Labs

Nvidia's flagship GeForce 8800 Ultra is expensive at £340, but the brute force it offers means it's been a popular choice for enthusiasts. However, the arrival of the Radeon HD 3870 X2 has blown the speed-race wide open.

The Ultra is a 90nm part, with 681 million transistors crammed onto it anda hefty 768MB of GDDR3 memory. The standard core clock is 612MHz, with128 stream processors at 1.5GHz anda 384-bit memory bus. Like the 8800 GTX, it goes one step further than the rest of the 8 series by allowing three-way SLI, although with support for just DirectX

ADVERTISEMENT

10 and Shader Model 4.0 it lags slightly behind the latest ATi cards.

But at this end of the market, it's all about speed, and the 8800 Ultra has oodles. It romped through our Medium Crysis test at an average of 64fps, and even managed a playable 33fps at 1,600 x 1,200 with the High settings enabled. At the Very High settings, it fell behind the Radeon HD 3870 X2, and the same occurred in Call of Duty 4 - 65fps compared with the X2's 74fps in our High test - suggesting that those with large-format monitors may get more from the ATi monster. And you'll save £100 by opting for the X2.

As if that wasn't bad enough for the Ultra, it's also undermined by one of its own. The 8800 GTS 512MB has the same 128 stream processors on a more efficient 65nm board, with a faster core clock, offsetting the smaller memory and lower bus speed. At mid-range resolutions and settings, it matches the Ultra, only slipping behind when we switched to high resolutions. If you don't have a large monitor, the 8800 GTS 512MB will give you enough grunt and it's nearly half the price.

The Ultra - the one-time speed king- is starting to look its age.