Indepth 9800GX2 review

[Cookie Monster]

Link

BAsically they review

-PCB inspection (dissection of the card).
-cooling solution, even going far as to showing the actual HSF.
-HD playback testing.
-Power consumption test + Noise + Cooling performance.
-Loads of benchmarks against the 8800Ultra/GTS/GT.
-Very good comparison with the 3870X2 AND 3870X2 CF i.e against crossfireX.

I think its a terrific effort from the guys at expreview. Nice clean shots of the naked GX2 that you dont see often.

 

[Rubycon]

:thumbsup:

 

[MTDEW]

It is a nice review.(i'm still reading it)
But the english is horrible in some parts and makes some points hard to understand.
EXAMPLE:

9800GX2?s TDP is 197W, more lower than two 8800GTS 512MB SLI(280W+). what?s more, 9800GX2 even 3Watts lower than HD 3870 X2.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
It is a nice review.(i'm still reading it)
But the english is horrible in some parts and makes some points hard to understand.
EXAMPLE:

9800GX2?s TDP is 197W, more lower than two 8800GTS 512MB SLI(280W+). what?s more, 9800GX2 even 3Watts lower than HD 3870 X2.

Ouchy lol

 

[nRollo]

That is an excellent review for two reasons:

1. Nice graphs at the end, which show a 9800GX2 superior to both one 3870X2, and two 3870X2, which cost over $250 more! The GX beat QuadFire in 55 of the 78 game benches they ran.


2. The "serious problem" with 8X AA noted in another thread on this forum seems to be missing in these 8X AA tests. The GX2 wins 5/6 8X AA benches over a single X2.

 

[dadach]

obvious driver problem, cause there is no way 2x8800gt can be faster than 4x3870

 

[Janooo]

Originally posted by: nRollo
That is an excellent review for two reasons:

1. Nice graphs at the end, which show a 9800GX2 superior to both one 3870X2, and two 3870X2, which cost over $250 more! The GX beat QuadFire in 55 of the 78 game benches they ran.


2. The "serious problem" with 8X AA noted in another thread on this forum seems to be missing in these 8X AA tests. The GX2 wins 5/6 8X AA benches over a single X2.

They tested 8X AA in two games only. It's about 20% drop.
Why they didn't do it for the rest of the games? Are they hiding something?
I wouldn't say the issue is gone.

 

[dadach]

ofc the issue is there...otherwise all of the other 20 something sites would be using 8xAA for benching, not only 4xAA...nvidia needs to fix this, and then claim the throne...this way people are buying high end that cant actually do high end well

 

[krnmastersgt]

Most people think that the 8xAA is a driver problem and that nVidia will fix it in an update, should wait a tad for the drivers to be fixed up.