In spite of the difficulty in acquiring a 6800 Ultra for the time
being, I'm going to get one. I intend to overclock it as much as
seems safe. I'm undecided on what sort of cooling to use. It
could be stock, or it could be that $125 waterblock, or maybe that
NV Silencer thing, although I'm not even sure if that would work
on an Ultra.

The main point of this post is to figure out which brand seems to
be overclocking the best. For now, here are what the signs seem
to be pointing to: BFG comes overclocked by default, but several
people have had trouble overclocking it even to typical OC levels.
Overclocking a GT to Ultra levels, for example. Speculation is
that the ram used is inferior. I've seen a few people claim that
XFX seems to overclock the best. Same story for the eVGA. And
one or two people have said it's a toss-up between eVGA and PNY.
At the least, it definitely seems as though the BFG, while
overclocked stock, doesn't have any particular advantages if one
wishes to take it closer to the limit. Apart from the warranty.

The goal here is to get a better idea of what is generally
accepted to be the best overclocker. Any takers?

Note: I didn't mention Gainwood, mainly because it has become
painfully obvious that that particular card is far too scarce
to ever become a potential purchase.