XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 @ [H]

taliababa said:
Dan, I'm building a new system based on a EVGA 790i ultra and E8400. What cards would you recommend to play Oblivion, UT3, Bioshock, Halflife 2, etc at 2560x1600? I definitely want to use anti-aliasing.
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I know I'm not Dan, but I'm a huge antialiasing fan, too. I love that silky smooth look to my games. The 9800GX2 is probably unnecessary, as two GTS 512's can be had for barely over $400 now and will probably be a tad faster in some games, if not extremely similar across the board. If you get EVGA, I would get a single 8800GTS/GT 512 now, and then wait for the 9800GTX. When it comes out, if it scales super awesome in SLI like the 9600GT that will be the card to get. I don't know if they would let you stepup to the GX2 still, since it's already out. I'm not quite sure how that works. But if you decide the 9800GTX isn't worth it, you can always get a second GT/GTS for cheap then, and have one of the fastest setups available. In most new games 2x8800GT in SLI will beat an Ultra, sometimes by a decent margin. My two cents, since you're set on SLI.
 
TheZanderMan said:
I know I'm not Dan, but I'm a huge antialiasing fan, too. I love that silky smooth look to my games. The 9800GX2 is probably unnecessary, as two GTS 512's can be had for barely over $400 now and will probably be a tad faster in some games, if not extremely similar across the board. If you get EVGA, I would get a single 8800GTS/GT 512 now, and then wait for the 9800GTX. When it comes out, if it scales super awesome in SLI like the 9600GT that will be the card to get. I don't know if they would let you stepup to the GX2 still, since it's already out. I'm not quite sure how that works. But if you decide the 9800GTX isn't worth it, you can always get a second GT/GTS for cheap then, and have one of the fastest setups available. In most new games 2x8800GT in SLI will beat an Ultra, sometimes by a decent margin. My two cents, since you're set on SLI.
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My concern is being able to have at least 4x AA at 2560x1600 in all games (except Crysis of course :p). That's why I was sticking with the GTX's or GX2.
 
if you get any of the new evga 8800 cards now you'll be able to easily step up when the 9800GTX comes out. That's what I plan on doing. Then you can get a second GTX for SLI. If the 9800GTX is indeed faster than the current gtx/ultra then games that don't scale at all will be faster on a single gtx than on the 9800gx2. For games that do scale you can add the second gtx for sli - which will likely be faster than a single gx2, and hopefully not much more expensive. Quad sli with the gx2 is almost silly. The extreme psu requirement costs will give you precious little return on your investment in all but a couple of games. Of course if drivers and game code improve you'll always be able to throw in that third gtx for tri sli with your 790i motherboard. Still remember that any game that doesn't scale AT ALL will be faster on the single gtx than even a quad sli setup with the gx2's.
 
TheZanderMan said:
if you get any of the new evga 8800 cards now you'll be able to easily step up when the 9800GTX comes out. That's what I plan on doing. Then you can get a second GTX for SLI. If the 9800GTX is indeed faster than the current gtx/ultra then games that don't scale at all will be faster on a single gtx than on the 9800gx2. For games that do scale you can add the second gtx for sli - which will likely be faster than a single gx2, and hopefully not much more expensive. Quad sli with the gx2 is almost silly. The extreme psu requirement costs will give you precious little return on your investment in all but a couple of games. Of course if drivers and game code improve you'll always be able to throw in that third gtx for tri sli with your 790i motherboard. Still remember that any game that doesn't scale AT ALL will be faster on the single gtx than even a quad sli setup with the gx2's.
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The games that don't scale at all don't exist. Crysis is the worst one and its' actually scaling better with the 9800GX2's than any other multi-GPU solutions.
 
Dan_D said:
The games that don't scale at all don't exist. Crysis is the worst one and its' actually scaling better with the 9800GX2's than any other multi-GPU solutions.
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I wouldn't expect a comment like that from you, Dan! I would think you would be the one pointing out all the examples of games (although there are few now) that actually perform worse in SLI than with a single card, just to discourage the nVidia chipset boards.... Do you like the new 9800GX2? It's a strong card, but wouldn't the GTX be better in some situations? Especially two of them in SLI? Imagine if they scale as well as the 9600GT's.
 
