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Nvidia 8800GTX Vs 9800GTX - Should I Upgrade

The Asgard said:
Might be worth reading up on a few more websites because the 9800 GTX is NOT a rebranded 8800 GTS.

Hint.
Have a look at the type of memory and the power circuitry associated with it.
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I know its got different memory chips etc... but it doesn't matter how you dress it up, at the end of the day its still an 8800 GTS 512mb, basically all they have done with the 8800 GTS 512mb cores, is stick them on longer PCB's, and added the extra power connector/SLi connector, how does that make it a new card lol.
 
LoadsaMoney said:
I know its got different memory chips etc... but it doesn't matter how you dress it up, at the end of the day its still an 8800 GTS 512mb, basically all they have done with the 8800 GTS 512mb cores, is stick them on longer PCB's, and added the extra power connector/SLi connector, how does that make it a new card lol.
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Never said it was a new card just stated it's NOT

"9800 GTX is just the 8800 GTS 512mb rebranded"

Just like the 8800 Ultra is NOT a rebranded 8800 GTX. Notice any similarities??
 
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The Asgard said:
Never said it was a new card just just stated it's NOT

"9800 GTX is just the 8800 GTS 512mb rebranded"

Just like the 8800 Ultra is NOT a rebranded 8800 GTX. Notice any similarities??
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Don't get loadsamoney started on this 8800GTS 9800GTX stuff! pls!:eek::D
 
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LoadsaMoney said:
I know its got different memory chips etc... but it doesn't matter how you dress it up, at the end of the day its still an 8800 GTS 512mb, basically all they have done with the 8800 GTS 512mb cores, is stick them on longer PCB's, and added the extra power connector/SLi connector, how does that make it a new card lol.
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I think you've said this about 250,000 times and it's really starting to get irritating. Here are the specifications and the 2 cheapest products from overclockers.

£223 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
GeForce 8800 GTX core running at 600MHz
- Shader Clock Speed of 1350MHz
- 768MB GDDR3 Memory running at 1900MHz
- 384-Bit Memory Interface
- 128 Stream Processors
- Texture Fill Rate: 36.8 billion/sec
- Memory Bandwidth: 86.4GB/s

£188 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
- GeForce 9800 GTX core running at 675MHz
- Shader Clock Speed of 1688MHz
- 512MB GDDR3 Memory running at 2200MHz
- 256-Bit Memory Interface
- 128 Stream Processors

Here are some quotes from reviews with regards to the 9800GTX in comparison to the 8800GTX

Call of duty 4
The 9800 GTX is not too far behind the X2 and actually ties with the much more expensive 8800 Ultra. Moving to SLI performance we see that the 9800 GTX is once again very close in performance to the Ultra with only a single frame per second separating the two systems on average and minimum framerates.

Colin Mcrae Dirt- Positive comment
has similar performance trends to Call of Duty with the GX2 leading the X2 which is followed by the GTX and Ultra. Looking specifically at the Ultra against the new GTX we see that once again the performance of the two cards is near identical, including when we enable SLI.

Gears of War- Negative Comment
Looking next to the GTX performance we see for the first time a significant gap between it and the Ultra. We believe the reason for this is that the extremely high settings used in this test are exposing a limitation of GTX, whether it be the amount of memory available or ability to process large volumes of data in comparison to the Ultra

Lost Planet- Positive comment
we see the new 9800GTX performing at a near identical level to the 3870 X2, if we were using a reference speed X2 then the GTX may even have a slight lead in overall performance at this setting. There is however a small gap between the GTX and Ultra with the GX2 once again out in front.

Half life 2- Positive comment
Once again the 9800 GTX is able to put in some very decent performance figures, despite the very demanding settings used in this game. Whilst the average frames per second statistic is significantly lower than the GX2 or X2 the minimum performance is not far off and other than the occasional drop below twenty-five frames per second the GTX still provided an enjoyable Half-Life 2 experience.

Oblivion- 9800GTX OUTPERFORMING THE ULTRA HERE
When we compare the 3870 X2 to the GTX and Ultra cards we see that Oblivion is another title where the ATI based card performs very well. Another interesting aspect of the results is that at our tested settings the GTX is able to slightly outperform the Ultra both in single card operation and in SLI. The Gainward GX2 is of course well ahead of the other cards in this test as well.

Assasins creed - 9800GTX OUTPERFORMING THE ULTRA HERE
As the graph above shows, Assassins Creed is another title where the new GTX is able to perform at a similar level to the now aging Ultra, in fact the GTX is able to slightly outperform the older part

Read this and weap...
Both BFG and Zotac cards perform very well compared to the 8800 Ultra and they generally manage to exceed the performance of the older, more expensive part. There are a few occasions, such as Gears of War, where the Ultra is able to perform noticeably better but these scenarios are few and far between. SLI scaling is also working well and as with the single card results the GTX is never far away from the UItra.

Where the 9800 GTX really excels when compared to the 8800 GTX and 3870 series is with high-definition playback. When sitting down to watch a movie the ATI card performs better but lacks the ability to have Aero running at the same time, something the 9800 can do with ease. The older 8800 does not accelerate HD so there is really no contest. Turning on the picture in picture functionality gives the performance edge to Nvidia.

Core temperature of the 9800 GTX was very impressive with an idle result of approximately 58c on both cards, increasing to 65c under full load. Throughout our testing we were also pleased to see that there were no driver related crashes or image quality issues, everything worked exactly as expected.

The final consideration of the 9800 GTX is the retail price. With models starting at around £190 in the UK this is around £30 cheaper than a 8800 GTX and anywhere between £50 and £100 less than the Ultra, if you can still find one in stock. Considering the excellent performance and additional features of the 9800 series that makes the new GTX a must buy product in its price range.

