Features & Specifications
PNY clocks the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked to 648 MHz on the core and 2.2GHz on the memory. The shader clock on the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked runs 1512MHz. Memory bandwidth is 107.4 GB/sec and the fill rate is 41.4 billion pixels per second. All other features on the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked are the same as the other NVIDIA 8800 Ultra cards that I have reviewed; check out the specifications page of this review for more details.

Test Machine
Before we get into the performance of the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked, let’s go over the specs of the test machine I am using.

• CPU- Intel QX6700
• Mainboard- XFX 680i
• RAM- PNY XLR8 2GB PC2-9384
• OS- Windows XP Pro SP2
• Display- Dell 30” UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC

Benchmarks & Testing
To test the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked graphics card I used my normal test regime of 3DMark06, FEAR, Quake 4 and Battlefield 2142. Over the last few weeks, several DirectX 10 demos have been released, but I am not adding them to my test regime at this time because I don’t think the Vista drivers are working well yet.

3DMark06
The first test up for the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked is with 3DMark06, which I ran at default settings in the application and default settings in the NVIDIA control panel. The 3DMark06 test results were as follows:

• Total 3DMarks- 13100
• SM2.0- 5411
• HDR/SM3.0- 5529
• CPU- 4232
• Return to Proxycon- 44.729
• Firefly Forest- 45.451
• Canyon Flight- 52.613
• Deep Freeze- 57.969
• CPU1- 1.401
• CPU2- 2.045

To compare performance the BFG 8800 Ultra OC that I reviewed last week scored 12966 in 3DMark06 and the PNY 8800 GTX Overclocked graphics card scored 12639 3DMarks.

Battlefield 2142
The next test up is Battlefield 2142 which I ran at a screen resolution of 2048 x 1536 with all settings on high and 4x AA. I used Fraps to record frame rate data on a single player map called “Fall of Berlin.” Fraps recorded the following data:

• Min- 57 fps
• Avg- 68.548 fps
• Max- 93 fps

Quake 4
Next up was Quake 4 where I again used Fraps to record frame rate data while running the game on ultra detail settings as 1920 x 1200 with 16x AA and multi core on. Fraps recorded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 10fps
• Avg- 24.279
• Max- 57 fps

I started recoding frame rate data with Fraps at the beginning of a new game and the only hiccup that I noticed with frame rates was as you first come upon team mates after leaving the downed ship. After that things ran silky smooth and were playable, the min frame rate here is a bit deceiving as it only lasted about 1 second out of the entire test time.

FEAR
The final test up for the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked was with FEAR. I ran FEAR at 2560 x 1600 with 4x AA, 16x AF, soft shadows on and all settings at max. The in game test loop recorded the following performance data:

• Min- 28 fps
• Avg- 50 fps
• Max- 109 fps

Percentages show that 59% of the time frame rates were 25-40 fps and 61% of the time frame rates were greater than 40 fps while playing FEAR at these settings.

Final Thoughts
PNY has a very fast 8800 Ultra on their hands here, besting the veteran card overclocked BFG in performance tests. This lands the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked graphics card right at the top of the performance list when it comes to 8800 Ultra graphics cards. The price is right to with the PNY XLR8 8800 Ultra Overclocked carrying a MSRP of $759.99.