9800GX2 available @ newegg!

[LoUiS]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106792522+1067937879&name=GeForce+9800+GX2

Too bad for us EU customers! Newegg doesn't ship internationally..!

[arielus]

Re: 9800GX2 available @ newegg!

:drool:

[Corven]

Re: 9800GX2 available @ newegg!

the XFX card looks sweet

[maddlingo]

Re: 9800GX2 available @ newegg!

I can't justify spending 600 for a video card. For that you could go SLI with two 8800 GTS and probably get better performance.

[LoUiS]

Re: 9800GX2 available @ newegg!

Taken from Nvidia sli forums:


Performance Testing: Now for the actual performance tests. As with my normal investigations. I'll provide my thoughts and insights of each test under the benchmark graphs.

Oblivion



Performance Thoughts: It's amazing how quickly this title turned from one of the most GPU limited titles of its time to CPU limited on today's platforms. As such I enabled transparency supersampling in all my tests to increase load. The 9800GX2 performs fairly well in these tests. And is competitive with the 8800GTX SLI configuration with 16xAA enabled while still slightly CPU limited. At these settings Tri SLI 8800GTX becomes completely CPU limited. Turning on 16xQ however changes the situation. Due to the increased bandwith requirements the 9800GX2 comes out every so slightly behind the SLI 8800GTX configuration.s. The 9800GX2 consistently outperforms the 8800GT SLI configuration due to its superior bandwith, shader performance, and texturing capabilities.
Unreal Tournament 3

Performance Thoughts: Unreal Tournament 3 is the latest shooter from Epic games. The game has strong ties to shader performance which can be seen in these tests. The game appears to have a strong liking for the G92 architecture as well. However the 9800GX2 holds a decent advantage over the 8800GTX SLI with 16xCSAA probably due to the increased shader performance available. Unfortunately I was unable to test the 16xQ modes on the 512 meg cards due to the game crashing with driver not responding errors with it enabled at 1920x1080. I believe this to be some sort of memory management error. I have reported the problem to Nvidia and they are aware of it. The 9800GX2 was once again able to consistently outperform the 8800GT SLI setup due to superior shader, texturing, and bandwith.

Editor Note: As many might be aware. Unreal Tournament 3 has a frame smoothing option typically set to 62 to control erratic frame rate distributions. Liking this feature I adjusted it to a maximum of 75. Which will affect "Max" framerates and AVG framerates slightly. None of the configurations tested were capable of offering 75 FPS or higher with any amount of consistency at the settings tested so I believe these results to be very fair and balanced.
Serious Sam 2



Performance Thoughts: Much like the Oblivion tests I found CPU limitations to incur themselves on several instances. However the title never became entirely CPU limited at 16xCSAA. The 9800GX2 and 8800GTX SLI takes swing at each but offer very equivalent performance in these tests. Running 16xQ modes shifts the bottleneck squarely on the GPU. Due to bandwith restrictions the 9800GX2 comes up slightly behind the 8800GTX SLI setup but pulls ahead the 8800GT SLI by a decent margin.
Bioshock Performance



Performance Thoughts: Bioshock is a game most people here are probably familiar with. One of the better games released in 2007 it also one of the more demanding ones. I used DirectX 9.0 testing for anti aliasing support. In these tests the 8800GTX and 9800 GX2 run neck and neck performance wise offering equivalent performance at 16xCSAA. With 16xQ enabled the 8800GTX SLI control very slightly lead. Once again the 9800GX2's superior rendering capabilities allow it to come ahead of the 8800GT SLI configuration.
Crysis Performance



Performance Thoughts: Crysis is a title that has left us bewondered this year due to its insane performance requirements. Most of us have been unable to run this game anywhere close to high end settings. Even I had to make some sacrafices to ensure the game was playable. Choosing primarily high settings I lowered the shadow volumes to medium. Also dismissing high end AA comparison I stuck with 2x and 4xAA performance. Under these tests conditions the 9800GX2 held a decent advantage over the 8800GTX SLI due to its superior shader performance. The 8800GT SLI put out some good numbers with its strong shader performance ((Comparable to 8800GTX SLI)) but was unable to keep up with the 9800 GX2.

