System setup and notes
Hardware
| Graphics Cards | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MiB | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MiB | ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/640M 640MiB | Sapphire Radeon X1950 XTX 512MiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU/Shader/Memory clocks | 612/1512/2160 | 575/1350/1800 | 513/1188/1586 | 648/648/1998 |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz, 4MiB L2 cache, LGA775) | |||
| Motherboard | EVGA nForce 680i SLI | ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe (975X+ICH7R) | ||
| Memory | 2GiB (2 x 1024) Corsair PC8500 EPP | 2GiB (2 x 1024) Patriot XLBK | ||
| Memory timings and speed | 4-4-4-12 2T @ 800MHz (PC6400) | |||
| PSU | FSP Epsilon 600W | |||
| Monitor | Dell 3007WFP - 2560x1600 | |||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 160GB SATAII (ST3160812AS) | |||
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA platform driver 9.53 | Intel Inf 8.0.1.1002 | ||
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 158.19 | CATALYST 7.5 BETA | ||
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional, w/ SP2, 32-bit | |||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks |
Far Cry v1.33 Quake 4 v1.30 Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory v1.05 |
|---|
Notes
We're evaluating the performance of the GeForce 8800 Ultra against the card it replaces at the top of the 8800-series lineup. Further, we've added an ASUS GeForce 8800 GTS 640 and, right now, the fastest card from the Radeon stable, the X1950 XTX.This is a high-end shootout based on single cards and we're dialing up the rendering hurt by adding in evaluation at 2560x1600; the resolution 30in PC displays run at.
We'll be looking at multi-GPU performance in an upcoming review of a new Radeon architecture. Right now, then, the premise is to evaluate which company produces the fastest graphics card and just how much value it represents.
The GeForce 8800 Ultra was tested with ForceWare 158.19 drivers. Initial testing showed a dramatic performance increase in the shader-heavy Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory when compared with the 97.02 driver, so we re-ran both the GTX and GTS 640 with the same 158.19 set.
We're also using a beta CATALYST driver (can you guess which card it's designed for?), keeping things up to date.
No other issues to mention other than the sample card shipping with shaders at 1512MHz as opposed to the stated 1500MHz. That's more to do with clock-linking than anything else.