TheZanderMan said:
I wouldn't expect a comment like that from you, Dan! I would think you would be the one pointing out all the examples of games (although there are few now) that actually perform worse in SLI than with a single card, just to discourage the nVidia chipset boards.... Do you like the new 9800GX2? It's a strong card, but wouldn't the GTX be better in some situations? Especially two of them in SLI? Imagine if they scale as well as the 9600GT's.
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I speak the truth. If it isn't what anyone wants to hear then I'm sorry. Show me some games that don't scale at all with SLI. Sure there are some games that scale well and others that don't scale well but there aren't any games that just don't do it at all. Games made from the Geforce 6-series days to now pretty much all scale at least to some degree. SLI may not always give you a worthwhile boost but it always gives you something.

As for the 8800GTX vs. the 9800GX2, I've found the 9800GX2 to be faster 100% of the time. Granted I haven't played games very much on it as I haven't had much time recently. What little gaming I have done has shown me an improvement across the board whether it is one 9800GX2 vs. one 8800GTX or 9800GX2's in Quad-SLI compared to 8800GTX's in SLI. 3-Way SLI seems to be almost a wash against the 9800GX2 though. At least I'm not waisting six slots worth of room for 3-GPUs. Now I waste four slots for four GPUs which is more reasonable.

A single 8800GTX's increased memory bus size and increase physical RAM is an asset to be sure. However an 8800GTX is far too weak at 2560x1600 to really make use of it in my opinion. It can handle older games of course and some other newer games but generally speaking when I sold two of my three cards and ran with one 8800GTX, gaming was almost painful. I couldn't stand to run a single card at 2560x1600. I was forced to turn down AA and AF and in some cases even the resolution just to get smooth enough frame rates for my games. A single 9800GX2 however did every game fairly well at 2560x1600 with 4xAA and 16xAF. Though COD4 is an exception for some reason.
 
TheZanderMan said:
Do you like the new 9800GX2? It's a strong card, but wouldn't the GTX be better in some situations? Especially two of them in SLI? Imagine if they scale as well as the 9600GT's.
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Just to be certain, which GTX are you referring to? The 8800GTX or 9800GTX?
 
APOLLO said:
Just to be certain, which GTX are you referring to? The 8800GTX or 9800GTX?
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The 9800GTX. I would expect the 9800GTX to scale much better in SLI vs. the 8800GTX. Heck, the 9600GT scales better than the 8800GTX. By better I mean more percent increase for the second card than with a second 8800GTX. It's quite impressive. If the 9800GTX scales proportionally, then it will be a force to be reckoned with. I would expect a 3-way SLI setup of 9800GTX's to compete quite favorably against quad SLI with two 9800GX2's.

Sorry, Dan if you misunderstood, but I wasn't referring to the 8800GTX. Anyhoo, thanks for the feedback. Right now the 9800GX2 is the fastest card out. What do you think of the upcoming 9900GTX? If that will fall within my stepup window should I wait for that instead? I guess it depends on pricing...
 
Dan_D said:
I speak the truth. If it isn't what anyone wants to hear then I'm sorry. Show me some games that don't scale at all with SLI. Sure there are some games that scale well and others that don't scale well but there aren't any games that just don't do it at all. Games made from the Geforce 6-series days to now pretty much all scale at least to some degree. SLI may not always give you a worthwhile boost but it always gives you something.

As for the 8800GTX vs. the 9800GX2, I've found the 9800GX2 to be faster 100% of the time. Granted I haven't played games very much on it as I haven't had much time recently. What little gaming I have done has shown me an improvement across the board whether it is one 9800GX2 vs. one 8800GTX or 9800GX2's in Quad-SLI compared to 8800GTX's in SLI. 3-Way SLI seems to be almost a wash against the 9800GX2 though. At least I'm not waisting six slots worth of room for 3-GPUs. Now I waste four slots for four GPUs which is more reasonable.

A single 8800GTX's increased memory bus size and increase physical RAM is an asset to be sure. However an 8800GTX is far too weak at 2560x1600 to really make use of it in my opinion. It can handle older games of course and some other newer games but generally speaking when I sold two of my three cards and ran with one 8800GTX, gaming was almost painful. I couldn't stand to run a single card at 2560x1600. I was forced to turn down AA and AF and in some cases even the resolution just to get smooth enough frame rates for my games. A single 9800GX2 however did every game fairly well at 2560x1600 with 4xAA and 16xAF. Though COD4 is an exception for some reason.
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Thanks for the GX2 performance report! ;)
 
TheZanderMan said:
The 9800GTX. I would expect the 9800GTX to scale much better in SLI vs. the 8800GTX. Heck, the 9600GT scales better than the 8800GTX. By better I mean more percent increase for the second card than with a second 8800GTX. It's quite impressive. If the 9800GTX scales proportionally, then it will be a force to be reckoned with. I would expect a 3-way SLI setup of 9800GTX's to compete quite favorably against quad SLI with two 9800GX2's.

