Eh what the hell...UPDATED WITH CARD IN COMPUTER

[Vallybally]

Me happy with my Antec 480W TrueBlue (at the time I was an ATI fan, now it's all changed muahaha).

marketing gimmick

I really really am curious if they flashed a crappier BIOS to cripple these Ultras so they can sell at a 'mid-high end' market, or if there were really physical problems with these cards in the first place.

 

[TLfromAI]

Originally posted by: Vallybally
Me happy with my Antec 480W TrueBlue (at the time I was an ATI fan, now it's all changed muahaha).

marketing gimmick

I really really am curious if they flashed a crappier BIOS to cripple these Ultras so they can sell at a 'mid-high end' market, or if there were really physical problems with these cards in the first place.

I just can't see that...they can make more money off the Ultra. Although we've sold quite a few in this thread alone...

 

[Nessism]

Zipzoomfly.com is listing these as in stock for $339 w/free 2nd day shipping.

Link

They clearly state the 325/1100 clock frequencies and even have a pdf link to an evga spec page so there is no confusion.

I just ordered one but I wonder if they have a real time inventory control system like Newegg. If not, they will have to backpedal on Monday morning to figure out who gets a card and who gets stiffed. Of course this comment is assuming they get hammered on the orders - which is likely based on the ground swell around here.

Enjoy.

Ed

 

[Zebo]

Well this DEAL is getting better by the minute. At first I thought these were cards that could'nt pass Ultra muster, turn out they may be cards evga was'nt unloading at Ultra prices fast enough for them?

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Wag
Hmm. I flashed successfully to Ultra but still no good.

I wonder if it's my Power Supply? Antec 400 (regular) should be enough, shouldn't it? The fact that my card is locking up default timings with normal bios isn't good.

Think I should exchange for another?

If in fact you flashed your card to a $650 Ultra, which you paid only $325 for.....just go buy yourself a nice new PSU

I'm in the same boat, but will invest in a new supply if it comes to that based on what I see going on with these cards.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Nessism
Zipzoomfly.com is listing these as in stock for $339 w/free 2nd day shipping.

Link

They clearly state the 325/1100 clock frequencies and even have a pdf link to an evga spec page so there is no confusion.

I just ordered one but I wonder if they have a real time inventory control system like Newegg. If not, they will have to backpedal on Monday morning to figure out who gets a card and who gets stiffed. Of course this comment is assuming they get hammered on the orders - which is likely based on the ground swell around here.

Enjoy.

Ed

I notice it states a 12pipe architecture as well. I wonder if people will have the same luck with those that Newegg buyers have gotten. could be a diffent production batch?

 

[lupohki]

Originally posted by: TLfromAI

Originally posted by: Vallybally
Me happy with my Antec 480W TrueBlue (at the time I was an ATI fan, now it's all changed muahaha).

marketing gimmick

I really really am curious if they flashed a crappier BIOS to cripple these Ultras so they can sell at a 'mid-high end' market, or if there were really physical problems with these cards in the first place.

I just can't see that...they can make more money off the Ultra. Although we've sold quite a few in this thread alone...

Yeah, I agree. Maybe if they had trouble selling the Ultras, but they are selling out at MSRP right now.

 

[Vallybally]

Yeah, I agree. Maybe if they had trouble selling the Ultras, but they are selling out at MSRP right now.

Well with that thinking then, it would imply that these cards are in some way 'defective' Ultras...I wish we knew for sure one way or the other. I'd hate to flash or OC and then it inexplicably crap out on me in 6 months.

 

[Nessism]

Originally posted by: Killrose

I notice it states a 12pipe architecture as well. I wonder if people will have the same luck with those that Newegg buyers have gotten. could be a diffent production batch?

12 pipes? I didn't notice that:disgust:


Regarding these cards in general, my theory is that eVGA (or whoever assembles them) screwed up and used the wrong chips during the build. At some point they realized this and clocked them down with a special bios. Fortunately, the 6800 chips overclock fairly well so people are having good results with the Ultra bios.

At any rate, you'z roll the dice and you'z takes your chances....

 

[hugobomber]

guys im running fine on a 330W Truepower Antec. my 12V pulls 22 Amps.

i am running my XP overclocked to 2.5ghz and 1 160gb and 1 DVD.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: ronach
Any idea what the speed of the ram is on this card. I am very interested.

1.6ns unlike 2.0ns on normal 6800GTs.

 

[lordfreddy]

Just want to let you guys know that before I flashed my card to 6800U, I had tons of problems with the original bios; 3Dmark03 and 05 crashed @ 380/1100, my LAN crashed/disconnected when I was playing BF1942 (@stock 325/1100 setting). I thought it was my PSU (Thermaltake 480 w/active PFC). But, once I flashed my card to 6800U, no more problems, everything runs silky smooth now. I am currently running the card @ 425/1100 with 53C idle and 71C loaded.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
good call, this card is a crap oc'er anyways, getting lots of artifacts at 380MHz, richard burns rally crashes as soon as i start up a level at stock.

richard burns rally is a crappy game...even ati cards also crash with it....so dont worry about it.

