When we first took a look at the GeForce 8800 Ultra, we were left with some mixed feelings. On one hand it was, and still is, the undisputed graphics champ. On the other hand, it didn't introduce any new features and it wasn't a whole lot faster than its significantly cheaper sibling, and former graphics champ, the GeForce 8800 GTX. The nearly $250 price delta between the Ultra and the GTX was hard to justify since the Ultra is essentially just an overclocked GTX with a larger cooling apparatus. Anyone looking for screaming top-end performance that isn't hell bent on owning the absolute fastest graphics card on the market has a bevy of GeForce 8800 GTX cards to choose from. - HotHardware

PNY XLR8 8800 GTX 768MB OC Edition Card Review

Although no GTX can match the Ultra in core clock, memory and shader clock frequency right out of the box, several factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX's come pretty close and a couple even manage to exceed the Ultra's stock frequency in one of the three areas. The PNY XLR8 8800 GTX OC edition is one such product. PNY currently offers a full range of GeForce 8 series graphics cards from an affordable GeForce 8500 GT to a factory overclocked GeForce 8800 Ultra. Possibly the most interesting product in their entire product range is their factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX.

The XLR8 8800 GTX OC version is factory overclocked to near Ultra speeds and even exceeds the Ultra's stock core clock frequency, yet it's one of the cheapest factory overclocked GTX's currently available. The XLR8 has its core, shader, and memory clock frequencies all overclocked at the factory, so it's ready to rumble right out of the box. The setting applied by PNY are 621/2000MHz clock speed with a shader set at 1458MHz. Overall, the XLR8's OC edition generous factory overclock could give it the muscle it needs to keep pace with a geniune GeForce 8800 Ultra grapics card.

Almost every GeForce 8800 GTX currently available is an identical copy of the NVIDIA reference design, generally differing only in the stickers that adorn their coolers and the color of their PCB's. PNY's XLR8 8800 GTX is no exception. One of the reasons for the reference design's mass adoption, besides to save on development costs, is that the reference design's cooler is effective and quiet enough for most applications. The GeForce 8800 GTX's monsterous GPU also runs far too hot for single slot or passive solutions to be viable. PNY's version of the NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTX reference design is a near exact replica.

We spent a little time overclocking the PNY XLR8 8800 GTX OC edition using the clock frequency slider available within the NVIDIA control panel after the nTune utility had been installed. To find the card's peak core and memory frequencies, we slowly raised their respective sliders until we begun to see visual artifacts on-screen while running a game or benchmark, or until our test system was no longer stable. After some time, we finally arrived at a final overclock of 630MHz for the core and 2200 MHz for the memory. This was the highest overclock we were able to achieve with perfect stability.

PNY's decision to produce a relatively cheap factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX was a good one in our opinion. The XLR8 8800 GTX OC edition performs very well right out of the box and it's one of the cheapest factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX's currently available. Although it doesn't have the highest factory overclock you can currently get on a GeForce 8800 GTX, the XLR8 gets pretty close and is highly competative, especially when you consider its price. Our unit also has some headroom left to spare, as it was able to achieve a final overclock that was just a tad faster than an GeForce 8800 Ultra.

Overall, we really liked the PNY XLR8 8800 GTX OC edition. The XLR8 offers near GeForce 8800 Ultra performance while managing to be one of the cheaper GeForce 8800 GTX's around. Despite its somewhat spartan bundle which lacks the usual free game or application, it isn't missing any essentials and everything you need to hook it up and get fragging is included in the box. If you're in the market for top-end performance but you can't quite stomach the GeForce 8800 Ultra's top-end price tag, check out the PNY XLR8 8800 GTX OC version for a no frills, all thrills alternative.