The card is literally an underclocked ultra. Evga seems to just be reselling the ones that failed to reach ultra levels after being made.
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff NVIDIA specific display adapter information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$0100000000 Graphics core : NV40 revision A1 (16x1,6vp)
$0100000001 Hardwired ID : 0040 (ROM strapped to 0041)
$0100000002 Memory bus : 256-bit
$0100000003 Memory type : DDR (RAM configuration 07)
$0100000004 Memory amount : 262144KB
$0100000005 Core clock : 401.625MHz
$0100000006 Memory clock : 576.000MHz (1152.000MHz effecti...
$0100000007 Reference clock : 27.000MHz
$010000000b HW masked units : none
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff NVIDIA VGA BIOS information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$1100000000 Title : nv40 p201 sku12 VGA BIOS
$1100000002 Version : 5.40.02.26.17
$1100000100 BIT version : 1.00
$1100020000 VID bitmask : 00000011b
$1100020100 Voltage level 0 : 1.10V, VID 00000000b
$1100020101 Voltage level 1 : 1.30V, VID 00000010b
$1100020102 Voltage level 2 : 1.40V, VID 00000001b
$1100000003 SW masked units : none
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
Got this from someone who had overclocked his, so just ignore the speeds. (thanks nVmatrix)
First: $0100000001 Hardwired ID : 0040 (ROM strapped to 0041)
0040 is Ultra, 0041 is Standard, 0042 is LE, and 0045 is GT. The core itself was binned as an Ultra, and is forced to be a standard. Im fairly certain they would check for bad pipes first before speed binning, so most of these should have all their pipes (although dont come to my door with a shotgun and a bodybag if Im wrong).
2. The bios shows ultra voltage levels (could be GT, didnt show perf levels for some reason, but moderately certain its ultra), and one who has overclocked cant get much over 400. Most GT's can get a fair deal above this, especially once the core voltage is increased to ultra levels.
3. Its using 1.6ns memory. XFX and Leadtech are both forced to lower memory speeds to 900 due to their shortages of better memory. No vendor in their right mind would pass up a chance to make another ultra instead of slapping a standard 6800 in it.
4. None have shown any bad pipes. This seems to go along with the idea that no one in their right mind would put a slightly defective chip in a card with hard to find memory.
Im not saying that they all have all their pipes, in fact Im fairly certain not all of these can reach much past GT speeds. Otherwise evga would have made GT limited editions. Chances are they underclocked a semi-defective ultra, and threw it in a box.
Again, dont shoot me if Im wrong.