9800 GX2 Review

[iamcanadian7]

Hey everyone, I just picked up a new 9800 GX2 and figured id show all you guys how she runs.

Before you go on about how I'm wasting my money and blah blah, i got a really good deal on this, $350 with the trade in on my 8800 GTS 512, so its not like a paid an arm and a leg.

Two were in stock at work and I took one of them, the other had a piece of something rattling around inside. I wasn't around when they disassembled it, but they told me it wasn't pretty so i decided against taking the card apart.

The card is manufactured by BFG, some exterior pics below:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/unheardblowfish/Picture005-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/unheardblowfish/Picture004-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/unheardblowfish/Picture003-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/unheardblowfish/Picture002-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/unheardblowfish/Picture001-1.jpg




Im sure you have all read the specs on this so ill skip that part.

A few games i played with the new card, all resolutions are set at 1680*1050. I know this card is designed for higher resolutions, but my 22' will have to do until i decide to go bigger.

Crysis: Single player, 1680x1050, all settings maxed (high, vista is the devil)

no AA - Average FPS is about 60-70

4x AA - Average FPS is about 25-40

Cod 4: 1680*1050, all settings maxed, I am averaging about 80-100 FPS, with dips down to 50-60 on the mission with the choppers flying into the city and dropping you inside.


Overclocking: I was quite surprised at how easily this card overclocked. I ran it up to 770 core and 1100 mem and benched just under 19k in 3dmark 06. However, I am leaving it at stock for now due to heat issues.

This card runs very hot! Idling at about 55 and loaded to 90 with the overclock I listed above, loads to about 75-80 at stock. The heat issue is the only complaint I have with this card. I can't wait to see what some 3rd party companies can come up with cooling wise but im sure it's going to be a challenge.


All in all this card does exactly what Nvidia designed it to do. Take the top spot in the graphics market back. Its not the best bang for your buck but it is the best single slot card out there.

Unfortunately, I was not able to hook up SLI, I don't think they have the quad SLI drivers ready yet anyways but I'm sure we can expect even more performance.


If anyone have any more questions, comments or tests they would like me to try, let me know and ill do my best to answer/test them out.

This is my first review btw so sorry if it wasn't up to snuff.

[Rattle]

you try using rivatuner to change fan speeds? anyway you can turn the fan up and report back? how are you clocking it ?

[iamcanadian7]

Haven't tried riva but i assume it doesn't have support yet, i was using ntune to change the clocks and it won't let me change the fan speed either.

[Shell]

3DMARK06 is a must!

I want to see how well this whoops my GT.

[iamcanadian7]

benched just under 19k in 3dmark 06 Thats with the setup in my sig

[Hazaro]

Does it stay firmly in the PCI slot?

It's kinda heavy.

Will you volt mod it?

[iamcanadian7]

Yes its firmly seated, i was suprised how well it stayed in place.

I might volt mod it later on, like i said, i would like to get some aftermarket cooling on it before i do any heavy overclocking or volt modding.

[Hazaro]

Not finding any specs on weight/mass. Is it actually 4 pounds?

[Shiggity]

That is a pretty small GPU =D

Try overclocking your CPU more to see if it's bottlenecking you too, if that thing bottlenecks a 4.0ghz dual core, gg =D

[MikeyLikesItSI]

Judging by the side vent structure, it seems that it draws air from the backsides of both cards, and then pushes some out of the back of the case, and some out the side of the cards??? If thats the case, seems like its going to cause wicked case heat build-up unless one has excellent case ventilation

[Maverick0984]

Judging by the side vent structure, it seems that it draws air from the backsides of both cards, and then pushes some out of the back of the case, and some out the side of the cards??? If thats the case, seems like its going to cause wicked case heat build-up unless one has excellent case ventilation

Yea, I really don't like how they have the venting set up on it :(

[Blazing fire]

Nice. 3870X2 vs this? Anyone?

[ratbuddy]

3870X2 loses by 5-20% depending on the game. Sometimes even more, but that's prolly buggy drivers.

