the same, it won't have as good a stock cooler and it won't come with memory that can factory OC at 2300 DDR.
 
Does evga do their step up program to the next generation? Cause if the G90/92 comes out in November, you could get an Ultra then step up to the next gen and have great performance til then
 
My totally stock Evga Ultra runs stable at 690 core and 1150 memory,no errors running ATI tool for hours or playing Stalker,not bad considering up here in Canada it was 60$ less than the Evga GTX KO ACS3.
 
ZerazaX said:
Does evga do their step up program to the next generation? Cause if the G90/92 comes out in November, you could get an Ultra then step up to the next gen and have great performance til then
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Actually, as I understand it, that's mainly what the step-up program is intended for, so you should be right.

Speaking of which, I just got an e-mail from them this weekend that they have added their 650i Ultra motherboard to the program, so you can step-up to a 680i LT or SLI later if you feel the need.
 
ZerazaX said:
It might be the only card that can actually play DX10 games from this generation...

Me thinks an 8800 ultra then step up to next generation might be in order in a few months...
Click to expand...

What about the GTX? I compared them side by side on Newegg, and other than the clock, and memory frequencies, they are the same it seems. I highly doubt there is anything extra or different in the Ultra.
 
zamardii said:
What about the GTX? I compared them side by side on Newegg, and other than the clock, and memory frequencies, they are the same it seems. I highly doubt there is anything extra or different in the Ultra.
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This has happened before, most often with the high-end ATi cards, where the only difference is higher speeds. But that does make a tangible difference in performance. If some of the above posts are correct about GTX's never getting the A3 revision of the GPU core, then the Ultra will always be capable of running faster and cooler, which has an even more significant impact on shader speed because of how they run at a multiple of the "base" speed. Then there's the memory, which is of higher spec than that on the GTX cards.

All of which to say that yes, the only difference is the speeds, but a GTX is less likely to reach those speeds on stock cooling (very unlikely on the RAM), certainly not with a factory warranty.

Was an Ultra worth it vs. an OC-it-yourself GTX when they were selling for $850? Not really. At $600? Different story.
 
Update: The [H] 2900XT Crossfire review again shows the Ultra in a very positive light, where it holds its own against both 2900XT Crossfire and 8800 GTS 640 SLI.
 
The Anandtech DX10 review also shows the Ultra as being the only card to actually hold up to high settings in DX10 without being unplayable. Indeed, it might be the only card from this generation that will be able to do that
 
ZerazaX said:
The Anandtech DX10 review also shows the Ultra as being the only card to actually hold up to high settings in DX10 without being unplayable. Indeed, it might be the only card from this generation that will be able to do that
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Ummm, yeah--read the first post in this thread... ;)
 
My GTX overclocks to ultra speeds so I'm playable in DX10. I just need Vista, and I'm ready to go.... Now if only something worthwhile would actually COME OUT!!!!! :confused: :mad: :( :eek: :D
 
it comes out because that's the day that my contract here at work ends (federal contractor). i don't know if it will get renewed, so I negotiated with CryTek to release it that day, just in case I was at home and supposed to be looking for a job. :D
 
I thought the 9/11 deal was a little wierd too. Glad I'm not the only one, but it just happens to be the second Tuesday of September, I dont think there's anything else to it.
 
its about time for that game to come out!! :D

it's created so much hype... hope they can release it sooner ;)
 
Crysis is delayed to 2008 as far as I know. Wikipedia also says 9/11 but I distinctly remember reading about a delay on Blues News awhile ago (to 2008)
 
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