Just Installed BFG 6800 Ultra OC .....!
 

Holy. Crap.

The 5900 I bought almost a year ago was state-of-the-art at the time. This is four times more powerful and it freaking shows.

I'm running Far Cry (the most video-system punishing game out there) at 1600x1200 with all settings at "Very High" and still above 30 fps. It's gorgeous! Doom3 with the settings pegged (except antialiasing, which is "only" at 4X) is spectactular.

I can't wait to see applications that actually use Shader Model 3.0!!!

If you game, you NEED this card.

Look, we all figure that we're going to have to spend X dollars a year on our Porsches, right? Well, I budget a new video card per year for the computer. Granted, this one pushes the limits of that budget (in part b/c I bought a new 480W Antec TrueBlue to power the damned thing) but it is unbeLEEEvable. And if you're using a card that's more than a year old and upgrade to a 6800 Ultra, wrap your head in athletic tape before you start gaming, to keep it from exploding.

Back to saving the Earth from all enemies, foreign, domestic and supernatural.

JP

Cuando mucho pesos, Senor?

i bought a nvidia 6800GT just for the purpose of running Far Cry and Doom3. Doom3 has superior graphics but Far Cry is a much more involved game with lots of depth. i finished it twice, being there was always more than one way to complete the level.
and some of the levels were the BIGGEST of any game to date. the freedom was just phenomenal... compared to Doom3 claustrophic quarters, there's no comparison.
Half Life 2 should be another good one, scheduled for Sept. release?

Burnin -- it's $499 if you can find one. I recommend the BFG b/c it's overclocked to 425/1100 out of the box, with a great additional overclocking utility included that'll optimize the card. If you've got money to burn in addition to oil, BFG offers a card with a factory-built-in water block for cooling (so no fan and no noise) for about $700. I've read people getting that thing up near 500/1250!!!!

On-ramp -- amen about Far Cry. The physics models are 2nd to none, the environments are spectacular and the game is very non-linear. There was a beta patch that applied Shader Model 3.0 for Far Cry, but they pulled it b/c it was crashing a lot on ATI cards. Freaking Canadians. :D

Doom3 is a bit of a let-down game-play wise (very linear, no ability to "lean", unimaginative weapons, etc.) but it is a stunning looking game. I actually think Painkiller is as fun, and it's much less sophisticated. I'm hoping Half Life 2 rocks. But I risk a serious Vitamin D deficiency if it does.

The guy who wrote Riva Tuner said he's got a means to unlock a 6800 GT's 4 "extra" pipelines so it'll run as an Ultra -- keep checking www.nvnews.net to see when it's posted. Good Luck!

JP

Haha, I just realised that JP really did drop off the face of the earth for a few weeks thanks to Doom3.

hey slack we need some screen shots!

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASEEEEEEEE!!!!

I wondered why the lights dimmed. Have you gotten a call from LILCO?

Now my videocard and my airconditioner are battling it out for who gets the amperage. I think the videocard is winning b/c now it's warmer in there. :D

I'll post screenshots this weekend (w/ FRAPS, so you can see what framerates I'm pulling).

JP