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Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2100 Geforce 6800 Golden Sample 128MB Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Monday, 27 September 2004 |
nV News has gotten their hands on a Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2100 Golden Sample. The subject of this review is definitely a flashy video card in many ways. Those familiar with Gainward are probably used to the long naming scheme, as this is something they've stuck with for years. The company was founded in 1984, and enjoyed success in the early 3D accelerator days using the CARDEXpert name. Around the time of Geforce2, Gainward implemented the industry's first "Overclocked out of the box" line of cards, the Golden Sample line. Using hand-picked components, this line of cards features higher-than-normal clockspeeds, and a robust non-reference pcb design built to take the heat from the higher speeds.
 Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2100 Geforce 6800 Golden Sample 128MB Review
Enthusiasts expected an across-the-board improvement over the nv3x series, and they got it. The 6800 Non-Ultra outperforms the previous generation of video cards quite comfortably, and despite the "slow" memory, it can handle AA and AF very capably. The lack of a vertex unit and rendering quad really doesn't kill this card's performance as much as one would think, its overclocking performance is great, it runs cool, the cooling solution is well-thought-out and quiet, and the newer ForceWare drivers provide awesome performance. The software bundle is what one can expect for this great of a card priced at only $299 (basically just the bare essentials). This card is definitely worth the money.
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NiBiTor v6.03