Sorry, Dan if you misunderstood, but I wasn't referring to the 8800GTX. Anyhoo, thanks for the feedback. Right now the 9800GX2 is the fastest card out. What do you think of the upcoming 9900GTX? If that will fall within my stepup window should I wait for that instead? I guess it depends on pricing...
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Wow am I disappointed. The GTX is a royal disappointment. It adds virtually nothing to current 8800GTX/GTS users that would warrant an upgrade. It's not even worth the $60 it would cost for me to step up via EVGA. I'm currently contacting EVGA in order to see if they'll let me "step-up" to two 9600GT's, as they will outperform a single Ultra by a sizable margin in SLI. Right now the EVGA 9600GT can be had on Newegg for $150. Times two = $300 in SLI, which beats an Ultra, 8800GTX, and the new 9800GTX handily in the vast majority of games and benchmarks. How much is the EVGA 9800GTX? $330 at Newegg, and $350 from EVGA (after they jacked up the price). I would have to shell out $60 to step up from the 8800GTS 512 that I paid $289 for, and I would be getting a paltry 3-4% performance boost.... what a joke!

Right now 9800GX2 is the only real step up, as it will solidly beat all of the options I listed above. Thing is, to step up to that I would have to pay $310. I can get a second GTS for $200 now, SLI it, and beat the 9800GX2. I regret buying EVGA just for step-up. It won't do me a BIT of good to step up to anything. And by the time the 9900's come out my window will be over. I'm so ticked. Oh well. If you paid like $350 or $400 for a GTX recently, it's probably worth it to step up to the GX2, as it is the single card king right now. I'm so mad at EVGA and nVidia right now..... how was I supposed to know the 9800GTX would essentially be such a waste of a graphics card name? Other than better cooling and hybrid power it brings nothing to the table in the way of performance. In fact at 19x12 and above, several times it underperforms the old 8800GTX. Sad, sad, sad ...:(
 
How is ANY of that rant EVGA's fault? They dont make the cards, they dont make the pricing decitions, they merely SELL the cards.
 
For those who have 2 video card slots and have a somewhat limited budget, doing SLI w/ 8800GT obviously makes more sense than a single 9800GX2. I agree that ZanderMan's frustration should not be pointed in EVGA's direction.
 
beowulf7 said:
For those who have 2 video card slots and have a somewhat limited budget, doing SLI w/ 8800GT obviously makes more sense than a single 9800GX2. I agree that ZanderMan's frustration should not be pointed in EVGA's direction.
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I should have clarified. My frustration about the 9800GTX and my step-up situation is not EVGA's fault directly, just like you said. But the mail in rebate situation absolutely is. I have photocopies of everything filled out to the letter, and copies of every UPC I sent in. I crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's.

You go out and spend extra money on an EVGA card over another brand that's the same bloody card, in order to do step up, only to find out that step up will not benefit you hardly at all, then see how you feel. You'll be frustrated like me. I'm frustrated with nVidia for their 9800GTX lack of performance increase, and I'm frustrated for EVGA charging more for their card than competitors at the time for an advertised "benefit" that ended up not benefitting me at all.

BFG's doing step up now in North America, if I stick with nVidia my next card may be from them instead. I've gotten every single BFG card I've ever sent in....

And the fact that my 780i won't overclock one iota ... where does the blame lie? EVGA manufactured the board, right? Many EVGAs are hitting stellar overclocks with quads, and I can't even hit 3.0GHz. Temps aren't a problem, the OS is fine, the memory isn't an issue either. I don't want to have to wait another week while I RMA the board right after I already waited a week without the board during step up. So yeah, I'm frustrated with EVGA right now, and I damn well should be. You would be too, and you'd be lying if you said at least some of your frustration wouldn't be directed towards EVGA if you were in my situation.

Anyways, sorry for the off topic post, but I felt it necessary to defend my position and my frustration.
 
I will be happy with the 9800gx2.

Seeing as how I went with an Intel chipset, i don't have the option to go SLI.

At my res 1920 x 1080, it's going to be the best solution for a bit.

I get mine in 2 days, hopefully everything works out great! :D
 
Gaiden133 said:
I will be happy with the 9800gx2.

Seeing as how I went with an Intel chipset, i don't have the option to go SLI.

At my res 1920 x 1080, it's going to be the best solution for a bit.

