New Ultra High End Price Point With GeForce 8800 Ultra
by Derek Wilson on May 2, 2007 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test
As for our performance tests, we will be looking at a handful of games running the extreme resolutions and quality settings the 8800 Ultra is designed to enable. We will be including the stock 8800 GTX as well as the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX KO ACS3. This should give us a good sense of what the new 8800 Ultra really has to offer.
We are using the same testing rig we've employed for quite some time now.
Games include staples such as: BF2, Prey, Oblivion, and Rainbow Six: Vegas. We will also be testing new comers S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Supreme Commander. This article sees the addition of AA modes in Oblivion and Rainbow Six, as this high performance hardware needs some room to stretch its legs.
Where possible we use built-in benchmarks. FRAPS is used for Oblivion, Rainbow Six, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (which has demo play functionality but no demo record).
As for our performance tests, we will be looking at a handful of games running the extreme resolutions and quality settings the 8800 Ultra is designed to enable. We will be including the stock 8800 GTX as well as the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX KO ACS3. This should give us a good sense of what the new 8800 Ultra really has to offer.
We are using the same testing rig we've employed for quite some time now.
| System Test Configuration | |
| CPU: | Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz/4MB) |
| Motherboard: | EVGA nForce 680i SLI |
| Chipset: | NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI |
| Chipset Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce 9.35 |
| Hard Disk: | Seagate 7200.7 160GB SATA |
| Memory: | Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (1GB x 2) |
| Video Card: | Various |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 7.4 NVIDIA ForceWare 158.19 |
| Desktop Resolution: | 1280 x 800 - 32-bit @ 60Hz |
| OS: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
Games include staples such as: BF2, Prey, Oblivion, and Rainbow Six: Vegas. We will also be testing new comers S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Supreme Commander. This article sees the addition of AA modes in Oblivion and Rainbow Six, as this high performance hardware needs some room to stretch its legs.
Where possible we use built-in benchmarks. FRAPS is used for Oblivion, Rainbow Six, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (which has demo play functionality but no demo record).
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redbone75 - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
You meant we will not "accept" them;)redbone75 - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
But anywho, I completely agree with you. I just built a complete rig for a buddy of mine for barely more than that. And I mean, complete, he needed everything from monitor (Samsung 941BW) to keyboard and mouse and speakers(7.1). Core 2 Duo based (E6320 on a Gigabyte DS3, 2 gigs of Corsair DDR2 800, 320GB hdd, X1900 GT). All for under $1100 USD after rebates. Not a gaming rig for sure, but a respectable system nonetheless. Even if I had the money I wouldn't see any justification in buying an $830 card that offered only marginal gains over it's less expensive sibling.kmmatney - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
What do you mean not a gaming rig? You can game fine on that, the video card can handle native resolution for most games. I game with a slightly lesser system than that.strikeback03 - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
If you buy a Ferrari and don't crash it, you can probably resell in 5 years for 80% or more of the cost new. Try that with a video card.Sunrise089 - Thursday, May 3, 2007 - link
Please look up exotic car prices. You will find you do NOT get an 80% return on anything other than a few tiny examples of cars that were generally unavailable at the time of their initial offerings. Also note that when you take advantage of the gouging to non-established customers of exotic cars, the depreciation will often be even more than adds would appear to indicate, as the orginal paid-for price may have been much higher than MSRP.strikeback03 - Thursday, May 3, 2007 - link
the "few tiny examples" are the ones that appreciate, such as the Enzo. If you were one of the 399 that bought one from the factory for around $650k, you now have a car worth over a million, and likely to keep heading up as dumb comedians crash them. Something relatively common though, such as a 355 from 10 years ago, is still worth over 50% of new (assuming you bought one through a dealer, not paid extra to get one immediately). Even NSXs from the early 90s are still worth $25-35k. And judging by the current market, even in 20-30 years, the Ferrari will still have some value because it is a Ferrari, independant of actual performance relative to current models. Any computer hardware, unless extremely limited production so that it is a collectors item, will be essentially worthless by the time it is 3 or 4 generations old.coldpower27 - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
There is a difference in the pace of advancement between these 2 industries a new Ferrari from 2003 is not so much inferior compared to the Ferrari from 2008 perse.You can barely compare video cards that are 5 years apart. If the pace of advancement was slower video cards would hold their value longer as well.
ss284 - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
Voodoo 5 6000swaaye - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
Except that V5 6000 was never released to consumer retail and thus it's incredibly rare. So its value is just due to obscurity.Samus - Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - link
looks like teh sux0rs.unfortunately, ATI still doesn't have anything that can touch any of the 8800's :(