Hardware Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...00_gtx_512mb/1

Nvidia has released the GeForce 9800 GTX today. Is this the next GPU to break the performance barriers down and make its way into masses upon masses of gamers' systems like the GeForce 8800 GTX did... Or is it one to forget about for the time being? Read on to find out...

[genesisofthesith]

Whilst we all knew the 9800gtx was just a light refresh of the 8800 gts 512 its nice to get some solid numbers. Hopefully we'll see the true potential benefit of this card (power savings with hybrid sli) soon enough.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Hm. Is it just me, or does it look like it's 90 ft. long?

[wuyanxu]

haha, in both Crysis Dx10 and World in Conflict Dx10, 8800GTX still is the king, offering smoother gameplay with higher minimal FPS.
and with all other games, 9800GTX is just a bit higher than 8800GTX.

good advice in final thoughts section. and i think the scores are 100% accurate.

[donnie]

I would have prefered to see how this new GTX handles the very high settings on crysis, i have however seen benchies on the 9800 GX2 and it seams to be a crysis killer with decent fps with all settings on very high but TBH with a review like this i'm suprised any of the settings are on medium.

[Kipman725]

hmm this would have made sense as a revision to the existing cards not the first of the 9 series. I guess when ATI's new cards come out nvidia will be playing catch up again (these things seem to be cyclic).

[sl1xx]

spot on review..to a tee on final thourts;nothing left to be said...

[rls669]

Originally Posted by genesisofthesith

Hopefully we'll see the true potential benefit of this card (power savings with hybrid sli) soon enough.

Except that hybrid SLI, while sounding nice, appears to be so limited in implementation as to be useless for most people.

[johnnyboy700]

Oh well, bang goes the notion of buying a 9800 GTX, looks like I'll have to hang on for the 9900 GTX - whenever that appears.

[Mister_Tad]

Am I the only one that thinks there was an internal error at nVidia, and this was supposed to be called an 8900GTX? It would make so much more sense

[genesisofthesith]

Originally Posted by Mister_Tad

Am I the only one that thinks there was an internal error at nVidia, and this was supposed to be called an 8900GTX? It would make so much more sense

No, the 8800gt/gts512 should have been the 9800 and the 55nm refresh the 9900 - both are g9x chips afterall. Nvidia just tried to protect existing g80 sales with the naming convention. With the g80 stock pretty much cleared, we now get the products realigned to where they should have been originally, with the 9800gtx replacing the gts640 and the gx2 the 8800gtx/ultra.

[Bindibadgi]

Originally Posted by Mister_Tad

Am I the only one that thinks there was an internal error at nVidia, and this was supposed to be called an 8900GTX? It would make so much more sense

No because the 9-series support HybridSLI and the 8-series does not.

rls - How exactly? While crude, the power saving features look to be very positive.

[Mister_Tad]

From an architectural perspective, that's true, but people don't care about which revision of GPU is on the card, they care about how it performs. (or maybe that's just me)

Sure there are a few features added, but new GPU or not, its nothing groudbreaking. Power saving is nice, don't get me wrong, hybrid SLI is quite clever, but its all a bit "meh" if theres no more performance in it.

I guess I'm alone there then.

(and I was being facetious about it being a mistake, of course it isn't. Performance wise though, it feels more like an 8900)

[HourBeforeDawn]

like someone wrote in an article on another site nVidia screwed up big time, they shouldnt have called these recent releases of cards the 9 thousand series and instead call it the 8900 series as they dont offer anything thats significantly new except hybrid SLI.

[Mister_Tad]

They do offer some new features, Hybrid SLI being the headline. But performance wise, its all a bit meh.

[wuyanxu]

so is hybrid SLi only available on unreleased nVidia motherboards? what will those motherboards be?

im getting scary power bills with my 8800GTX..... need something that uses less power while idle (80% of what my computer does is idle) otherwise the 8800GTX will eat my wallet alive.

[AcidJiles]

thinking of upgrading gfx soon so would oced gts or oced gtx be better for 200 ish? thx

[sheninat0r]

Oh man... what a disappointment. I was expecting it to be faster than the 8800GTX in everything, even if by a little. Looks like nVidia is enjoying the lack of competition. It feels like videocards are barely getting faster... the 8800GTX was amazing on launch day, and the fact that it still is this long after its release is just ridiculous.

A note on the review: Newegg's got the 9800GTX in for $329.99 from five manufacturers, so it looks like the "value" score would be higher in the states

linky: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814122051
times two: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814136028
times three: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500037
times four: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143129
times five: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130339

heh.

[Bindibadgi]

Originally Posted by Mister_Tad

From an architectural perspective, that's true, but people don't care about which revision of GPU is on the card, they care about how it performs. (or maybe that's just me)

Sure there are a few features added, but new GPU or not, its nothing groudbreaking. Power saving is nice, don't get me wrong, hybrid SLI is quite clever, but its all a bit "meh" if theres no more performance in it.

I guess I'm alone there then.

(and I was being facetious about it being a mistake, of course it isn't. Performance wise though, it feels more like an 8900)

I'm sure many will feel the same sentiment, however I will find it quite ironic if the majority take your stance since we're covering Energy Efficiency more and more as people have requested it ever more often. Hybrid SLI offers SIGNIFICANT power saving over time and anything that has gone previous. Personally, I can't wait to use it in my own system at home and drop my energy bill - I need a new graphics card because my 7900 GS is a bit long in the tooth, yet, I rarely game these days but still like to on occasion so anything new would essentially be a waste 95% of the time.

Even though you're limited to 1920x1200 resolutions - those with 30" monitors will be affected, a current minority. By the time 30" resolutions become more widely accepted, Nvidia will have Gen-2+ available that'll likely offer more bandwidth for dual-DVI etc

What I do understand is that you're not saying it's worth this feature over an 8800 GTS 512 which doesn't support it - that I agree with absolutely.

Shen - it was reviewed at $299 ex Tax, because it varies from State to State. I'd hazard a guess that a "4" is still largely appropriate.

[rls669]

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

rls - How exactly? While crude, the power saving features look to be very positive.

Because chipset support is slim to nonexistent, and it doesn't support SLI of the main graphics cards, or multiple displays. And by the time there's a decent install base of motherboards with IGPs that work in hybrid SLI, these particular cards will be irrelevant.