GeForce 8800 Ultra arrives, not all cards are the same

Some were talking about 650MHz GPU/2250MHz memory, but that was quickly quashed by the rest confirming a slower 612MHz GPU/2160MHz RAM setting.

In the end, it looks like both camps were right. At least in the case of Sparkle's offerings.

These guys came out with not one, but two 8800 Ultra offerings. The standard one, Sparkle GeForce 8800 Ultra, is clocked at the 612/2160 standard and, otherwise, is pretty much the same as other such offerings announced today. The other, the Calibre P880 Ultra, with that same thick TEC Peltier cooler that we saw in their previous reviewed units, sports the higher 650/2250 factory settings.

Now, this is the highest ever GDDR3 factory memory speed setting on any GPU till now - right up there with the GDDR4 clock speeds of Radeon HD 2900XTX. However, the higher GPU speed is more important to me - all the 8800 series tests till now indicate at least double, or in 3DMark06 triple, point upgrades for every GPU MHz jump compared to the basic memory clock jump, the one before DDRing it, say 1000 MHz x DDR.

I guess Asus, BFG and few privileged others will do the same, offering both of these clock speed grades - for those willing to shell out a lot more dosh on few extra MHz, you can do it now. We'll follow up with the reviews in due course, of course. µ