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HOLY $#!%: Gainward be thy new love

» Pros

Whoa...extremely powerful. FULL DirectX 9.0c support. Looks like some companies are going to adopt the SM3.0 (Microsoft) standard.

Running very cool (57C @ load, 62C at load on a hot day), begging for the overclock. Load being (what else) Doom 3 for hours on end.

Expert Tool utility is very cool. Low clock leaves some overhead to be explored. Cool Red LEDs matching the brushed aluminum covering of the thin-vane all copper heatsink.

Plugged it in and it worked...GREAT! no hassles. No guilt or regret over the wallet dent.

Welcome upgrade from my immortal, freakishly strong, GF4 Ti4600

» Cons

The fans make a lot of noise. - 10%

the $500.00+ price point. (both nVidia and ATi share this fault though on the High end gear)

The hynix memory modules are stressed a little as they are at 1.1Ghz (550Mhz DDR3). Overclocking the memory to 1260Mhz gave me artifacts almost immediatly in 3dmark, but that was with the 61.77 drivers.

Better have some "big iron" under the hood with a ton of RAM to feed this beast! Not to mention the power supply requirements.

1 year warranty is weak

Bundled Game: Arx Fatalis (coaster)

» Review

Theses are real scores from my home gaming rig. Not scores from a "clean" test bed. As you can imagine, I have a few cool utilities I have found over the years running as TSR's in the background. Although small, the do eat some system resourses. I see this as the only way to do a real review and get data that will jive with the scores of the average non-sponsored gaming nut/addict like myself. ***Update** I now have eDimensional 3D glasses that work very well with this card, save for the newest titles (Doom3, Half-Life2, FarCry) because of the sheer amount of texture passes. I am hoping it is an issue with the last driver set (61.77). When using 3Dglasses, the FPS are cut in half. I just mentioned this because they are cool. I am not using them in these tests.

DOOM3: Getting 64.9 FPS in Timedemo demo1 @1280x1024 with 4xAA and 8xAF, V-Synch = Off, and High texture quality.

3dMARK05: 4118 marks (Default settings for shareware version bench)

3dMARK03: 12029 marks (Default settings for shareware version bench)

3dMARK01: 17105 marks (Default settings for shareware version)

My system-
6800 Ultra with 61.76 drivers (came with CD)
CPU: P4 3.06GHz @load: 3.22GHz (MSI D.O.T. at Captain level. Far from the top setting of Colonel.)
MSI 865PE NEO2 P-Series Motherboard
1024MB DDR400 @333MHz
1)Western Digital 120GB 8MB cache
1)I/O Magic DVD +/- RW
Antec True-Power 430w power supply
WinXP Pro SP2

I am an avid gamer and find no fault with the graphic quality of this card. My poor Sun 20E20 monitor only supports up to 1280x1024. I could play doom at 1600x1200 with no prob. I have done it at LANs using other peoples monitors.

UPDATE: I now have a Samsung SyncMaster 1100DF (SUH-WEET!) 21" Monitor. Doom3 @ 1600x1200@85Hz 4xaa and 8xaf demo1 = 42.9 fps. Drivers= 66.93

FarCry is totaly fluid and smooth at 1600x1200 with 4xaa and 8xaf (BOING!) Again, this was at that LAN (I need a new monitor!**See Above**). No games even hic-up at any resolution I can get out of my poor unworthy rig. From PGA Golf (EA Sports) to Unreal Tournament 2004, absolutely ZERO issues.

This card will kick Doom3 in the nutz.

The Expert Tool allows for easy overclocking and fan speed control with a cool tachometer style GUI.

Power: They say 2 "Unshared" molex connectors from the 12 volt rail. I am running one strand and have both connectors in the card, does this count as shared?...running perfect.

As far as the warranty, if I can beat on it for a year within the specified guidlines, and if it doesn't break? Suh-weet. If it does? Replaced with a shiny new one.

It is loud. When the card detects a 3d engine, the fans spin up even farther. It can happen with some desktop apps as well. I can't sleep in the room with my computer on. I realy want to look in to water cooling, the fans on my 3gig are to loud anyway.