Can you measure the length of the card please?

[freakdiablo]

In the third picture, any idea what that clearish white square next to the power connectors is? Just curious, piece of the heatsink?


I just have to laugh at the size of it. Im guessing by the first pic its a good 2-3 inches longer then my 8800GT. But its awesome, not worth the $600 to upgrade from an 8800GT, but still awesome.

[Brolloks]

Question to the OP

Did you get the ave Crysis FPS by running the benchmark tool?

Aslo would you mid running the next as well:

3DMARK06 at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA

Crysis benchmark at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA

I will do the same with my pair of GTS 512 at same CPU speed you have, would be interesting results

thanks in advance :)

[ratbuddy]

In the third picture, any idea what that clearish white square next to the power connectors is? Just curious, piece of the heatsink?


I just have to laugh at the size of it. Im guessing by the first pic its a good 2-3 inches longer then my 8800GT. But its awesome, not worth the $600 to upgrade from an 8800GT, but still awesome.

I know the HDMI audio connector thing is up near the power sockets, maybe that's what you're seeing?

As to the $600 upgrade, maybe not if you have to sell your GT to do it since prices have fallen so much, but for those of us who paid $300ish for an EVGA GT or $350 for a GTS, it's well worth stepping up..

[freakdiablo]

I know the HDMI audio connector thing is up near the power sockets, maybe that's what you're seeing?

As to the $600 upgrade, maybe not if you have to sell your GT to do it since prices have fallen so much, but for those of us who paid $300ish for an EVGA GT or $350 for a GTS, it's well worth stepping up..

Yeah, must be it. But yeah I don't think Asus has a step up program and Ill be lucky if I get ~$150 for this even though its less then a month old.

[iamcanadian7]

Hazaro: I haven't weighed it but its at least 3 lbs if not more.

Shiggity: Ill fiddle around with some clocks and whatnot later tonight or tomorrow when i have some time.

Mikey: It is drawn in from the rear as well as the right sides of the top and bottom., the exhaust is blown out the side and through the small grill on the pci slot.

Ratbuddy: The dimensions are as follows: 10.5" (L) x 3.75" (W) x 1.5" (H)

Freak: Thats a rubber grommit covering the HDMI audio out port

Brollocks: Testing now with the specs you requested, and no I was not running the Crysis bench tool, I will run that as well, that had slipped my mind last night.

[nd4spdbh2]

thats a pretty good score i must say... and not to dog on you... but 350 + your 8800gts 512's price of about 300 for a total of 650 bucks for a gfx card...espically when you consider newegg has them for 600... no thnx ill pass on the gx2, its going to bt eht 7950gx2 all over again.

and this card is the same size as you standard 8800gtx - you want to talk a big card look at the quadro 5600... try another inch and a half on the lenth of the 8800gtx / 9800gx2 :eek:

[Shiggity]

Hazaro: I haven't weighed it but its at least 3 lbs if not more.

Shiggity: Ill fiddle around with some clocks and whatnot later tonight or tomorrow when i have some time.

Mikey: It is drawn in from the rear as well as the right sides of the top and bottom., the exhaust is blown out the side and through the small grill on the pci slot.

Ratbuddy: The dimensions are as follows: 10.5" (L) x 3.75" (W) x 1.5" (H)

Freak: Thats a rubber grommit covering the HDMI audio out port

Brollocks: Testing now with the specs you requested, and no I was not running the Crysis bench tool, I will run that as well, that had slipped my mind last night.

Thank you for answering all of our questions :)

Enjoy that card and keep testing :)

[Maverick0984]

thats a pretty good score i must say... and not to dog on you... but 350 + your 8800gts 512's price of about 300 for a total of 650 bucks for a gfx card...espically when you consider newegg has them for 600... no thnx ill pass on the gx2, its going to bt eht 7950gx2 all over again.

and this card is the same size as you standard 8800gtx - you want to talk a big card look at the quadro 5600... try another inch and a half on the lenth of the 8800gtx / 9800gx2 :eek:

Well, it isn't exactly $650 when everything is figured in. You would have to include the use he got out of his 8800GTS G92 into that price as well. So not exactly 1:1 as you allude to. But even if it was, $50 extra for only having to front $300 to get the GX2 isn't really that much in the grand scheme of things.

