How much would you spend for the peak of performance? For $900, Leadtek claims its GeForce 8800 Ultra Leviathan is in a class of its own. After we saw it at Computex this year, we were happy to get our hands on one to see if it lived up to the firm's bragging rights. NVIDIA's default clock speeds for its GeForce 8800 Ultra line is 612MHz for the core clock, 1500MHz for the shader clock and 2160MHz effective for the GDDR3 memory. Seeking to launch the fastest card on the market, Leadtek bundled a custom cooling solution to ensure the device could remain stable while running at the highest frequencies possible. Of course this does require some tweaks towards the cooling system. - Tom's Hardware

Leadtek GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB Leviathan Review

With its special maintenance free water cooling unit, the Leviathan ships at a core clock of 684MHz, which is 72MHz above the Ultra's already aggressive overclock of the G80 processor. The GeForce 8800 GTX runs at 575 MHz and this is over 100MHz faster. The memory clock was raised slightly to 2322MHz effective. While it may not be a large overclock, it does make it the fastest GeForce 8800 Ultra around. The shaders run at the same frequency as the stock Ultra at 1500MHz. We put the card through its paces to show just how extreme it really is and whether its performance lives up to the hype.

The cooler comprises a water block, hoses and a radiator with a pump. The water block fits into a standard GeForce 8800 Ultra PCB meaning that the card is just as long as all of the other Ultra variants. However, you will need a special case for this card. Not only does the case have to be sufficiently deep to fit the long card, but it must have a 120-mm exhaust fan housing on the back wall as well. If your case meets the criteria for this card and cooler combo, the radiator and pump housing is easy to install. The fan is quiet and you will not hear bubbles in the system as long as the long part of the radiator is on top.

The ultimate breakdown is when a card goes bad. If the Leviathan drops dead after standard use, Leadtek will replace it up to 36 months from the purchase date. The only cost to the consumer if the card goes bad is the shipping back to Leadtek. There could be a hidden cost if Leadtek finds that the card is fully functional. It has the right to charge $30 for return shipping and a diagnostic fee if there is nothing wrong with the card. We do not like this practice as the customer spent $900 for the card, and if something should go wrong, it should be covered, no strings attached.

The Leadtek Leviathan is certainly the fastest single graphics card we have in the lab. The extra clock cycles and cool operation allow it to push past the GeForce 8800 Ultra's reference design specifications with ease. When it comes to retail hardware with a warranty, the Leviathan is the king of extreme. This is neither for the faint at heart nor for those looking to double up with SLI technology. There are a few drawbacks to this card. The first is that there are no SLI options unless you have a large case with dual 120-mm exhaust holes. The card does not even come with an SLI bridge if you wanted to.

All in all the card and cooler are esthetically appealing and they get the job done well. Our pump failure and overly-warm room temperature scenario tests show that this card can take a beating and still keep cranking out those power sapping, graphically intensive frames. If you have the means and are looking for the fastest card on the market, the Leviathan is the best ready to go out of the box graphics card around.