GTX 260 or 9800 GX2?

airhendrix13

Senior member
Oct 15, 2006
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With some recent price drops by nVidia, the 9800 GX2 has fallen at a very nice price point. Although the GTX 260 can be had for cheaper, the 9800 GX2 can push more FPS than the GTX 280 in most cases.

Seems to me the 9800 GX2 is the better buy, or am I wrong?

EDIT: BTW the EVGA 9800 GX2 can be had for $285 and the EVGA GTX 260 for $280 (although I have seen it cheaper).
 

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,227
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If you overclock the 260, you can get it pretty close to how a GX2 performs. One benefit of a single GPU is it performs ALL THE TIME like it should. There are inherent problems with multi-gpu setups, that are a big deal to some, and not a big deal to others.


Power: GX2 needs a 6 and 6+2, 260 needs 2X 6 pin.

Also, there is a new downclocking feature with the 260 that will underclock your RAM and Core when you are not gaming or using 3d intensive apps.
 

Ares202

Senior member
Jun 3, 2007
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All games more than 2-3 years old, and 50% of new games

support isnt really that good for multi-gpu at all
 

airhendrix13

Senior member
Oct 15, 2006
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I'm not really concerned with old games because they will run well whether the card scales well or not (at least as far as I know).

According to the Anandtech review of the 4850 and 4870, the 9800 GX2 outperformed 1 GTX 280 in almost all benchmarks. I'm just confused why there isn't as much hype over the recent price drop of the 9800 GX2 as what I presume there should be.
 

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,227
36
91
Originally posted by: airhendrix13
I'm just confused why there isn't as much hype over the recent price drop of the 9800 GX2 as what I presume there should be.


Hang around this forum for a couple days...youll understand ;)
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,848
2,051
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I'd rather get the 260. No need to worry about possible multi-GPU drawbacks and you have a larger effective frame buffer which can help at high res + aa/af.

Originally posted by: airhendrix13
I'm just confused why there isn't as much hype over the recent price drop of the 9800 GX2 as what I presume there should be.

A single GPU won't have the drawbacks that multi-GPU might have (ie. lack of scaling being the major concern).
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
calculate the cost difference in electricity over a year of operation... You would be surprised exactly how much more expensive multi GPUs are..

The various bugs and issues are an additional drawback.
 

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
Is the 9800GX2 really buggy? I'm one of those that don't really notice input lag on monitors like the Dell 2408WFP. Will I likely notice microstuttering? I have a 9800GX2 on the way from the Egg, but have noticed that there are GTX260s around the same price I paid for the 9800GX2.

Can the 9800GX2 be run as two separate cards if I don't want to use it in SLI mode (might be useful with F@H and other programs that run on BOINC)? My motherboard is an Asus P5E-VM HDMI.
 

airhendrix13

Senior member
Oct 15, 2006
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Originally posted by: taltamir
calculate the cost difference in electricity over a year of operation... You would be surprised exactly how much more expensive multi GPUs are..

The various bugs and issues are an additional drawback.

Electricity in my dorm is a flat fee, so electricity usage isn't a big deal.

Does anyone have a few examples of the 9800 GX2 scaling poorly?
 

sgrinavi

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2007
4,537
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Originally posted by: airhendrix13
What programs does it not scale well with?


I find that the games that don't scale well with multi GPSs don't really need them..

BUT, If I had to select one today it would be the newer technology
 

tuteja1986

Diamond Member
Jun 1, 2005
3,676
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Originally posted by: Ares202
All games more than 2-3 years old, and 50% of new games

support isn't really that good for multi-gpu at all

actually it is :!

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15105/3

Techreport

Half life 2 episode 2 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
4870 X2 : 84.6
GT280 : 65.5
9800GTX SLI : 75.4
9800GX2 : 66.4

Quake War 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
4870 X2 : 100.2
GT280 : 74.2
9800GTX SLI : 82.3
9800GX2 : 69.6

Crysis 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 24.8 average /17 min
$499 GT280 : 20.3 average /17 min
9800GTX SLI : 28.1 average /21 min
9800GX2 : 24.7 average /21 min

Race Driver 4xAA 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 111.9 average / 77.0 min
$499 GT280 : 67.6 average / 56.0 min
9800GTX SLI : 88.2 average /48 min
9800GX2 : 85.5 average /72 min
 

airhendrix13

Senior member
Oct 15, 2006
427
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Originally posted by: tuteja1986
Originally posted by: Ares202
All games more than 2-3 years old, and 50% of new games

support isn't really that good for multi-gpu at all

actually it is :!

