XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 @ [H]

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 - We saw what the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 can do; now it is time for NVIDIA to step up and impress us with their “SLI on a card” video card with the GeForce 9800 GX2. Inside we will compare an XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 with two SLI setups and the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 in Crysis, Clive Barker’s Jericho, and COD 4.

The XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 games extremely well, allowing a very high level of gameplay experience in Crysis and the shader intensive game Jericho. The GX2 performance matched that of GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SLI. The real advantage to the GeForce 9800 GX2 is going to be its ability to allow non-SLI motherboard owners a better performing alternative than the current 8800 GTX. We will hold our opinions on Quad-SLI till we have fully investigated it.
 
This review makes me hungry for a sandwich... a PCB sandwich. Nom nom nom
 
I kind of lost my boner after reading this article.

Sure it's great for those who don't want or have SLI boards but I was expecting a bit more out of it for the price.
 
honestly its performing like most people expect it to be. It seems to start off alot better then the 7950gx2 offered.
 
Other than for food, which I think it might be quite a tasty sandwich, it seems a tad spendy for the performance.

That said, it is still tempting because I _despise_ NVIDIA chipsets, and am loath to go SLI.
 
That said, it is still tempting because I _despise_ NVIDIA chipsets, and am loath to go SLI.

790i Ultra article is on the way. (And not done in a traditional format.) I almost hate to say it, but I like it and "feel" good about the new chipset.
 
Eh, this just confirms everyones fears on this card, looks like we will be waiting for anything that is not a repackage till late this year :/
 
oh yeah fyi, newegg has them in stock for 599.99...

In just about every brand under the sun, though it appears the difference between each card is just that, the brand and the sticker. No clock or included goodies differences.
 
How long is this card? I'm a little tight on space, but I got an 8800 Ultra in it, so the 9800GX2 isn't longer than that correct?
 
wow...very nice reveiw....

looks like i'll just get another 8800gt and SLI until '09
 
Why should they (nVidia and their partners) lower their price below $600 when NOBODY can compete in that same segment for that level of performance. Simple economics IMO.
 
In regaurds to multi-monitor support, does swtiching between SLI and non-SLI modes require a reboot?
 
nice comprehensive review and ready for the hard launch too.
I just wish you would have compared the 9800GX2 to the GT,GTS as a single card and not in SLI only. That would have given us a more in depth look at dual GPU scaling with non SLI boards..
Most of the games used in the review don't scale well in SLI at all and that might give single GT,GTS owners some more discretion to upgrade.. But I did like the VS comparisons, very well written..
 
Nice review as always. I'm impressed with the numbers and the technology too, as I was with the original GX2 and the X2, but I'm not fond of these types of cards, since they depend too much on driver support, for my taste. I want to see a single GPU card, that can dominate the 8800 GTX. Unfortunately the 9800 GTX doesn't seem to be it.

Although the fastest card on the planet, I don't think this is worth $650. It's true that NVIDIA has no competition, but $100 less would be more appropriate IMO.
 
nice comprehensive review and ready for the hard launch too.
I just wish you would have compared the 9800GX2 to the GT,GTS as a single card and not in SLI only. That would have given us a more in depth look at dual GPU scaling with non SLI boards..

For that you should look at the older reviews of the GTS 512 and 8800 GT, to compare.
 
In regaurds to multi-monitor support, does swtiching between SLI and non-SLI modes require a reboot?

I tried it, FRAPS was enabled, which counts as a 3D app, and Aero was enabled, and it did not ask me to reboot after I switched modes to multi monitor and then back to multi gpu. I can't say it will work like this for everyone though, but on my very clean evaluation system, it didn't ask me to reboot.
 
nice comprehensive review and ready for the hard launch too.
I just wish you would have compared the 9800GX2 to the GT,GTS as a single card and not in SLI only. That would have given us a more in depth look at dual GPU scaling with non SLI boards..
Most of the games used in the review don't scale well in SLI at all and that might give single GT,GTS owners some more discretion to upgrade.. But I did like the VS comparisons, very well written..

Thanks for the suggestion, but I disagree, Jericho and COD 4 scale very well with SLI.
 
thanks again for the great review

The GeForce 9800 GX2 is going to deliver a notably better gaming experience than a single GeForce 8800 GTX in today’s extremely demanding games and it is going to work on non-SLI motherboards.
did you test it on an Intel based mobo? I heard about some problems with enabling SLI with a non-SLI mobo!

This phenomenon did not happen with two GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB video cards in SLI; they were very playable through this area at 4X TR SSAA. Our only theory at this point is perhaps a driver bug; we have made NVIDIA aware of our performance issue.
seems that no one from Nvidia plays COD4!
 
I've got an 8800 Ultra now, and I play COD4 and Crysis. I've got a stocked clocked Q6600 on a Intel 965G motherboard. I'd like a little extra performance to tide me over till end of the year. Do you think the 9800GX2 would be worth it?

