PC Perspective - NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB Review

	NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB Review - 3-Way SLI makes a return
	Author: Ryan Shrout Date: Apr 01, 2008 Subject: Graphics Card Manufacturer: BFG Tech

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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed analysis of the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX. For all the in-depth analysis and testing you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

Click this link to get the full article

The GeForce 9800 GTX is in fact merely a higher clocked version of the 8800 GTS 512MB card released last year. The G92 GPU still sports the same number of stream processors, the same memory bus and is still a native PCI Express 2.0 card built on the 65nm process.

The GeForce 9800 GTX does stand out for another reason: its price. Estimations from NVIDIA (oh how reliable they are) put the 9800 GTX at $299-349 - a price that puts it well within the reach of most gamers. NVIDIA has stated that the 9800 GTX is NOT an attempt to push the overall performance of GPUs to another level but rather to bring performance similar to that of the G80 8800 cards to a much more reasonable price segment.

For our testing of the 9800 GTX our good friends at BFG Technologies and XFX sent us some retail samples and it is with their combined efforts that we get to test some 3-Way action.

The 9800 GTX is a two-slot design that is very similar to what we have seen on the newer 8800 GTS cards though the plastic on this card design is a bit cheaper feeling.

Here are the two XFX cards that were sent over - they are identical save the purple color scheme of the stickers.

Let's see some quick benchmarks:

If we just look at the benchmarks, the single 9800 GTX was never quite up to taking on the 8800 Ultra but it fared much better against AMD's Radeon HD 3870 X2. If I were a betting man, I'd call the inter-company battle a tie but then I would always lean towards the single GPU solution if I were forced to make a single recommendation. Getting one GPU to its peak theoretical performance limit is always easier than trying to get two to do the same.

Pricing and Availability

Based on what little info is peering out at this late hour (it's about 6am as I finish this) the pricing should be about where NVIDIA states: I'd expect to find the BFG and XFX cards floating around the $299 price point from day one.

If NVIDIA meets this price segment, that puts AMD in a predicament - the HD 3870 X2 is still going for over $425 in most cases and the next card in their lineup is the HD 3870 512MB card that is woefully unprepared to take on the 9800 GTX. The 9800 GTX will likely be that great graphics card purchase for the high-end enthusiast until AMD musters up something of their own.

UPDATE: The GeForce 9800 GTX cards are showing up already!

Final Thoughts

The 9800 GTX is not the new king of the world when it comes to single-GPU performance graphics cards like we had hoped, but it is a great performing card with a fantastic price point that should appeal to a lot of hard core gamers. From a technology stand point it is really nothing more than an overclocked and renamed 8800 GTS 512MB card, but that's just fine with us - and I imagine it will be fine for quite a few enthusiasts as well.

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