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15105/3

Techreport

Half life 2 episode 2 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
4870 X2 : 84.6
GT280 : 65.5
9800GTX SLI : 75.4
9800GX2 : 66.4

Quake War 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF
4870 X2 : 100.2
GT280 : 74.2
9800GTX SLI : 82.3
9800GX2 : 69.6

Crysis 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 24.8 average /17 min
$499 GT280 : 20.3 average /17 min
9800GTX SLI : 28.1 average /21 min
9800GX2 : 24.7 average /21 min

Race Driver 4xAA 1920x1200
$499 4870 X2 : 111.9 average / 77.0 min
$499 GT280 : 67.6 average / 56.0 min
9800GTX SLI : 88.2 average /48 min
9800GX2 : 85.5 average /72 min

This is on par what with I have been seeing from a few reviews. No one has provided me with an example where the 9800 GX2 doesn't scale well besides older game where, like sgrinavi said, it doesn't matter as much.

I am all for newer technology, but if the 9800 GX2 outdoes the GTX 280 in most cases for a lot less, than isn't that justification to stick with the old technology?
Plus, what does the GTX 260 / 280 have that the 9800 GX2 doesn't have? I understand PhysX has hit the 9 series along with the GTX series.

Anyone have any information about this?

Thanks all
 

Cheex

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2006
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I could be wrong but I have not heard about the 9 Series having the built in PhysX support.
From what I gather, it is native only to the GT200 (GTX 260 & GTX 280) GPUs.
 

mhouck

Senior member
Dec 31, 2007
401
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0
Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Is the 9800GX2 really buggy? I'm one of those that don't really notice input lag on monitors like the Dell 2408WFP. Will I likely notice microstuttering? I have a 9800GX2 on the way from the Egg, but have noticed that there are GTX260s around the same price I paid for the 9800GX2.

Can the 9800GX2 be run as two separate cards if I don't want to use it in SLI mode (might be useful with F@H and other programs that run on BOINC)? My motherboard is an Asus P5E-VM HDMI.

Yes you can run it as two cards for dual monitor support
 

mhouck

Senior member
Dec 31, 2007
401
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I think the 177.79 betas have it. I haven't tried them myself. Waiting for whql before I switch drivers again.
 

error8

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2007
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Originally posted by: Cheex
I could be wrong but I have not heard about the 9 Series having the built in PhysX support.
From what I gather, it is native only to the GT200 (GTX 260 & GTX 280) GPUs.

The first set of drivers are supporting only GTX 260, 280 and 9800GTX. But it is doable for any G92 variant I think. It depends on what card Nvidia wants to put PhysX.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
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Originally posted by: airhendrix13
what does the GTX 260 / 280 have that the 9800 GX2 doesn't have?

Tri-SLI? Also, if you do go SLI, two GTX 260/280 will probably scale a lot better than two GX2 => Quad-SLI.

Also as already mentioned, frame buffer. It'll take just one future game that exceeds the 512MB of the GX2 (that 1GB is twin 512MB which mirrors each other) to make for a "I should'a bought the other card" experience.
 

airhendrix13

Senior member
Oct 15, 2006
427
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0
Originally posted by: Zap
Originally posted by: airhendrix13
what does the GTX 260 / 280 have that the 9800 GX2 doesn't have?

Tri-SLI? Also, if you do go SLI, two GTX 260/280 will probably scale a lot better than two GX2 => Quad-SLI.

Also as already mentioned, frame buffer. It'll take just one future game that exceeds the 512MB of the GX2 (that 1GB is twin 512MB which mirrors each other) to make for a "I should'a bought the other card" experience.

Hmmm...interesting...

That helps clear up a few things I guess. Although tri-SLI won't be happening on my PC, I guess the GTX 260 is still the card to have.

Thanks for the help guys!
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Is the 9800GX2 really buggy? I'm one of those that don't really notice input lag on monitors like the Dell 2408WFP. Will I likely notice microstuttering? I have a 9800GX2 on the way from the Egg, but have noticed that there are GTX260s around the same price I paid for the 9800GX2.

Can the 9800GX2 be run as two separate cards if I don't want to use it in SLI mode (might be useful with F@H and other programs that run on BOINC)? My motherboard is an Asus P5E-VM HDMI.

those aren't bugs... if you look at nvidia's or ATI release notes for known and fixed bugs. more then half the bugs are limited to multi GPU only. the rest occur in both multi GPU and single GPU situation.

Microstutter and the like are problems, bug not exactly what i would call a bug.
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
7
76
The 260 based on the fact only a few drivers have come out with support for it. It can only get better, while the 9800GX2 drivers have been out a long time now.
 

Synomenon

Lifer
Dec 25, 2004
10,542
6
81
Glad I joined in on this thread. Guess I'll refuse delivery of that EVGA 9800GX2 and get a GTX 260 instead.