If I could step up to something like the GX2 right now from my GTX I certainly would, however, I've had my GTX since July '07, heh.

[ratbuddy]

Ratbuddy: The dimensions are as follows: 10.5" (L) x 3.75" (W) x 1.5" (H)

Sweet. It'll be nice and cozy in my mATX ;)

[jason4207]

Question to the OP

Did you get the ave Crysis FPS by running the benchmark tool?

Aslo would you mid running the next as well:

3DMARK06 at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA

Crysis benchmark at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA

I will do the same with my pair of GTS 512 at same CPU speed you have, would be interesting results

thanks in advance :)

Can you guys compare results w/ identical card clocks as well? I know both cards clock well, and it'd be interesting to see how the 1 slot vs. 2 slot configuration matches up.

[iamcanadian7]

3DMARK06 at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 17697
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 14295
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 11303

Crysis benchmark at : All after 3 loops

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 55.79
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 41.11
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 36.40
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 36.25


This is what she ran at stock with the processor in my sig, Ill overclock it and try some more runs tomorrow.


Edit, stock clocks on this are 600 core and 1000 memory


2nd Edit, fooling around in rivatuner quick, was able to increase fan speed, loud but took my temps down about 12 degrees, im off to work will update tonight/tomorrow

[Brolloks]

3DMARK06 at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 17697
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 14295
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 11303

Crysis benchmark at : All after 3 loops

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 55.79
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 41.11
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 36.40
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 36.25


This is what she ran at stock with the processor in my sig, Ill overclock it and try some more runs tomorrow.


Edit, stock clocks on this are 600 core and 1000 memory


2nd Edit, fooling around in rivatuner quick, was able to increase fan speed, loud but took my temps down about 12 degrees, im off to work will update tonight/tomorrow

Sweet, will tone down my cards and CPU and run those benchies within the hour
Thanks man for this, it will have a very important impact on my decison to get 2 x GX2's or not

[jason4207]

Crysis benchmark at : All after 3 loops

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 55.79
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 41.11
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 36.40
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 36.25



Is that all high settings?

Also, can you re-run w/ max OC on card w/ fan at 100%?

Hopefully, Brollocks can match your clocks. ;)

[iamcanadian7]

I have yet to find a max OC, I will see what it can do tomorrow and let you know, and yes its all set to high settings

[Brolloks]

CPU - E3110 - 450 x 9 = 4.05 GHz
RAM - G.Skills 2 x 2 GB DDR2-1000 @ 900 MHz 5-5-5-15

GPU - 8800GTS 512 SLI @ 600/1512/1000


3DMARK06 at :

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 17,685
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 14,257
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 11,280

Crysis benchmarks to follow

You'll notice our scores are virtually the same

[Brolloks]

Crysis benchmark at Settings all high, 3 loops

8800GTS SLI

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 51.75
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 35.86
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 43.38
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 43.62


GX2 Results for easy comparison

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 55.79
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 41.11
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 36.40
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 36.25

Next up the max OC (GPU's only) results, will do mine tomorrow morning :)

The GTS SLI scales very well with 8 x and 16 x AA, very surprised indeed

[juane414]

That card is gigantor... wow. I thought the HD3870 was huge.

[neonlazer]

That card is gigantor... wow. I thought the HD3870 was huge.

Its both huge and h:mad:t A review even warned about it heating up motherboard components to the point of hard crashes.