I'm about to pull the tigger!:D
 
Ya I really want to see someone review the 9800GX2 on an Intel chipset mobo. That said I'm getting one. To me its worth the performance, if it works as advertised in my 965 chipset mobo that is.
 
The Radeon HD 3870 X2 gets utterly and properly owned, this is true “pwnage” on the highest level.

HAHHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


...hahahahahahahahah


ok seriously, you guys can't post stuff like that, I'm gonna get in trouble for laughing so hard at work...


I was seriously impressed by this review guys. Not only because it includes so much of the stuff ya'll usally do, but your also including the suggestions that people have asked for in the past (such as the apples to apples section and the fps vs time). Another great review, keep up the good work. And becareful when you write stuff like the quote above, cause your gonna get me fired!

Oh, and I'll be be awaiting your review of quad SLI as my evga steup doesn't end for 34 days XD
 
For that you should look at the older reviews of the GTS 512 and 8800 GT, to compare.

no, wouldn't be much of a comparison because it wouldn't be under the same OS installation, driver version and etc... there are too many variables to comprehensively compare that way..
 
I am wondering if it works in some titles where Crossfire does not. Besides better performance that would be a plus.
 
The performance doesn't justify the price, IMO. Even for non-sli motherboard owners. Now, if they came out with a 9800GT2 (8800GT in SLI on 1 card) for around $399 that'd be something I'd jump on.
 
The performance doesn't justify the price, IMO. Even for non-sli motherboard owners.

A 790i would be $350 and another 8800GT would be $200 (at least) so $550 to get 9800GX2 type performance with a non-sli mobo.

So I don't see some magical way to get these numbers a whole lot cheaper.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, but I disagree, Jericho and COD 4 scale very well with SLI.

I stand corrected, I agree COD does scale well.. but I think you can agree that most of the games on the market aside from the review , simply don't. On a side note... while testing, did you notice a big change in the ambient case temps from 9800GX2 and the GT/GTSs in SLI? The power consumption is pretty close together, just wondering if the heat supports that as well.
 
If you want budget SLI, search up a 680i LT for about 149usd and try 9600GT cards, or 8800GT 512Mb cards in SLi. It's still going to approach the price of the GX2 though, and won't be quite as much. If you already own a GT that would be 189usd for a MSI 8800GT and 149usd for the 680i LT board.
 
I stand corrected, I agree COD does scale well.. but I think you can agree that most of the games on the market aside from the review , simply don't.

Actually, I would suggest the oppisite. With the exception of a few SLI works pretty good now days, but that is not the issue really. The fact is that outside of Crysis (which yes, sucks for multi-gpu scaling), the argument for needing SLI for high end cards is getting hard to make. The 9600 GT which was selling for $129.00 yesterday is playing games at 1920 resolution.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ2Niw0LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

But that all said, I don't really want SLI in my own system. Once less headache to deal with, a lot less power/heat, and a bit more room for me to plug stuff in.
 
A 790i would be $350 and another 8800GT would be $200 (at least) so $550 to get 9800GX2 type performance with a non-sli mobo.

So I don't see some magical way to get these numbers a whole lot cheaper.

Of course you certainly don't need a 790i board. A 780i or even 680i would work just as well.
 
Yes, because there isn't a myriad of documented problems with the 680i, right?
 
no, wouldn't be much of a comparison because it wouldn't be under the same OS installation, driver version and etc... there are too many variables to comprehensively compare that way..

There are already too many variables, even IF you have a similar system, with real-world gameplay evalutations. so my point stands the same. And you can even extrapolate the expected difference between the GX2 and single GT or GTS 512 in this review, if you consider that SLI rarely goes over 60-70% more performance than the single card.
 
I like the review.
"beautiful"......maybe you guys should get out a little bit more and see some girls or something?;)

I have invested in Triple-SLi, and love it. I would have liked to see some comparison to at least dual 8800 GTXs, as now the price point of the GX2 is equal to two 8800 GTX cards more or less.

But it is a great solution for those who dont like the nvidia based chipset, no doubt.

The coming weeks should be very exciting.....GX2, 9800 GTX in SLI, 790i chipset; all good stuff.:D
 
Considering an SLI MB Fetches a $100 premium for the most part, this is a pretty good value if you are buying a whole new system...

The real power will come from that Quad SLI, that will be the real trick here.. Could we finally see everything in Crysis run butter smooth on High at a high-resolution?
 
I like the review.
"beautiful"......maybe you guys should get out a little bit more and see some girls or something?;)

I have invested in Triple-SLi, and love it. I would have liked to see some comparison to at least dual 8800 GTXs, as now the price point of the GX2 is equal to two 8800 GTX cards more or less.

But it is a great solution for those who dont like the nvidia based chipset, no doubt.

The coming weeks should be very exciting.....GX2, 9800 GTX in SLI, 790i chipset; all good stuff.:D

Couple guys over on XtremeSystems were posting screenshots of 9800 GTX's at 800MHz core on air. The pics were of passively cooled HR-03 GT, but it was unclear if they found some way to stick fans on them in that cramped SLI setup.
 
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