PC Perspective - XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB Review

	XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB Review - Dual G92 is Sexy
	Author: Ryan Shrout Date: Mar 18, 2008 Subject: Graphics Card Manufacturer: XFX

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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed analysis of the XFX 9800 GX2 1GB graphics card. For all the in-depth analysis and testing you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

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In another parallel between the 9800 GX2 and the HD 3870 X2, NVIDIA's new card is really nothing new when it comes to the chip architecture. The card is built around a pair of G92-based 8800 GTS 512MB GPUs that run at different clock speeds but operate in SLI mode when enabled in the NVIDIA control panel for improved gaming performance. How much gain depends on the game you want to play.

The specifications for the 9800 GX2 pretty much speak for themselves and follow the trends we are used to seeing with dual-GPU graphics cards: pair a couple of current-generation GPUs on a single card, lower the clocks to stay inside a reasonable thermal envelope; cycle, rinse, repeat. Where as the single GPU 8800 GTS 512MB card runs at 650 MHz core clock with 128 shader units running at 1625 MHz, the new 9800 GX2 sports twice the stream processors running at 1500 MHz and a core clock rate of 600 MHz. It just happens that these clock rates are the same as those found on the G92-based 8800 GT though it only has 112 stream processors.

The exterior of the card is unlike any other graphics board I have tested and it does indeed feel very solid and strong. While these are aesthetic changes that some users won't really care about, others want to feel that they are getting something that is high quality for their $600 so the build quality of the unit won't let those readers down.

Let's see how this new ultra-high-end graphics card performs:

Those of you expecting the 9800 GX2 to be the complete and dominant performance leader in the high end graphics card segment should be realizing that that is not the case. While in some cases, the performance of the 9800 GX2 is very impressive, especially in games like Bioshock and Call of Duty 4 where SLI scaling is very good with performance improvements at 60% or more compared to AMD's top graphics card. Even games like Lost Planet and Crysis see great performance advantages over the AMD HD 3870 X2 card - but looking at the 9800 GX2 at 2560x1600 will get you a mixed bag of results: either it works great or horrible as there seems to be no middle ground.

Pricing and Availability

If there's one area of complaint this is probably it. With an MSRP quoted from nvidia starting at $599 and going up to $649 this is easily going to be the most expensive card on the market. And the difference is not minimal: you can buy in AMD 3870 X2 for $450 or so giving AMD $150 of wiggle room even if we go by NVIDIA's low estimate. Damn.

Is the extra performance you get out of the 9800 GX2 in the benchmarks and gaming results we saw today worth that much extra money? While this is a very personal question between you and your wallet I'd have to say it is a definite maybe. In talking with XFX I'm reasonably certain that the prices for these cards will be at the $599 price point but I think that in NVIDIA's complicated board design and cooler design has forced them to raise the price of the car to higher than they or their partners would have liked.

If this card were priced at $499 I don't think anybody would be able to complain about its performance and price when compared to AMD's products. You can actually find GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards for under $275 right now meaning you can build a similarly performing graphics configuration for $550 by just combining two of these in SLI. Of course this does not give you the option for Quad SLI down the road and you will be required to use up four motherboard slots rather than two.

UPDATE: I just saw that these cards are showing up at Newegg.com already:

Final Thoughts

The NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 pulls me in different directions. On one hand it is the top performing graphics card in most cases but that performance comes at quite a price. In a graphics market that has been dominated by incredible price/performance value cards like the 8800 GT and HD 3870 that are both selling at about $200, it's hard to see anyone wanting to spend $600 on any single card, even with performance this impressive in many titles. That doesn't mean that nobody will of course, and I still think NVIDIA will have moderate success with this product line once we can fully demonstrate Quad SLI and its performance. So for now let gamers with large credit cards start their engines but most of our readers will likely be idling to see what comes next.

Be sure to use our pricing engine to find the best prices on NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards and anything else you might need:

Click here for the Detailed Review