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Blog: Hardware DailyTech Digest: GeForce 8800 Ultra
Sven Olsen (Blog) - April 7, 2007 2:19 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 21 comment(s) - last by Deekity.. on Apr 26 at 11:43 AM
NVIDIA has one more hurrah on the "G80" processor

Shortly after the mid-range GeForce 8000-series launch, NVIDIA has another trick up its sleeve: the GeForce 8800 Ultra.

Roadmaps provided by NVIDIA reveal the 8800 Ultra will launch on May 1 with a price point of $999.  The company would not reveal further specifications about the card, other than it is based on the same G80 core found in the GeForce 8800 GTX.

The $999 price point suggests the 8800 Ultra may actually be two 8800-series cards in one package.  NVIDIA launched the multi-PCB initiative GeForce 7950 GX2 last year as the last high-end push on the GeForce 7000-series GPU. 

The GeForce 7950 GX2 was actually two GeForce 7900 GT processors on two PCBs in an SLI configuration.  Running two of these cards in a PC was essentially the same as running Quad-SLI. 

NVIDIA likely added the card to its roadmaps to combat the upcoming Radeon X2900-family GPUs.  The ATI R600 GPU was scheduled to launch in late March, but soon after the company canceled its launch events and moved the official date into Q2 2007.

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Troll comments in 3... 2... 1...
By Spartan Niner on 4/7/2007 4:09:49 PM , Rating: 2
*puts on flame-retardant suit and waits for the "no one should spend more than $xxx on a graphics card argument"*

Let's face it people - some have more income to spend on gaming than we do. Bashing them or their systems is only showing your envy.

As it is if the two 8800 chips on a single card is true, this means that the high-end of gaming just became >80% higher-end due to the potential for "Quad-SLI" 8800s using "normal" SLI. Pushing the fore-front of PC graphics is always welcome because it will eventually lead to price cuts across the board. There's nothing quite like forced obsolescence...




By Kougar on 4/7/2007 6:49:58 PM , Rating: 2
I'm just thinking they must really believe the 8800 Ultra is worth it's salt to be charging that much for it!! Even the "7800GTX 512mb" wasn't this much. $999 amounts to two 8800GTX cards, or 4 8800GTS cards... which pretty much seals it in my mind that this likely the rumored 8950GX2 some sites have talked about, but just a bit bigger. ;)


RE: Troll comments in 3... 2... 1...
By Bladen on 4/7/2007 6:54:26 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah but doesn't quad sli show very little returns (and AFAIK more often then not it shows negative returns) for its investment?

I'd like to see how they cool it if it is 2 gpu's...


RE: Troll comments in 3... 2... 1...
By Kougar on 4/7/2007 7:16:51 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, QuadSLI is pretty silly. This is likely to just be a 8800GX2 with the "Ultra" moniker... $300-400 above GTX MRSP is just to high for an overclocked G80 with GDDR4.


RE: Troll comments in 3... 2... 1...
By The Sword 88 on 4/7/2007 11:05:59 PM , Rating: 2
It might be the GX2 and have GDDR4 and higher clock speeds, and liquid cooling, and ...uh...thats all I've got


RE: Troll comments in 3... 2... 1...
By nerdye on 4/8/2007 3:46:13 AM , Rating: 2
I would not suspect that a dual pcb gpu configuration of a gforce 8800 video card would be faster clock for clock than a single card, if the history of the 7950gx2 has shown us, it is we should expect two underclocked 8800gtx gpu's binded together to form an 8800 ultra or whatever its called gpu.

DDR4 is yet to be announced, currently only the ATI 1950 high end is the only gpu to be running ddr4 (why, maybe cost, most likely cost). I'm happy with my 7950gt at the moment.


By cheetah2k on 4/9/2007 4:39:16 AM , Rating: 2
Well well..

The problem - more to the point - is that with the arrival of the 8800 series, we've now entered into a phase where we are CPU limited as opposed to GPU limited. I, myself have an AMD FX-60 system, overclocked to 3Ghz and a pair of XFX 8800GTX cards - and to be honest, the 3dmark06 score of 12,960 only increases as i push the CPU higher. I also think that the extra 2,000 marks was a waste of $ (1 x 8800GTX got me 10,800 marks).

So, where does that leave us with 8800 Ultra's? Anyone wanting Quad SLi, you better have a damn good system setup, and headroom for overclocking to get the most out of these cards. Until either AMD Barcelona or Intel's new 45nm Quads come out, stick with 1 x 8800GTX. It's really enough right now - especially if you have an AMD system


RE: Troll comments in 3... 2... 1...
By cheetah2k on 4/9/2007 4:39:58 AM , Rating: 2
Well well..

