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We were very interested to see
just how high our GeForce 6800 Ultra sample would overclock,
considering how large the core is and that it's using a
relatively new memory technology. We installed NVIDIA's
registry hack called, "CoolBits" (yes
it still works with the Forceware v60.xx drivers) and raised
the core and memory clock speeds on the 6800 Ultra until we
started to see visual anomalies on-screen during our
benchmarks...
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Overclocking The GeForce 6800 Ultra |
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There Is Always Some Wiggle Room... |
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When all was said and done, we
were able to take the core up from its default 400MHz clock
speed to 449MHz, an increase of over 12%. The Samsung GDDR3
memory on the card didn't overclock very well though.
We were only able to take the memory up to 1.14GHz DDR, an
increase of only 40MHz. At anything higher than
1.14GHz, the card would fail the stability / quality test
built-into NVIDIA's Forceware drivers. To demonstrate
the benefit of overclocking the card, we re-ran the Aquamark
3 benchmark at 1600x1200 with 4X AA and 8X anisotropic
filtering enabled. In the end, we saw roughly an 11%
increase in performance. Not bad considering the
GeForce 6800 Ultra was already the fastest video card we
have tested to date.
Following a long steady
succession of incremental upgrades, it was refreshing to
test a product like the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra.
After evaluating its in-game image quality and benchmarking
it versus the previous generation of flagship products,
we're reminded of ATi's release of the Radeon 9700 Pro back
in August of 2002, or dare we say even the 3Dfx Voodoo 2.
It has been quite a while since we have seen such dominant
performance from a new product in this market. Thanks
to its new rotated-grid anti-aliasing sampling algorithm and
excellent anisotropic filtering techniques, the GeForce 6800
Ultra's in-game image quality is vastly improved over the
GeForce FX as well. In our opinion NVIDIA has even surpassed ATi's image quality this time around - the 6800 Ultra's AA
seemed just a bit more crisp, and its anisotropic filtering
was a tad better as well. The GeForce 6800 Ultra's
performance is obviously a strong point also. We
tested the card in 43 different configurations using 9
different benchmarks, and in all but a few CPU limited
circumstances, the GeForce FX 6800 Ultra was the dominant
performer, in some cases more than quadrupling the
performance of the previous generation.
Its image quality and
performance are great, but what about pricing and
availability? Well, NVIDIA will be setting the MSRP of
the GeForce 6800 Ultra at exactly the same level as the 5950
Ultra, $499.00 US. While 500 clams isn't exactly
cheap, expect street prices to drop rather quickly.
The GeForce FX 5950 Ultra isn't quite 6 months old and they
can be found for less than $370 at a few on-line resellers.
The 12-Pipe 6800 "non-Ultra" will be priced at a much more
palatable $299 at launch. However, without knowing its final
shipping clock speeds and testing the card, we can't attest
to its performance just yet. We also don't know
exactly when to expect cards to hit the retail shelves,
although we're told late next month, or early June is
likely.
The last unknown is what the
folks at ATi have up their sleeves. Rumor has it,
their next generation high-end GPUs will also be 16 and
12 pipeline parts. If they can hit similar clock
speeds and improve upon the efficiency and quality of the
R3x0, ATi may be still be able to retain the 3D performance
crown, but
lets not speculate. We're sure ATi will show their
hand shortly, and we don't want to steal any of NVIDIA's
thunder. They are to be commended for producing a
killer product in the GeForce 6800 Ultra. Those of you
that waited to upgrade your video card recently made a wise
choice. This generation appears to be an order of
magnitude faster than the last. Just be prepared to
upgrade your power supply as well.
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