BFG 9800 GTX 512MB Review Comment Thread

[sswilson]

I really like the idea of the "hybred power use" thingy. It'll be interesting to see how well it works, and if it continues to work with an overclock applied.

I'm not a big fan of Nvidia's new naming convention though.... if it's based on the same core it should have been kept in the 8000 line.

Folks might be disapointed with the marginal improvements on this card, but they're looking at it from the wrong POV. The real performance story over the last year is the release of the 8800GT & 3870 series cards which offer absolutely amazing performance for a price that most home builders can afford. X2 cards, and EOL cards like the 9800GTX are only marketed for the "crown" and probably only purchased by those who absolutely have to have the 10FPS advantage over somebody who spent 1/2 as much on a vid card.

[Eldonko]

Originally Posted by SugarJ

I'd be interested to see the following comparison:

8800GT 512 SLI vs. 9800GTX vs. 9800GX2. Kind of a bang for your buck, how many FPS for each dollar spent comparison.

Or 3870 X2 vs. 9800 GX2 vs. 8800GT SLI vs. 3870 CF

I dont think any single GPU can compete with ^^ and 9800GTX SLI is way too expensive.

[Mr. Friendly]

nice review SKYMTL...tho in my minds eye, this was a victory for the HD3870X2 more then the 9800GTX as it soundly took 2nd place (under the 9800GX2) with the 9800GTX taking 3rd.

it seems that manufacturers have a long ways to go with their VGA coolers tho...20C drop. wow!

[cujo]

i'd love to see 8800gtx sli vs 9800gtx sli. i think a lot of people would be surprised with the results. at 1920 and above with aa i'd expect the 8800s to really come into their own. if i had the money lying around i'd transfer my raid to an nvidia board and get a second 8800 rather then two 9800gtxs. 512mb on 256bit just isn't enough when you're playin on a 24inch monitor.

[SKYMTL]

I have to agree...to a certain extent. I find that when playing a game at a higher res I need LESS AA turned on to be satisfied with the picture quality. Take a game like World In Conflict for example; when I play at 1600x1200 I want AT LEAST 4xAA turned on but when I bump that to 2560x1600 I am satisfied without any AA turned on at all. Maybe it is just me but playing on a 24" monitor would be the same since you get an insane amount of pixels being rendered anyways.

Some people who want the huge resolutios and then want all the bangs and whistles turned on are naturally going to avoid this card but I am just saying that at those higher resolutions, high AA settings are often redundant.

[Digitaldemon]

Excellent review sky, I dont see a reason to upgrade, but it was very informative, to see what the nest gen is coming up.

[James_8970]

Just noticed this little mistake on page 17.

What is even more amazing is who well it performs versus the HD3870X2 yet it consumes about 20% less power.

Once again great review and I'm happy to see you are now able to benchmark higher resolutions.
James

[Beermaster]

Woot great review, might have too look at one when they come out on the market, how hard to WC one?

[James_8970]

They are on the market, they were released yesterday
James

[Retro]

Kind of a relief that I don't feel any need to replace my recently-purchased 8800GTS 512 yet.
But in it's favor, the 9800GTX is being sold at a price point far lower than the previous generation 8800 cards, considering the performance it delivers. This trend started with the 8800GT, then the GTS, and now the 9800GTX, all good performing cards at sane prices. As for the review, another excellent HarwareCanucks effort.
Recent reviews by SKYMTL have influenced my purchases of several Noctua fans, an NH-U12P heatsink (which is due to be installed on my IP-35 Pro "test bed") and of course, an XFX 8800GTS 512. Along with some good sale prices at NCIX