News XFX announces its 512MB GeForce 6800 Ultra

It looks like the initial pictures that we posted last week were actually of a 512MB GeForce 6800 Ultra.

We recieved this picture from XFX over the weekend, they will be showing two of these at CeBIT at some point. Here's a quote from the mailshot:

“Here at XFX we recognise the importance of continuing to innovate and push the bar for graphics performance for enthusiasts out there, we knew that two 6800 Ultra’s in their gaming Rig giving a total of 512mb of graphics memory, well frankly is just not enough! We could see the hardcore out there were hungry for more power – and we want to give it to them! These guys will be saying “I have the ultimate gaming rig; I have two 6800Ultra’s in SLI mode with a 1024MB of Graphics memory!”​

This kind of technology doesn't come cheap - XFX estimate that the 512MB GeForce 6800 Ultra will retail for around £699 - customers who are wanting to purchase two for SLI setups recieve priority on orders. The card will come bundled with Doom 3, FarCry, X²: The Threat and MotoGP 2.

£1400 is a lot to pay for a pair of video cards, but the best of the best comes at a premium. It looks like the video card market is spiralling the same way that the CPU market did when Intel introduced the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. However, two of these is slightly more attractive than either the fastest Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, or indeed the Athlon 64 FX-55, but if you do have £1400 to spend on two video cards, you are likely to have a further £700 to spend on an Athlon 64 FX-55 for the ultimate gaming rig.

I can't wait to have a play with this.

 

I'll bet you cant, you lucky git

 

agreed!

 

but would running 2 of these babies actually be 'useable power' ?

 

Quake 3 at 500FPS here I come!!!!111111

At least you should be able to be sure you won't need to upgrade your GFX for quite some time

 

But lets face it most of the people who can afford these will upgrade when the next big innovation comes along.

 

/me thinks that a few of these people should give him the money and sacrafice one upgrade cycle

 

Reminds me of the days when people were saying that about their SLI 12mb Voodoo 2's

 

There's something a little different between the pic of the XFX 6800 and the "secret" 6800 that was shown before. The XFX has a female plug next to the SLI bridge. Any idea what that area would be used for?

 

it looks like some kind of diagnostics plug, at least, that was what it was referred to when I asked last time.