Yes, that's right, a 250MHz core clock matched to 230MHz DDR SDRAM. The GeForce2 Ultra core is the same as the GeForce2 GTS core, containing four pixel pipelines each capable of rendering one pixel per clock with two textures per pixel. Four pixels per clock at 250MHz gives you a one gigapixel per second fill rate. And at two textures per pixel, we're talking a two gigagtexel per second texel rate. Ladies and gentlemen, that's fast! TSMC's .18 micron GX process is a newer process technology, which apparently enables NVIDIA to push their GeForce2 architecture a bit further. And backing up the blazing fast GPU core is 64MB (you will not see 32MB Ultra's because there aren't enough Ultra chips to go around) of 200MHz DDR SDRAM (the really rare and fast 4ns type). According to NVIDIA, that's the fastest DDR SDRAM memory available on a consumer product today. With the equivalent of 460MHz memory running on a 128-bit memory bus, the GeForce2 Ultra carries an astounding 7.4 gigabytes per second of memory bandwidth. That is faster than a four-channel PC800 RDRAM system! With such a stunning amount of memory bandwidth, the GeForce2 Ultra is sure to run like no other card before it at 1600x1200 and beyond.

We dare not forget the hardware transformation and lighting engine. At 250MHz, the GeForce2 Ultra GPU can push 31 million polygons per second, compared to the GeForce2 GTS' 25 million polygon per second rate. Considering that so few games today make good use, let alone any use, of the polygon pushing power of the GeForce 256 and it's 15 million polygons per second rate, 31 million polygons per second is just overkill. Too much of a good thing? We're not complaining.

Otherwise, beyond the major speed improvements, the GeForce2 Ultra architecture is essentially the same as a GeForce2 GTS, and Hercules' 3D Prophet II Ultra is mostly the same as their 3D Prophet II GTS, except that the Ultra is a whole heck of a lot faster.

With such aggressively clocked memory and a 250MHz GPU, the 3D Prophet II Ultra needs some extra cooling. Hercules deviated widely from NVIDIA's reference design with their heat sink/fan combo, much in the same way that they normally deviate with their other GeForce2 GTS cards. Each pair of SDRAM devices has a blue heat sink stuck on them. With eight devices, the card has four memory heat sinks total. The GPU itself has a circular fan that appears identical in design to the fan ASUS uses on their GeForce2 GTS cards. All in all, the 3D Prophet II Ultra is a cool looking card, indeed. And if you are wondering, yes, the pun was intended.