I get mine in 2 days, hopefully everything works out great! :D
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Yep. I hope it's awesome for you. Beats an Ultra very handily, and costs less than the ultra did when it was new, too. What kind of PSU you gonna run it with?
 
ZanderMan, I wouldn''t write off EVGA b/c of that one bad exp. But I don't blame you if you don't want to do business w/ them again. :(
 
beowulf7 said:
ZanderMan, I wouldn''t write off EVGA b/c of that one bad exp. But I don't blame you if you don't want to do business w/ them again. :(
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More like 4 bad experiences - 3 rebates, and now a bad brand new 780i motherboard. It won't overclock one iota, and everything USB is going wacky on it. I never had this happen at all with my Abit 680i board, nor my EVGA 680i board which I "stepped up" from. I'm just beyond mad now ... more like sad. Just sad. :( I just want a computer that works and lets me overclock the crap out of it... is that too much to ask?? lol. Anyhow. I appreciate everyone's support here. I know EVGA has a great rep. That 680i board I had was fantastic. A quad core at 3.65GHz on an air cooler I paid $22 for?? That was amazing, and it was so stable ...

I think I've recently had a little revelation though. Things appear to be heating up a tad between Intel and nVidia, if you follow Daily Times reports & such.... It appears to me that another ulterior motive for nVidia to not release a fanfreakingtastic single card solution right now is not merely because of ATI's lack of superior high end offerings, but geared towards being "Anti-Intel-Chipset". nVidia has been pushing SLI, and tri SLI, and QUAD SLI so hardcore right now ... They don't want you to buy an Intel board with an intel chipset. They want the best enthusiast solutions to require an nVidia chipset. Look at the 9600GTs! They will beat an ultra, but will it run on an Intel board other than Skulltrail? And are they going to sell enough Skulltrails at Intel to seriously compete with nVidia's lower priced SLI offerings? NO WAY!

The 9800GX2 is the only super high end single card solution, and thus the ONLY top performer that will work on the most popular and common Intel chipsets out there. And what does nVidia charge for it? $160 MORE than what you would pay for two 8800GTS 512 cards that will outperform the single GX2! Imagine how much margin they make on those, hence a win for them money wise. Those who really want top top performance per dollar spent are going to actually spend less or at most about the same by buying two 8800GTS's or GT's AND an SLI motherboard, another WIN for nVidia. And for those who already have nVidia boards, are they going to buy ATI cards?? Not likely, which indicates another win for them. nVidia is using their considerable GPU influence they have right now to push their chipsets as well. Look at all the fantastic, cheap, and efficient midrange solutions out there. Look at how much better scaling is now than before. Think they're doing this by accident? If we buy into it hook, line and sinker (like I have so far!) we are putting the icing on their cake!
 
TheZanderMan said:
Yep. I hope it's awesome for you. Beats an Ultra very handily, and costs less than the ultra did when it was new, too. What kind of PSU you gonna run it with?
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I'll be running it with the PSU in the rig in my sig.

Corsair 620hx, modular. Has the appropriate 6+2 pci-e power plug :)

Tomorrow!!
 
TheZanderMan said:
More like 4 bad experiences - 3 rebates, and now a bad brand new 780i motherboard. It won't overclock one iota, and everything USB is going wacky on it. I never had this happen at all with my Abit 680i board, nor my EVGA 680i board which I "stepped up" from. I'm just beyond mad now ... more like sad. Just sad. :( I just want a computer that works and lets me overclock the crap out of it... is that too much to ask?? lol. Anyhow. I appreciate everyone's support here. I know EVGA has a great rep. That 680i board I had was fantastic. A quad core at 3.65GHz on an air cooler I paid $22 for?? That was amazing, and it was so stable ...

I think I've recently had a little revelation though. Things appear to be heating up a tad between Intel and nVidia, if you follow Daily Times reports & such.... It appears to me that another ulterior motive for nVidia to not release a fanfreakingtastic single card solution right now is not merely because of ATI's lack of superior high end offerings, but geared towards being "Anti-Intel-Chipset". nVidia has been pushing SLI, and tri SLI, and QUAD SLI so hardcore right now ... They don't want you to buy an Intel board with an intel chipset. They want the best enthusiast solutions to require an nVidia chipset. Look at the 9600GTs! They will beat an ultra, but will it run on an Intel board other than Skulltrail? And are they going to sell enough Skulltrails at Intel to seriously compete with nVidia's lower priced SLI offerings? NO WAY!

