Bought the Galaxy 9800GX2, seems impressive so far.

[Apocalypse23]

I've been very busy the last few months but I couldn't resist snagging a sweet deal off ncix, that's when I bought my 9800gx2 for $499 CAD (with a $100 Mail in Rebate, hence I only paid $399). My previous card was a evga 8800 gts 512MB 1.94ghz. I did my research and bought this card just when anandtech listed their review of the GTX 280. I have no regrets atm however.

For my system specs which are in my signature, I have a PCI-E 1.1 slot I believe, not 2.0 so I tested the card in 3dmark06 (using Vista Home x64) and got the following results:

17000 score with default 600 clock and 2000 memory.

17367 score with a 700 clock and 2000 memory.

My current processor is an e8400 ocd to 3900 mhz. I feel the score is satisfying, but I am wondering if the pci-e 2.0 absense is having any impact on the score. The only downside to this card i would say is the 512MB memory on each GPU, crysis running at 2xAA and 16xAF on High at 1440x900 was smooth with 30fps, however in very intense battle scenes I noticed memory caching slowing (loading new areas werent as smooth). If this card had some more memory to it, it would be superb. But from reading a few reviews, I would say the GX2 is competitive with a single GTX280.

I am also wondering if I should push my video overclock further, I noticed that this card runs hotter than a single 8800GTS 512mb as well. Any thoughts and impressions would be appreciated.

PS - these were just 2 day tests I quickly carried out, I do however have faith in this card lol!

 

[akhilles]

9800GX2 is the sweetspot price & performance-wise. GTX2X0 is the fastest, but costs 3 arms & 4 legs. RV770 is being pushed back. Plus, not all games support SLI/CF. X2 is.

 

[mhouck]

Originally posted by: akhilles
9800GX2 is the sweetspot price & performance-wise. GTX2X0 is the fastest, but costs 3 arms & 4 legs. RV770 is being pushed back. Plus, not all games support SLI/CF. X2 is.

I'm not sure what you mean GX2 is SLI. it had the ribbon and chip on the PCB.
edit: Do you mean X2 as in 3870X2?

To the OP. Your scores seem fine. I've seen reviews with it clocked to 730 or 740 but I wouldn't go that far. I run at 700/1750/2250. It does get hot and loud. I don't think you get to the potential of the card until you get to 1920x1200.

 

[PianoMan]

Originally posted by: mhouck
I'm not sure what you mean GX2 is SLI. it had the ribbon and chip on the PCB.
edit: Do you mean X2 as in 3870X2?

I think he's referring to the single card design as not being SLI (i.e., you're not dependent on going across the mobo's PCI-e lanes).

Looking at the GX2 as well - didn't know there's are ribbon on the card. Better look up some reviews again to get smart.

 

[taltamir]

no he said GAMES support, not mobo support.. he is probably uninformed about the GX2 being SLI.

 

[Apocalypse23]

okay, so we are in some tight times atm with all these new video cards releasing. Now i really don't intend to go SLI or Crossfire as my motherboard isn't the best. Even though there is the GTX280 and news about the 4870, 4870x2, I am wondering if I should bother waiting for the 4870X2, or just keep this card?

 

[MyLeftNut]

As long as the GX2 is providing you with the performance you require, keep it. If not, I would sell it and pickup the 4870X2 when it comes out, which would probably be about 20% faster(if that's significant enough for your requirements)

 

[akhilles]

Lol. My bad. I meant to say GX2 isn't SLI so it's supported by all games whereas SLI isn't.

It's up to you to decide whether to go SLI/CF. Can all your games support it? That's the question.

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: akhilles
Lol. My bad. I meant to say GX2 isn't SLI

Wrong.

 

[Munky]

GX2 is basically 2 cards sandwiched together in SLI, so all the pros and cons of SLI apply to the GX2 as well.

 

[Apocalypse23]

So I haven't had much time to play with this card yet. However since my case is a midtower and this card is an immense heat giver, I'm using RivaTuner to control and monitor the fan settings. Initially when playing Crysis with 1920x1080 on my 46" Sharp, using 4xAA and 8xAF, HIGH settings, frames were in the low 20s to even around low 10s, there were ofcourse lucky instances of 40 fps as well. But when I test a game, it's usually at the immense levels with mega textures and high paced action. Temperature went to 99C at one point (This was on a fixed fan speed of about 79).

So I have made a point to increase the fan speed to 100 when playing Crysis on the 9800 gx2 at 1920x1080 resolution. I did manage to find a comfortable sweet spot of this game in regards to stable playable FPS. A setting of AA off, AF 4x, HIGH settings, this game is playable with FPS on intense levels ranging from 30s to mid 40s, and this is only on an overclocked system like mine. Load temperatures with fan speed at 100 hover around 84C MAX. Not just that, intense Crysis gaming also increased the CPU temps really bad as well. Anyhow, gaming is actually fun on this card, and to tell you the truth I am impressed at it's performance (for a single card, this thing rocks!).


PS- AF actually makes a huge difference in regards to how much more you can see on a map.

Screenshots to follow later.