I say if you can get GT speeds for $325, it's a good deal already especially with faster memory. The reason why GT costs $50 more is because you can overclock it past ultra speeds.

 

[Pantoot]

I was seeing a bit of artifacting in EQ2 when running at 350. I flashed to the Ultra, and now at 425 all the artifacting is gone.

Thanks!

 

[Wag]

I don't have the TruePower Antec, just the normal 400W one.

If in fact you flashed your card to a $650 Ultra, which you paid only $325 for.....just go buy yourself a nice new PSU

I'm in the same boat, but will invest in a new supply if it comes to that based on what I see going on with these cards.

The whole idea of buying this card was to save money. You would think it would be stable at 324/1097 but it isn't. I guess I'll have to buy a better PS just to see if it's the card or not.

Someone suggest a decent PS in the $60 range please? I would like it be better than the one I'm currently using.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Wag
I don't have the TruePower Antec, just the normal 400W one.

If in fact you flashed your card to a $650 Ultra, which you paid only $325 for.....just go buy yourself a nice new PSU

I'm in the same boat, but will invest in a new supply if it comes to that based on what I see going on with these cards.

The whole idea of buying this card was to save money. You would think it would be stable at 324/1097 but it isn't. I guess I'll have to buy a better PS just to see if it's the card or not.

Someone suggest a decent PS in the $60 range please? I would like it be better than the one I'm currently using.

True, you should be able to at least run the card in its stock config with-out having to get a new PSU when you purchase the 6800LE

 

[implicit1]

I really like my Fortron 530w. IIRC it was about $60 when I bought it a while ago. haven't had any problems running anything with it.

 

[Wag]

OK, now I'm seeing artifacts even in 2D, dots and stuff.

I guess I'll send the card back.

Should I sent it to Newegg or eVGA?

 

[flyboy84]

got mine 16x1 6vs, 325/1100 stock

 

[aerasal]

just got this card a few days ago, and when i overclock it from 325 to 350, the temp drops 4-5 degrees! i don't understand why it would do this. anyone have any idea?

 

[THUGSROOK]

guys ~ stop using the Ultra bios and use the GT bios.

im telling ya ~ its way faster

 

[Gandolf1]

They all have the same temp drop! probably bios related.
This worked for me! I now have both fan speeds. Be sure to use the drop down window for 3D adjustment, I did not notice this at first and it would lock up in testing.
My card runs stable @ 415 core and 1250 mem. And I used the method below (thanks) that was submitted by someone else.

OK. Here is how I did it; first, go get the nvflash 5.10 from http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=1998, then get the latest eVGA 6800 Ultra bios from http://www.mvktech.net/index.p...older&filecatid=51 (there are Rev.1-4 eVGA 6800U bios available to download there, but I used the latest one, which is Rev.04). Once you got both, make a DOS boot disk, then copy the nvflash and bios to the disk. Then reboot the comp.

Once you reboot, and go into <A:\>, you first type in "nvflash -b <filename>.rom" to BACK UP your original bios, then you type in "nvflash -5 -6 <filename of the new bios).rom", then your 6800 limited edition will be flashed to 6800U with 425/1100 setting. Beware that you will have to use the "-5 -6" command to force flash the bios to your card; your 6800 limited edition was force strapped to 6800NU by eVGA initially, if you use the regular common "nvflash <filename of your new bios>.rom", the nvflash will respond with something like hardware ID doesn't match and subsystem ID doesn't match, and your card will not be flashed. Once your is flashed, reboot your comp, reinstall 66.81 driver, then you got yourself a regular 6800U. So, good luck to whoever are trying to do this, and enjoy your new card!!!

 

[Gandolf1]

How is it faster?

 

[Killrose]

So Thugs, we should use your LE-GT bios or just a stock eVGA GT bios? How is yours diffrent?

 

[whalehead]

Just to add to the pile of feedback, I just finished a new build using one of these cards from Newegg. Rivatuner reports 16 pipes, 6 vertex shaders, 324 MHz core, 1097 MHz mem. 3D Mark 03 score 10197 using the 61.77 drivers. I'm sure someone noticed this before, but the LE stickers on the box are covering Ultra labels. It definitely runs Farcry smoother than my other box with a 9800 Pro. I guess I'll start tweaking to see what I can get now.

The new box:
Chaintech vnf-350 value edition
A64 3000+ with standard HSF
eVGA 6800 LE
1G Corsair value select PC3200
Antec standard 400W PS
Liteon 1633s DVD burner

FYI, the mboard works great, very stable so far. This was one of the easiest builds I've ever done.