Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3GHz (333MHz x 9)

Cooling: Corsair Nautilus500 (Supplied by Corsair) with Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (Supplied by Arctic Cooling)

Motherboard(s): ASUS Blitz Extreme (Supplied by ASUS)

Memory: 2 X 1GB Corsair XMS3 DDR-3 1066MHz 7-7-7-21 (Supplied by Corsair)

Hard Disk(s): Hitachi 80GB 7200RPM SATA-2

Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2, Windows Vista

Drivers: Forceware 162.18

It was only fair to compare the ultimate water cooled Ultra against the ultimate air cooled Ultra which comes in the form of the XXX Edition from XFX, this carrying a slightly lower clock speed of 675MHz Core and 2300MHz DDR Memory clock.

We have also clocked our Leadtek card down to 612MHz core and 2160MHz memory to simulate a stock 8800 Ultra. We have not included it in the sound/power/temperature tests.

We also continue to use Vista to see how we go with a bit of DX10 gaming.

3DMark05

Version and / or Patch Used: Build 130

Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com

Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark05/

Buy It Here

3DMark05 is now the second latest version in the popular 3DMark "Gamers Benchmark" series. It includes a complete set of DX9 benchmarks which tests Shader Model 2.0 and above.

For more information on the 3DMark05 benchmark, we recommend you read our preview here.

The older 3DMark doesn't show us much until we crank it up in the resolution department. The XFX and Leadtek are pretty close but there is a gain from the stock clocked Ultra.