GeForce 9800 GT Roundup (EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte & Palit)

Overclocking

We were debating whether to include this section or not but in the end our need to push every bit of hardware as far as it will go on the stock heatsink won out. Some of the cards in this roundup overclocked like gangbusters while others fizzled out before we would have thought they would have. What you see here is what we have determined to be the highest stable overclock (after the card passed a 1 hour loop of 3DMark06’s Batch Size Test at the highest triangle count).

Before we go any further it should be mentioned that these overclocks represent our experiences and your final scores may not reflect what we have achieved here.


Gigabyte 9800GT

Final Overclocks

Core: 766Mhz
Shaders: 1915Mhz
Memory (DDR): 2300Mhz

The Gigabyte card may be small in stature, the overclocks we achieved with it were among the highest in this roundup and among the regular 9800 GT cards (including the suped-up ASUS) it achieved the single highest memory clock. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the voltage control working properly in the GamerHUD so hopefully we will be able to revisit this card’s overclocking potential in the near future.



EVGA 9800GT Hybridpower

Final Overclocks

Core: 705Mhz
Shaders: 1762Mhz
Memory (DDR): 1982Mhz

The EVGA 9800 GT really disappointed us with its overclocking potential when compared to the other cards. However, a 105Mhz increase on the core and 182Mhz on the memory isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things.



Palit 9800GT Sonic

Final Overclocks

Core: 767Mhz
Shaders: 1917Mhz
Memory (DDR): 2276Mhz

The Palit Sonic just edged out the Gigabyte card when it came to the overclock on the core with an amazing 767Mhz without any voltage increases. The memory also did very well. All things considered, the non-stock heatsink and the improved 4-phase power design really seem to help the Sonic’s overclocking capabilities.



ASUS 9800 GT Ultimate

Final Overclocks

Core: 852Mhz
Shaders: 2056Mhz
Memory (DDR): 2220Mhz

We can’t really take the overclocks achieved by the Ultimate in relation to the other 9800 GTs we have here since this one is based off of a higher-end design from front to back. However, that didn’t stop it from putting down some simply staggering numbers: over 2Ghz on the shaders, brushing past 852Mhz on the core and a smashing through the 17,000 mark in 3DMark06.



Palit 9800 GT Super+

Final Overclocks

Core: 684Mhz
Shaders: 1710Mhz
Memory (DDR): 1926Mhz

Overclocking this 1GB Sonic+ card from Palit proved to be a good lesson in frustration management since for some reason even the core didn’t get anywhere near the other competitors. It is understandable that the 1GB of memory will achieve a slightly lower clock but all in all this card was disappointing on the overclocking front.