9800GX2

[impar]

Greetings!

- NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GX2 - Early Test!

- GeForce 9800 GX2 Overclocked and Tested

[impar]

Greetings!

9800GX2 reviews:
- http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3NSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
- http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=3266
- http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_9800_gx2_performance_preview/
- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/03/18/xfx_geforce_9800_gx2_600m_1gb_graphics_card/1
- http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/18/nvidia_geforce_9800_gx2_review/
- http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/NVIDIA%5FnForce%5F790i%5FSLI%5FUltra%5Fand%5FGeForce%5F9800%5FGX2/

And:
Heat from GeForce 9800 GX2 causing system crashes?

[gegekld]

Wow so many reviews.

[onepairofpant]

I see this thing is basically 2 cards smacked together, yet it costs more than 2 8800GTS G92's ($220x2 = $440) and 9800GX2 is $600 dollars, besides for the optical audio and hdmi out is there any benefits? does it still need SLI drivers / profiles?

[UDF2Diablo]

the 9800 series are kinda like the 7900 series ...

anyone who buys a 9800 series card to replace an existing 8800 series card has the word "MUG" written all over their forehead.

there is no real benefit gained from buying a 9800 card to replace your older 8800 card, and the cost to do so is far too high. - you're far better off taking advantage of the price drop on the 8800's to buy a second 8800 card and start running in SLI if you aren't already doing so.

that said, anyone who is buying a graphics card for a completely new machine; should get a 9800 card, unless they're strapped for cash.

the only real benefit of the 9800GX2 card that i can see, is for people who wish to run nvidia SLI on an ATI or Intel chipset motherboard. - however even still, at the moment the drivers aren't mature enough to let the 2 chips on the 9800GX2 have any significant benefit over a single 8800Ultra card in high resolutions. - due to 1 simple fact: Video Ram,.. the 9800GX2 only carries 512mb ram per core, which is a complete and total shot in the foot (both feet even!) for nvidia.

Dropping the available ram per core on the 9800GX2 to 512mb causes a big performance hit in high resolutions with AA and AF turned on, especially in games like Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, which uses a lot of high resolution textures and thus requires the extra ram to run at full potential in high resolutions. (an 8800GTX or Ultra outperforms a 9800GX2 in high resolution games with AA and AF on that use a lot of texture memory.)

I will definitely be giving the whole 9800 series a miss, i am not impressed in the slightest. - unless the 9800GTX/Ultra turns out to be a complete monster of a card, which is looking highly unlikely right now.

Besides - I've heard that the G100 and GT200 chipset cards from nVidia; the true next gen cards... not these rebranded 8800 refreshes. should be released sometime between summer and winter 2008. - it appears that nVidia are milking the market with their refreshed cards, and biding their time until ATI release their R700 chip... annoiying, but a good way to make money i guess.

Even the 9800GTX only has 512mb of video ram and is still only direct x 10, not 10.1. IT also appears to be an overclocked G92 (8800GT 512) .. what's with the downgrade on ram nVidia?? sort it out!

resources: Tom's Hardware 9800GX2 Review
Tweaktown early review sample

- basically put: if some new drivers are released that cause the 9800 GX2 to output 1.5x+ the frames of a single 8800Ultra in 2560x1600 with AA and AF (even if that's only 21 frames on the GX2 compared to 14 on the Ultra in Crysis.) then i'll get one, if not... it can rot in hell. ¬_¬

[powerarmour]

[daglesj]

Am I the only one not at excited or particularly interested in graphics card releases anymore?

Seems things have gotten in a rut for the past couple of years and all they can do now is slap two cores on and say its the next best thing.

Not very original and not very exciting.

[powerarmour]

[Stefun]

Playing games on a 3-way SLI made of 3 of these babies would be like having an "electronic orgasm".

[onepairofpant]

wait so you still need SLI profiles with a 9800GX2?

I dont think you can do 3 way SLI with these because each have 2 cores, I think 4 cards is the max for SLI right now which equates to 2 9800GX2's

also whats nvidias excuse for the size? it seems liek 2 cards, so why its it like a foot long? why cant' they get both cores on one gpu like the cpu counterparts have done.

seems like too much $$$ once again, spending 600 dollars for this rather than holding off a few months for some real next gen cards seems stupid