[Brolloks]

At 1680 x 1050 (8 x AA) and my GTS' SLI at stock I get ave of 44.6 FPS, not bad :)

[Rattle]

Crysis benchmark at Settings all high, 3 loops

8800GTS SLI

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 51.75
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 35.86
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 43.38
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 43.62


GX2 Results for easy comparison

1680 x 1050 - no AA - 55.79
1680 x 1050 - 4 x AA - 41.11
1680 x 1050 - 8 x AA - 36.40
1680 x 1050 - 16x AA - 36.25

Next up the max OC (GPU's only) results, will do mine tomorrow morning :)

The GTS SLI scales very well with 8 x and 16 x AA, very surprised indeed

I think something is wrong with those results, I think something is wrong with crysis or something is wrong with nvidia drivers for crysis...

how do you get the same fps with 8xAA and 16xAA ?? also how can 8 and 16x AA be more frames then 4x AA, something telling me AA is working correctly with crysis.

[keninishna]

I've read several review sites where they said crysis had driver issues when AA was enabled and would have artifacts the AA scores might even out with driver improvements.

[Brolloks]

I've read several review sites where they said crysis had driver issues when AA was enabled and would have artifacts the AA scores might even out with driver improvements.


Well there was no sign of artifacting during any of the runs, not saying the drivers are perfect off course.

[Maverick0984]

That card is gigantor... wow. I thought the HD3870 was huge.

Its both huge and h:mad:t A review even warned about it heating up motherboard components to the point of hard crashes.

I thought I saw somewhere that it was comparable size wise to the 8800GTX/Ultra. If that is the case, it isn't really THAT big...but it sure is heavy, lol.

Also, I'm sure it probably gets quite toasty ;).

[Neural Net]

Hey Brolloks, are you getting about 460-470Mhz FSB out of your EVGA 780i motherboard?

[Maverick0984]

I'm starting to get the itch to upgrade...must wait...

[Brolloks]

Hey Brolloks, are you getting about 460-470Mhz FSB out of your EVGA 780i motherboard?

500 my friend, my 24/7 setting now is 9 x 500, I'm sure it can go more, that is at 1.52 volts on CPU, NB is 1.55, SB is 1.4 and VTT or FSB is 1.45

This board rocks, definately a keeper....for now in any case

Check out the link in my sig to CPU-z snapshot :)

[Neural Net]

500 my friend, my 24/7 setting now is 9 x 500, I'm sure it can go more, that is at 1.52 volts on CPU, NB is 1.55, SB is 1.4 and VTT or FSB is 1.45

This board rocks, definately a keeper....for now in any case

Check out the link in my sig to CPU-z snapshot :)

:eek:... :drool: ... Nice oc man! I can get 470Mhz Orthos stable out of mine with different BIOS, but I'm dealing with that video crashing issue, seems it's solved with fiddling around with the Ram, so there's hope yet! How hot do the motherboard chipsets get? You must be able to burn yourself on the sinks if you keep your fingers on there! :beer:

[Brolloks]

:eek:... :drool: ... Nice oc man! I can get 470Mhz Orthos stable out of mine with different BIOS, but I'm dealing with that video crashing issue, seems it's solved with fiddling around with the Ram, so there's hope yet! How hot do the motherboard chipsets get? You must be able to burn yourself on the sinks if you keep your fingers on there! :beer:


:mad: This is how hot they get...real toasty, I have an open bench rig with lotsa fans, still NB hits 80's C with 1000 MHz RAM and SLI at 800/2000/1100, but it is holding strong, dunno what it will do with GX2 SLI.

I had some issues with SLI crashing in 3DM06 and changed drivers to 169.44, seems to have solved it, hove it a try.

[Neural Net]

:mad: This is how hot they get...real toasty, I have an open bench rig with lotsa fans, still NB hits 80's C with 1000 MHz RAM and SLI at 800/2000/1100, but it is holding strong, dunno what it will do with GX2 SLI.

Whoa, nice and toasty there! Wish nvidia could make chipsets that ran cooler. As for Quad SLI, check out these benchmarks (http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1347/geforce_9800_gx2_in_quad_sli_tested/index.html).
Looks promising, especially with Crysis, but the results with UT3 shows that the drivers aren't quite there yet, but you know where the effort has gone so far. ;) Ironically, other benchmarks using Supreme Commander show that it's one of the best scaling games for SLI ever made. Woo! :beer:

[iamcanadian7]

Its both huge and h:mad:t A review even warned about it heating up motherboard components to the point of hard crashes.

