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NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 Reviewed (Verdict: Pwns Radeon HD 3870 X2, But...)
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 2:10 AM on March 19, 2008
Nvidia's headlining GeForce 9 series card, the monstrous 9800 GX2, officially launched today. It pulls an old trick out of Nvidia's hat—melding two GPUs onto a single board—so you can actually go quad-SLI for a mere US$1200. It completely crushes ATI's top-of-the-line dual-GPU Radeon HD 3870 X2. But is two times the GPU necessarily two times the awesome?
It's running the same GPU series as the 9600 GT, 8800 GT and 8800 GTS 512MB (not be confused w/ the regular 8800 GTS). Actually when you look closely at the number of shader and stream processors and their clock speeds, it turns out the 9800 GX2 is basically two slightly underclocked 8800 GTS 512MB GPUs strapped together, and this plays out in the virtually indistinguishable benchmarks too.
Here's the rub: The 9800 GX2 is over 600 smackers. You can run two 8800 GT cards in SLI at $200 a pop and get almost the exact same performance for US$200 less. So the real conclusion is that the 8800 GT is still the best card out there for the money. [Hard OCP]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
flyboy
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@aznplayer213: so you can put 1 card in a workstation.
flyboy
SneakerFiend
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@aznplayer213: Think of it as this you could see the person's pores.
Thats hot though.
I've always liked nvidia more than ati but thats just me.
What i'd like them to do is develop a better card instead of wrapping 2 cards together.
Dont get me wrong as soon as i get a new computer or have enough to build my own rig to my kickass standards im going to get one.
Hopefully they put more time into the mobile processor field so i can get a good graphics processor for my phone. The one on my wing isnt bad but i'd like to see some AVI videos on my phone.
SneakerFiend
neosoul
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
You guys understand that modern day card drivers are written to address specific titles right?
The fact the card is completing tests at this stage is a marvel in itself. When the driver is complete, you should see additional gains - not to defend this behemoth of a card. The 7800GX2 was the same exact way.
Why would you want 2x gpus in one card solution? Well, you could enable SLI and make it 4x (or 6x) GPUs, or better yet, get 2x GPU performance without enabling SLI and allowing dual display to work (you can't get dual display + SLI without adding an additional card).
neosoul
sqeakytoy of the apocalypse
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
in other words, "even fool be thought wise man if he keep his mouth shut"
sqeakytoy of the apocalypse
Out2gtcha
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@ANoel: I would have to say that's a fair assessment.
She's right, since anyone who wants to be in an HD porno is going to realize what HD is about and what the end result will look like to the consumer perv.(IE ME)
The main problem I have with HD porn is probably the same as anyone:
As is the nature of the porn business, not all those who are willing to enter the industry are shall we say "HD compatible".
I love porn (hey who doesn't?) but seeing the basement of every single pore on the "actresses"..........uh face, isn't exactly conducive to keeping things up-and-coming (so-to-speak).
Out2gtcha
ANoel
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@Out2gtcha:
True. Also, who wants to be in a HD porno becomes an issue... in this NSFW clip
Tera Patrick says, when asked about HD... "I HATE IT!".
+ Watch video
It's the genesis of a new kind of perception... where extremely explicit replaces merely explicit... and where shaving is taken to a whole new level.
ANoel
strider_mt2k
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@sqeakytoy of the apocalypse: If it was being presented that way it shouldn't have been delivered as a one-liner.
A genius wielding a meme and a moron wielding a meme look remarkably similar.
strider_mt2k
TKWarrior
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
But can this card run in tri-SLI using the new 700 series Nvidia boards? Running 6 GPUs would be incredible!
TKWarrior
sqeakytoy of the apocalypse
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
the funny part is that this is pretty much the only time that comment is valid! And the suprising thing is that it took that long to pop up. Crysis is pretty much the card crusher standard, so it actually fit. Now if they went with will it blend......
sqeakytoy of the apocalypse
FubarGuy
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@strider_mt2k: Exactly, get a new line already. And no, any reference to blending, Doom, overlords or Zunes is NOT acceptable.
Re: The actual topic: Why is NVidia watering down the line, when is something new & hawt really going to hit the market? Just ordered a new rig anyway, I'll be set for another year hopefully.
FubarGuy
strider_mt2k
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@rdldr1: Your originality has been found severely wanting.
strider_mt2k
Out2gtcha
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
Personally I loved my single non-SLI GTX 7800 KO; not the newest or the latest but it ran all the games I play on high with X4 AA. As soon as I got another and ran them dual-SLI I honestly continued to not have any issues but couldn't seem to find a true test for the dual-SLI set-up. I can't really see having a quad-SLI set up and ever even coming close to pushing it to its full potential.
Out2gtcha
Out2gtcha
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@ANoel:
Depends on who is IN the HD porn.
Out2gtcha
rdldr1
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
I wonder how well it runs Crysis?
rdldr1
strider_mt2k
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
Interesting stuff!
I'm all about nvidia goodness, the question is what's going to be the hotness by the time I'm ready to upgrade my system??
In the mean time I like reading about this topic.
strider_mt2k
quu
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
The reason you never see the cards compared on an Intel or AMD based motherboard is the NVidia sli. The NVidia SLI will only work with NVidia chipsets. I saw one motherboard that used an Intel north bridge and NVidia south bridge just to enable the SLI.
So while a single Nvidia video card would work on an AMD motherboard, you could not test the SLI vs Crossfire on an AMD motherboard.
quu
ANoel
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
@aznplayer213:
"but wait will the 9800 GX2 run my HD porn?"
... it may run your HD porn just fine, but isn't HD porn an instant hard-off?
ANoel
Titus
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
So if the x800s are usually the the decent price/performane card, what will a 9900 cost? I was waiting to see what the 9800 would be and this answers my question, 8800 GT is going in my case now.
Titus
sisedi
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
Another thing, all NVidia cards are tested on SLi, intel based boards and the ATIs are put on those same boards for cross referencing, you almost never see NVidia cards being tested on AMD chipsets with crossfire, I wonder how the ATIs would fair then.
sisedi
sisedi
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
Surprisingly sexy looking gfx card...
sisedi
aznplayer213
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
Really why did NVIDIA launch the 9800 GX2????
there intentions are and still is to kick ATI when they are down.....
lol........
but wait will the 9800 GX2 run my HD porn?
aznplayer213
deedrit
Posted 6:18 AM 19/3/08
I'm glad I didn't wait for this card.
deedrit
man_in_gauze
Posted 8:30 AM 19/3/08
@strider_mt2k:
That's what I want to know too...thinking of getting a new graphics card but no clue where to start. :\
I've heard good things about the 8800 GT and GTS, though. Don't know anything about them, however.
man_in_gauze
MadCrazy
Posted 12:41 PM 19/3/08
Cool, just what I needed to finish off my gaming desktop.
MadCrazy
matt buchanan
Posted 4:31 PM 19/3/08
@man_in_gauze: Just get an 8800 GT, and if you want to be really fancy, get two and run them in SLI.
matt buchanan
Monsterdog
Posted 3:52 AM 20/3/08
I see one compelling reason to get this, and pay a little more over two 8800gts-g92 in sli.. You don't have to have an nvidia based chipset to run sli. A 780i mobo costs you a lot more than an intel x38 for instance, it runs a LOT hotter too. Also if you want an nvidia chipset and can wait, it will have some very nifty powersaving features.
When all is said and done, in this scenario, this card will end up costing you less and give you less heat problems in your rig.
Now just sit back and wait for a decent 3rd party cooler for it.
Monsterdog