The problem - more to the point - is that with the arrival of the 8800 series, we've now entered into a phase where we are CPU limited as opposed to GPU limited. I, myself have an AMD FX-60 system, overclocked to 3Ghz and a pair of XFX 8800GTX cards - and to be honest, the 3dmark06 score of 12,960 only increases as i push the CPU higher. I also think that the extra 2,000 marks was a waste of $ (1 x 8800GTX got me 10,800 marks).

So, where does that leave us with 8800 Ultra's? Anyone wanting Quad SLi, you better have a damn good system setup, and headroom for overclocking to get the most out of these cards. Until either AMD Barcelona or Intel's new 45nm Quads come out, stick with 1 x 8800GTX. It's really enough right now - especially if you have an AMD system


By cheetah2k on 4/9/2007 4:41:59 AM , Rating: 2
Man i love Dailytech's ability to double post.

Can someone, for god sakes, fix it!


Drivers
By Russell on 4/8/07, Rating: 0
RE: Drivers
By medavid16 on 4/9/2007 2:45:10 AM , Rating: 5
lol. It works fine for me.


RE: Drivers
By ToeCutter on 4/9/2007 9:44:17 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
Too bad their drivers still don't work properly with SLI (under Vista).


Meh, there are issues with ALL 8800 drivers, whether SLI or not, Vista or XP.

Until nVidia finishes their 8800 drivers, these "Ultra" cards are the gaming equivalent to running premium gas in a Hyundai.

(That would be: Pointless)


RE: Drivers
By VooDooAddict on 4/10/2007 10:35:03 AM , Rating: 2
+1 funny


RE: Drivers
By Topweasel on 4/15/2007 2:09:20 PM , Rating: 2
Actually using premium gas in anything that doesn't call for it. The higher the Octane rating the quicker it burns. Day to day cars are designed with its timings to utilize regular which would burn slower and therefore easier to collect the power. The higher your car revs the more likely you are to need premium, which automatically means lower mpg but less likely chance of spark knock because the fuel doesn't burn fast enough.

The one value to Premium in car that doesn't require it is Premium would burn hotter and has the potential to break up carbon left overs in the engine. But that would be a hypothetical benefit and would only have a temporary effect on your car, all the while wasting gas.


RE: Drivers
By Deekity on 4/26/2007 11:43:38 AM , Rating: 2
atually you have it backwards - the higher the octane the SLOWER it burns...to prevent knock (pre-detonation)...
Octane requirements have more to do with compression ratio and charge temperature than with revs.

Just a heads up...


It'll be the norm...
By techfuzz on 4/9/2007 9:55:28 AM , Rating: 2
I can very easily imagine that in five years, multi-core GPU's and dual-GPU cards could very well be the consumer standard and not on the bleeding edge available only to the hardware enthusiast. Sooner, rather than later, graphics card makers are going to run into a very hard wall where their cards need too much juice and produce too much heat just like CPU makers have in the last few years.




RE: It'll be the norm...
By Martimus on 4/24/2007 3:51:14 PM , Rating: 2
I have a dual GPU card sitting in a box at home. It is called a VooDoo 5500. I replaced it with a X800 XL about 2 years ago, but it actually kept up well with games until that point.


I'm cool
By RMSistight on 4/9/2007 1:00:47 PM , Rating: 2
I'm happy with my 8800 GTX. I don't even have time to game anymore. Maybe when I graduate from college in about a month, I can start gaming again. But my Opteron 165 is starting to suck. I wish I had Core 2 Duos or even Core 2 Quadros for my video editing, but with the pending price wars in Q3 this year, I'll definitely wait.

E6850 3GHz for about $300? I'll DEFINITELY wait.




RE: I'm cool
By shiznit on 4/9/2007 8:56:40 PM , Rating: 2
Q6600 is gonna be $266


By Sharky974 on 4/10/2007 9:55:17 AM , Rating: 3
Against this ridiculous, power hogging Nvidia SLI garbage.

Halogen light bulbs are mandatory, Americans are forced to drive econobox pieces of shit running on corn, and this shit is legal? Really? 360 watts?




Power Consumption?
By cheetah2k on 4/25/2007 2:33:36 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The company would not reveal further specifications about the card, other than it is based on the same G80 core found in the GeForce 8800 GTX.


I have reservations about Nvidia putting to GTX cores in a GX2 configuration based on power consumption. People wanting Quad SLi would have to invest in sub 1500W PSU's to keep their machines stable!

Also, this may prove quite rediculous as well as the 8800's are currently CPU limited, and it would be more sensible to have 2 x 8800GTS in a GX2 configuration, as per the originaly planned release sheets going around the web a few months back.




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