I would have to challenge that comment, their test rig must have had poor case ventilation, the card is designed to blow the air out the side and rear, there is no vent on the side closest to the motherboard. My ambient temps do go up when I overclock this or run benchmarks, however nowhere near the point of a hardware crash.

I agree with keninishna about the artifacting. I was noticing this problem when more and more as the AA got higher. Probably a driver issue, this card still needs to have the drivers tweaked imo.

Pretty sure I've hit a CPU wall. I had the card clocked to 780/1955/1050 and was pulling around 19100 in 3dMark06. I'll take the CPU up around 4.3 later today and see what happens.

[jason4207]

I would have to challenge that comment, their test rig must have had poor case ventilation, the card is designed to blow the air out the side and rear, there is no vent on the side closest to the motherboard. My ambient temps do go up when I overclock this or run benchmarks, however nowhere near the point of a hardware crash.

I agree with keninishna about the artifacting. I was noticing this problem when more and more as the AA got higher. Probably a driver issue, this card still needs to have the drivers tweaked imo.

Pretty sure I've hit a CPU wall. I had the card clocked to 780/1955/1050 and was pulling around 19100 in 3dMark06. I'll take the CPU up around 4.3 later today and see what happens.

Is that 3DMark06 score at default settings or 1680x1050?

Also, I think I read that the GX2 is a strange clocker like the 9600GT, and uses the PCIe bus clock as a reference. How are you OCing the card, and monitoring your clocks?

[Brolloks]

iamcanadian7, if you can get your CPU to 4.5 then we can both eliminate CPU bottlenecks and just see how far we can push the GPU's

[mattspalace]

Nice thread guys. Indeed the 9800GX2 does look to be two GTS strapped together (just clocked lower for less heat) - your scores are almost identical. Guess the real test is how well Nvidia did with dual 9800GX2 drivers.

and holy crap the GX2 is a friggin huge card.

[ratbuddy]

Nice thread guys. Indeed the 9800GX2 does look to be two GTS strapped together (just clocked lower for less heat) - your scores are almost identical. Guess the real test is how well Nvidia did with dual 9800GX2 drivers.

and holy crap the GX2 is a friggin huge card.

They've done great so far with GTS SLI and GX2 drivers. Already seems way better of a situation than 7950GX2. This also goes to show that we haven't come close to saturating the PCIe x16 interface. You'd think the GX2 would show lower scores if the bus was at it's limit.

Huge? Yeah. From what I've heard, it's over 5 pounds.

Ugh. #123 in queue.

edit: Can you describe the sound characteristic of the stock cooler? My 8800GT whines like a hair dryer at anything above 65% or so. I hate it. Do I have anything to worry about on that front? Loud is OK as long as it isn't whiney..

[MikeyLikesItSI]

Ugh. #123 in queue.


Could be worse! i'm #155 in queue.

[ratbuddy]

Could be worse! i'm #155 in queue.

On launch day, I was stupid: I didn't try to step up until about 10am EST when I got to work. By then it was too late, the website was jammed solid. I tried all day, and called to see if I could be manually added. No luck. It wasn't until about 9am on the 19th I got in, at number 182, so it's moving along. When did you get in queue and at what position?

edit: Well, I jumped from #123 to 'submit invoice' .. Called, got everything squared away as far as shipping addy etc, gonna have the card in about 10 days. Yay. Shame they rip you over $100 for next day shipping.

edit again: Ack, I still have to send the old card in. Make that about 11 days, I'm next day airing that thing :p

[Maverick0984]

They've done great so far with GTS SLI and GX2 drivers. Already seems way better of a situation than 7950GX2. This also goes to show that we haven't come close to saturating the PCIe x16 interface. You'd think the GX2 would show lower scores if the bus was at it's limit.