Editors Note: This was a case where the title became too much for 512 meg cards to handle. As such all tests were concluded with shadow volumes at medium. With the shadow volumes set to High. The game slowed down to 5 FPS on both the 8800GT and 9800GX2. While the 8800GTX was able to sit at around 17 FPS. This is one of those scenerios where the 8800GTX's memory allowed it a considerable advantage.

Conclusions

Thoughts and Conclusions: Since I took this review at at a different angle I am gonna do my best to hit it from every angle.

8800GTX SLI verses 9800GX2: I found the performance of these cards to be mostly a wash. If you currently own a 8800GTX you could easily consider upgrading to a second 8800GTX and get very similar performance and in some cases superior due to the additional framebuffer. However anyone buying a solution today who currently does not own a 8800GTX I would seriously contest with that decision. A 9800GX2 consumes a total of 197 watts of power. 2 8800GTX's consume almost twice that. Thats nearly twice the amount of total heat outputted in your system. The G80 hardware also does not offer the advanced purevideo engine which limits its versatility. The 9800GX2 also aims to work in any chipset. It simply makes more sense at this current point to buy a 9800GX2 single card than dual 8800GTX SLI cards in my humble opinion. The only hurdle might be power supplies but newer power supplies coming onto the market and the adapters being provided this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

8800GT SLI verses 9800GX2: This is probably going to be one of the 9800 GX2's tougher fights. The 8800GT cards are cheaper and can be SLI'd pretty easily to provide performance thats usually 10-15% slower than a single 9800 GX2. However 8800GT's in SLI will not have the QUAD SLI upgrade path of dual 9800GX2 cards and still offer inferior performance. However power and heat shouldnt be a concern as dual 8800GT cards have very similar thermal/power conditions to a single 9800 GX2. As well as offering similar purevideo functionality. That being said the 9800GX2 is the faster solution and still offers the luxury of being used on non nforce chipsets for those not wishing to upgrade their motherboard which could definately change the value of this solution for some.

Tri SLI verses Quad SLI: Due to the Quad report not being ready. I am going to refrain from making any direct recommendation's regarding this. In the coming week I am hoping to provide a Quad SLI performance preview compared to the current 8800GTX Tri SLI results as well as write a small guide pertaining to it. Stay Tuned.

Overall Impression: I was a bit dubious about a 9800GX2 when I first heard about it. And until I get a chance to completely test Quad SLI the verdict is still out in there air of overall impression. Clearly this card uses SLI technology and will have similar performance to many of the current SLI configurations. However as a single card it does have its merits of working on any chipset. It also has a very unique and quiet cooling solution ((Quieter than 8800GTX SLI or 8800GT SLI)) with a unique package and presentation. Unless you take it apart you wouldnt know its a dual PCB solution and in my honest opinion thats not really that important. It consumes the same amount of PCI slots as a 8800GTX or 8800 Ultra which just use much larger coolers. The entire package has neat LEDS and great presentation. So as a single stand alone card. I think there is alot of room for optimism. I know some of us would have rather had a single monolothic GPU. But this isnt a bad solution either. Especially for those who are opting for a non Nforce platform. My biggest concern currently is the 512 Meg limitation of the GPU. Under some rare circumstances. This can be a very real bottleneck.

My own Reflections: After some reflection upon the hardware I have tested and used something occurred to me. We really do have alot of options right now. Nvidia has a very good spread of performance/price ratios as well as many different ways of achieving those goals. I cant remember a time in immediate history that there has been so many options available at so many different price points. And this really hits home. There really is a little of something for everybody right now and and you really are getting some excellent value on many of the current solutions available. Even the sub 200 dollar market is well covered with 9600 GT and 9600 GT SLI which I unfortunately was unable to test.

Sneak Peak: And of course... a sneak peak at things to come..

[beanzncheez]

Re: 9800GX2 available @ newegg!

That's hilarious.

[srbbnd]

Re: 9800GX2 available @ newegg!

Insane...$600 bucks for a graphics card..HA!