Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2 Review

[frodbonzi]

Those 3 reviews of the GX2 Quad SLI are mixed... and they all seem to conclude that getting the second GX2 is a waste of money unless you want to play Crysis at 1080p res...

The one review that compares Quad SLI to 2 8800GTX cards in SLI showed that the GTX cards are actually just about as good, and actually superior in most games!!

I'd REALLY like to see Toms do a review comparing both Quad SLI and tri-SLI with both the 8800Ultra and the 9800GTX...

I suspect the extra memory per card in the ultra (768 to 512) makes a big difference... remember, you can always overclock a card, but you cannot give it extra memory or bandwidth

 

[hughyhunter]

I do feel as though Nvidia took a slight step back by reverting to 512mb memory and 256bit bus. Why didnt they opt for the same as Ultra/GTX or go larger like 2900XT did? If only the new 9800GTX was 1GB with 512bit bus.

 

[frodbonzi]

I wonder what the 9900 series specs will be...

 

[frodbonzi]

So it's now May 2... STILL no update from Tom's.... Let's see the Quad SLI benchmarks!!

 

[blackwater11]

Hughy hunter,
I have a great idea. Now listen close so you don't miss anything.. We should write a letter to Nvidia to help build a board with 6 PCIE slots all at X16 so we can have a six card SLI. Sound like a plan??? And since it is a well known fact that over the generations of cards that have come out there have been a doubling of speed if not tripling of speed and functionality with each new generation that passes.. So if I buy 4 GT'S in one generation and Buy one GTX or Ultra in the next generation.. You mean they are equal and all that money wasted on SLI and a giant DRIVER disaster is worth it? SLI and the NVIDIA marketing scam is catching up to Nvidia. I'm tired of trying to be taken advantage of. We feel violated! ; ) I have a couple things for Nvidia - a banana and some vasaline should do it. Next

 

[blackwater11]

..

 

[hughyhunter]

I partially agree. If however you are sick of their product... than you should not buy their product. Nvidia simply floods the market for two reasons 1. to confuse the consumer so 2. the consumer buy's more Nvidia products.

 

[Galad]

The Specifications says its PCI-Express 2.0. Does this mean the card wont work on the motherboards with PCI-Express slots like Asus P5W DH Deluxe?

Thanks.

 

[hughyhunter]

No... it will work on 1.0 and 1.1, they are backwards compatible.

 

[frodbonzi]

Still no benchmarks from Tom's on Quad SLI... you'd think they'd get on the ball with this... especially since nvidia has already announced the specs on the 280 and 260 cards...

 

[hughyhunter]

This probably isnt THGs doing. I would bet Nvidia has some say in TH charts. It's better to keep the consumer in the dark on how their high end $600 card works in SLI. Considering that their probably arent a lot of games that will benefit from Quad SLI Nvidia has a strategy... Dont reveal anything! I'm more curious to see how two highly overclocked 9800GTX will perform compared to two 9800GX2... I bet the performance is very similar, not to mention the GTX price is way better!!!

 

[L1qu1d]

LOL a 9800 GX2 is a slightly downclocked 9800 GTX

9800 GTX 675 mhz and 1100, while the GX2 is 600 and 1000 per PCB

So you can say yes, 2 9800 GTX are faster than 1 9800 GX2, but 2 9800 GTX aren't faster than 2 9800 GX2, i even if they were super clocked.

And don't forget that the 9800 Gx2 can clock to GTX speeds and higher, ofc not as high as what a GTX could do but pretty close! I managed to get mine to 770 and 1200 but I down clocked it to 675 and 1100 to match up 2 9800 GTXs

 

[hughyhunter]

LOL a 9800 GX2 is a slightly downclocked 9800 GTX

9800 GTX 675 mhz and 1100, while the GX2 is 600 and 1000 per PCB

So you can say yes, 2 9800 GTX are faster than 1 9800 GX2, but 2 9800 GTX aren't faster than 2 9800 GX2, i even if they were super clocked.

And don't forget that the 9800 Gx2 can clock to GTX speeds and higher, ofc not as high as what a GTX could do but pretty close! I managed to get mine to 770 and 1200 but I down clocked it to 675 and 1100 to match up 2 9800 GTXs

Well that's pretty dang good than! I was under the assumption that a GTX could clock to 800mhz core and a GX2 couldnt get very high due to heat... but you own one and probably have great experience with it. All I'm saying is that I dont think many a game can utilize the Quad SLI and that two GTXs would outperform GX2 in SLI because of the fact of SLI scaling above two physical GPUs.
Crysis on the other hand probably does very well with Quad SLI! I would be interested to see some benchmarks of this.
It is still strange to me that 3870X2 is still the leader in 3dmark06. I tell you... I cant beat a buddy of mine that has two 3870s in crossfire. He is breaking 20k and I'm trying to get upper 19k. Funny how in every other game I have 10-20 frames on him.

 

[L1qu1d]

quad 9800 GX2s can't beat 1 3870 X2 in 3Dmark sooo I dunno.
As for the quad Sli capabilities. Its true some games didn't support it, but they fixed it now. Check out these benchmarks:

THe 8800 Ultra has been known to out perform the 9800 GTX in Tri sli and at high resolutions.

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=541

 

[hughyhunter]

two 9800GX2 are not as fast as two 3870X2 in 3dmark06. Period!

I cant even beat two 3870's in crossfire with my rig and same proc.