Oh, we already knew we had a long way to go to saturate it.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

Ratbuddy you are lucky! Wed i stepped up, started at #192, i ended thursday at #155, and i haven't moved since then.

You are lucky you went down so quick! Wonder why the same didn't happen to me :-(

[ratbuddy]

I asked the rep, he said they do them in big bunches. It was about 10 minutes after I checked and saw #123 that I refreshed the page and it said Upload Invoice. You must've moved up to #30 or something, if not the same status as me. He said they just had to check and see how much inventory they would have available for it. My guess is, cards they can sell direct for $600 get precedence..

[MikeyLikesItSI]

Just checked my e-mail. I've been processed, it says they need my invoice, but i uploaded it to the website 3 days ago. Be nice if they checked for it, oh well. i'll e-mail and upload it again

[iamcanadian7]

Is that 3DMark06 score at default settings or 1680x1050?

Also, I think I read that the GX2 is a strange clocker like the 9600GT, and uses the PCIe bus clock as a reference. How are you OCing the card, and monitoring your clocks?

Thats the default settings on 3d06.

I am using rivatuner 2.08 to oc and monitor

Brolloks: I had my cpu up to 4.3 last time at about 1.45, what voltages did you need to get to 4.5?

Ratbuddy: It's not very whiny, I have it running it at 75% usually and i can't hear it over my CPU fan. At 100% it is noticeably loud, depends on your noise tolerance though.

[Surfrider77]

Does this thing require an 8 pin PCI-E power plug? Is there an adapter included? I refuse to buy a new power supply if I get one of these things. :mad:

[Rattle]

BFG one comes with the plugs

[Brolloks]

Thats the default settings on 3d06.

I am using rivatuner 2.08 to oc and monitor

Brolloks: I had my cpu up to 4.3 last time at about 1.45, what voltages did you need to get to 4.5?

Ratbuddy: It's not very whiny, I have it running it at 75% usually and i can't hear it over my CPU fan. At 100% it is noticeably loud, depends on your noise tolerance though.

To get to 4.5 you gotta pump quite a lot of voltage into the CPU and chipsets

CPU voltage - 1.52 V
NB - 1.6
SB - 1.45
VTT or FSB voltage - 1.45

Effective cooling is off course essential

[leftheaded]

step-up would cost me $25 from my 8800 Ultra. should I do it? because of the 120 day option on this card, I have until mid-May to decide. hmmm

I can run my Q6600 stable @ 3.8GHz - do you think I'd break 20k in 3d06 with a GX2? i'm guessing a dual at 4GHz is same as a quad at 3.8GHz in 3d06 results, no?

[UnrealAlex]

step-up would cost me $25 from my 8800 Ultra. should I do it? because of the 120 day option on this card, I have until mid-May to decide. hmmm

I can run my Q6600 stable @ 3.8GHz - do you think I'd break 20k in 3d06 with a GX2? i'm guessing a dual at 4GHz is same as a quad at 3.8GHz in 3d06 results, no?
id say do it, $25 bucks? thats not very much at all to have the top of the line card

[Brolloks]

step-up would cost me $25 from my 8800 Ultra. should I do it? because of the 120 day option on this card, I have until mid-May to decide. hmmm

I can run my Q6600 stable @ 3.8GHz - do you think I'd break 20k in 3d06 with a GX2? i'm guessing a dual at 4GHz is same as a quad at 3.8GHz in 3d06 results, no?


You'll for sure break 20K with a GX2 and the qaud at 3.8...the GX2 is by far more superior than the Ultra, go for the setp-up.

[leftheaded]

you know, if the price of the 9800gx2 for step-up goes down to $575, then it shouldn't cost me anything to swap cards. right? would be cool if they gave me some money back should the price be lower hahah lol :beer:

i guess the next question is - is there an EVGA card that might come out between now and mid May that would be better?

[ratbuddy]

you know, if the price of the 9800gx2 for step-up goes down to $575, then it shouldn't cost me anything to swap cards. right? would be cool if they gave me some money back should the price be lower hahah lol :beer:

i guess the next question is - is there an EVGA card that might come out between now and mid May that would be better?