The 9800GX2 is the only super high end single card solution, and thus the ONLY top performer that will work on the most popular and common Intel chipsets out there. And what does nVidia charge for it? $160 MORE than what you would pay for two 8800GTS 512 cards that will outperform the single GX2! Imagine how much margin they make on those, hence a win for them money wise. Those who really want top top performance per dollar spent are going to actually spend less or at most about the same by buying two 8800GTS's or GT's AND an SLI motherboard, another WIN for nVidia. And for those who already have nVidia boards, are they going to buy ATI cards?? Not likely, which indicates another win for them. nVidia is using their considerable GPU influence they have right now to push their chipsets as well. Look at all the fantastic, cheap, and efficient midrange solutions out there. Look at how much better scaling is now than before. Think they're doing this by accident? If we buy into it hook, line and sinker (like I have so far!) we are putting the icing on their cake!
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in the UK , two GTS is equal if not more expensive then a single GX2!!!
 
TheZanderMan said:
More like 4 bad experiences - 3 rebates, and now a bad brand new 780i motherboard. It won't overclock one iota, and everything USB is going wacky on it. I never had this happen at all with my Abit 680i board, nor my EVGA 680i board which I "stepped up" from. I'm just beyond mad now ... more like sad. Just sad. :( I just want a computer that works and lets me overclock the crap out of it... is that too much to ask?? lol. Anyhow. I appreciate everyone's support here. I know EVGA has a great rep. That 680i board I had was fantastic. A quad core at 3.65GHz on an air cooler I paid $22 for?? That was amazing, and it was so stable ...

I think I've recently had a little revelation though. Things appear to be heating up a tad between Intel and nVidia, if you follow Daily Times reports & such.... It appears to me that another ulterior motive for nVidia to not release a fanfreakingtastic single card solution right now is not merely because of ATI's lack of superior high end offerings, but geared towards being "Anti-Intel-Chipset". nVidia has been pushing SLI, and tri SLI, and QUAD SLI so hardcore right now ... They don't want you to buy an Intel board with an intel chipset. They want the best enthusiast solutions to require an nVidia chipset. Look at the 9600GTs! They will beat an ultra, but will it run on an Intel board other than Skulltrail? And are they going to sell enough Skulltrails at Intel to seriously compete with nVidia's lower priced SLI offerings? NO WAY!

The 9800GX2 is the only super high end single card solution, and thus the ONLY top performer that will work on the most popular and common Intel chipsets out there. And what does nVidia charge for it? $160 MORE than what you would pay for two 8800GTS 512 cards that will outperform the single GX2! Imagine how much margin they make on those, hence a win for them money wise. Those who really want top top performance per dollar spent are going to actually spend less or at most about the same by buying two 8800GTS's or GT's AND an SLI motherboard, another WIN for nVidia. And for those who already have nVidia boards, are they going to buy ATI cards?? Not likely, which indicates another win for them. nVidia is using their considerable GPU influence they have right now to push their chipsets as well. Look at all the fantastic, cheap, and efficient midrange solutions out there. Look at how much better scaling is now than before. Think they're doing this by accident? If we buy into it hook, line and sinker (like I have so far!) we are putting the icing on their cake!
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Regarding rebates, I got screwed from EVGA, Saphire and BFG. I have 2 more rebates from EVGA and XFX in line but whatever... I had rebates from Creative, Logitech, Corsair, OCZ and they all honored. Video card makers just ignore them. I've called, faxed copies of UPC bar and nothing.
I'm not surprised with your 780i mobo. Mine died 2 times and sold the 3rd replacement as soon as I got.
I got a Striker II Extreme 790i. Let's see how it goes.
 
golfjam said:
Regarding rebates, I got screwed from EVGA, Saphire and BFG. I have 2 more rebates from EVGA and XFX in line but whatever... I had rebates from Creative, Logitech, Corsair, OCZ and they all honored. Video card makers just ignore them. I've called, faxed copies of UPC bar and nothing.
I'm not surprised with your 780i mobo. Mine died 2 times and sold the 3rd replacement as soon as I got.
I got a Striker II Extreme 790i. Let's see how it goes.
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I've never sent in a rebate for Sapphire, but every BFG one I've sent in I've received. Interesting to see I'm not the only one with EVGA rebate troubles. I've sent in recent emails but they still haven't responded.
 
QUESTION: would lowering the res to say 1280×720 or lower help run crysis with everything on very high?
 
jonneymendoza said:
QUESTION: would lowering the res to say 1280×720 or lower help run crysis with everything on very high?
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Of course it would. However depending on how low that is for your monitor it may end up looking worse than a higher resolution with settings set to high or even medium.
 
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