By most accounts, the 9800GTX is just an overclocked 8800GTS with tri-SLI capability. It's supposed to release on April 1st, you might want to wait and see if they have some huge surprise in store for us, like a $900 G100 based card :p

After that, we won't be seeing anything new on the high end until June at least..

[omniskillz]

u guys got me to step up!
Waiting In Queue: #491
lol
247.34 to step up.
well add the cost of shipping them the g92 gts i got another 8 bucks prob.
blah, hey its only money right :)

[iamcanadian7]

Does this thing require an 8 pin PCI-E power plug? Is there an adapter included? I refuse to buy a new power supply if I get one of these things. :mad:

It needs an 8 pin and a 6 pin power wise.

[Enemy Down!]

besides the fact that such a card is humerously large, and consumes more power than my 55" plasma tv on average, i just find it crazy to have a desktop computer system that demands 1000 watts of power. do you guys realize that running such a system virtually 18 hours a day will drive up your electric bill by almost $50 dollars a month? more specifically i am talking about an sli setup with this card.

[Supermode]

If Nvidia did it right the first time, the 9800's is what the 8800's should of been, and the 9800's now would be a completely different monster.

[slugzkea]

I have this card, and for gaming purposes, it is the l33test. But for multi display, it has issues.

Currently, if you want to use a 2nd monitor, the card splits the performance in half for gaming.

And if you wanna shut your 2nd display off and dedicate both gpu's back to gaming, a restart is required.

I hope to god that nvidia fixes this in later forceware, otherwise i'm getting a refund.

For over 600.00 bux, these issues should not occur!

[Surfrider77]

I have this card, and for gaming purposes, it is the l33test. But for multi display, it has issues.

Currently, if you want to use a 2nd monitor, the card splits the performance in half for gaming.

And if you wanna shut your 2nd display off and dedicate both gpu's back to gaming, a restart is required.

I hope to god that nvidia fixes this in later forceware, otherwise i'm getting a refund.

For over 600.00 bux, these issues should not occur!

VERY good info to know. I had considered purchasing one of these, but I use dual monitors. I surely dont want to put up with the reboot / halving of performance.

Guess I will be waiting out for Q3/Q4 for GT200.

[slugzkea]

I've had an open ticket with XFX for quite some time. Lately, they told me that they will call me to ask what I would like done since I told them I was not satisfied and wanted a refund.

They said that the performance cutting in half cannot be fixed because that's just how SLI works, but the restarting thing should be fixed.

I'm going to request them to make drivers or possibly a better bios that will prevent the restart, and to also make a hotkey for it. That would be sweet!

[Surfrider77]

I dont think it has a single thing to do with XFX though. They just stamp their sticker on the card and re-sell it to you. You need to be complaining to nVidia for driver issues. (Wouldnt hold my breath!)

[leftheaded]

I have this card, and for gaming purposes, it is the l33test. But for multi display, it has issues.

Currently, if you want to use a 2nd monitor, the card splits the performance in half for gaming.

And if you wanna shut your 2nd display off and dedicate both gpu's back to gaming, a restart is required.

I hope to god that nvidia fixes this in later forceware, otherwise i'm getting a refund.

For over 600.00 bux, these issues should not occur!

is this the kind of issue that drivers can fix? or is there some kind of physical hardware limitation?

[slugzkea]

is this the kind of issue that drivers can fix? or is there some kind of physical hardware limitation?

I talked with XFX over the phone about this issue, they claim it's just how SLI works.

So i don't think any other drives are going to fix that but what would also be nice, is if they could eliminate the manditory reboot in windows xp when switching from multi display back to multi gpu.

that is annoying, and in vista, you don't have to reboot. so it's an XP thing? wtf?

I don't want to go vista, screw vista! go vista so what, so you don't have to reboot?
and loose 30fps and 2000 points as well, no thank you.

So XFX told me they're talking with nvidia to crease some kind of hotkey that won't require a reboot from switching between the two.