NOW SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY THIS CARD IS GETTING SLATED!? sorry for the caps but im just lost, ive given examples in two different posts from 2 different reviews which both supports the card...Sure it's not what we expected but the GTX was around £400 upon release and this is half that price

Review,there are 22 pages, this is an in depth review http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=544&pageid=1

Here is another nice round up of it
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/NVIDIA_GeForce_9800_GTX_RoundUp_BFG_EVGA_Zogis/?page=9

In conclusion the 9800GTX =
+ Better Overclocking
+ Better temperatures
+ Better speeds at 1650x1050 and more times than less higher resolutions
+ G92 core
+ Cheaper
+ Superior high definition playback
+ Lower power consumption

8800GTX =
+ Better if played at a higher resolution than 1650x1050 with at least 4xAA
- Not as overclockable
- Higher temperatures
- Old G90 core
- More expensive
- Inferior high definition playback
- Higher power consumption

At £190 the 9800GTX is a good buy but if I was purchasing now I'd wait for the next gen cards to see if there will be further price drops. Sorry to rant on but I like to back up my opinions with FACTS unlike some others.

My 9800GTX is currently clocked at 825/2020/2300 and reaches highs of 60C with the fan speed at 90%

Peace out
Gustov
 
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Did you even bother reading my post? How many examples do I have to give? sure you'll find some benchmarks where the GTX just outperforms the GTS but there are others where it justifies its price tag.
 
Gustov said:
Did you even bother reading my post? How many examples do I have to give? sure you'll find some benchmarks where the GTX just outperforms the GTS but there are others where it justifies its price tag.
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Don't see how the 9800GTX justifies the extra over the 8800GTS 512mb

I ran my 8800GTS 512mb at 840/2000/2200 24/7 getting me over 17k in 06.

The 9800GTX is slower than this and will clock to roughly the same.

The 9800GTX is a pointless card.

Not worth the extra over the 8800GTS 512mb in any circumstances.
 
On average the 9800GTX beats the 8800GTS in benchmarks and real world performance by 5-10% (usually does better in real world performance, where it matters). So I would pay 10% more for 9800GTX, however most decent ones (Evga, Bfg ones) are £30-40 more expensive, which doesn't make it worth it.

Should you upgrade to the 9800GTX from an 8800GTX? No, unless you can take advantage of a step up program or something that means you'll only have to pay £20-30 to get it.

Personally I'd wait until the new cards come out, they aren't that far away and even if they are out of your price range, they will hopefully make the 9800GTX prices go down by quite a bit into very acceptable prices, and at £150-175 I'd definitely snap one up.

Though one thing to note, some say buy an 8800GTS and OC, not a great point be honest, you can buy an 8800GTS and OC to get 9800GTX like performance, but it will run hotter. Plus you can OC the 9800GTX too (by quite a bit thanks to the extra power connector and PCB improvments), so in the end with an OC'ed 8800GTS vs. a OC'ed 9800GTX again you've got a 5-10% difference in performance.
 
Skrapt said:
On average the 9800GTX beats the 8800GTS in benchmarks and real world performance by 5-10% (usually does better in real world performance, where it matters). So I would pay 10% more for 9800GTX, however most decent ones (Evga, Bfg ones) are £30-40 more expensive, which doesn't make it worth it.
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So the 9800 GTX can be clocked way beyond 840/2200?

Rubbish.
 
Skrapt said:
reviewers have managed to get the memory to clock to 2450Mhz, though the core on stock cooler is limited to around 810 (got 850 on an aftermarket cooler)
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I don't think you get what Easyrider means. Core clock is much more important than memory clocks. That's where you get most of your increases. I'd rather have a GTS at 840-850Mhz and 1100Mhz mem than the 9800GTX @ 810Mhz core and 1200Mhz memory speeds any day.

If both could get to around the same core speeds then I still wouldn't care about 200Mhz difference in memory speeds either and go for the GTS time after time.
 
All I will say is, the 9800GTX is not worth it right now, especcially if you already own an 8000 series card. However if the release of the GT260 and GT280 knock the price down to £150 or so, then I'd say that it's good value (especially since the release of the GT260/280 will probably make 8800GTS's harder to come by)
 
Upgrading from an 8800GTX to a 9800GTX is pointless... if you'd read any reviews/benchmarks online it would be an easy conclusion to come to.
 
The 9800GTX is only faster than a 8800GTX or Ultra at lower RES.

At 1920's it will get left behind due to Memory Bit and Amount (easy to read in multiple reviews).

It may even be the same at 1600's but I cant remember and dont game at 1600's.

Totaly waste of an upgrade IMO.

And Core Clocks are NOT more important than Memory Clocks, its a balance and varies from game to game.

Look at ATI, with 100mhz+ more Core Clock than Nvidia but far lower Memory Clocks and the Nvidia cards doing better.
 
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helmutcheese said:
The 9800GTX is only faster than a 8800GTX or Ultra at lower RES.

At 1920's it will get left behind due to Memory Bit and Amount (easy to read in multiple reviews).

It may even be the same at 1600's but I cant remember and dont game at 1600's.

Totaly waste of an upgrade IMO.
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at 1920's the 8800GTX performs better, however lower then that the 9800GTX wins out, not too bad from a card that is cheaper in most cases.
 
Skrapt said:
at 1920's the 8800GTX performs better, however lower then that the 9800GTX wins out, not too bad from a card that is cheaper in most cases.
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Thats why I said I was unsure about 1600's.

But I bet for sure in some high end games at 1600's with Full AA and full AF the 9800GTX will again get left behind, ;)

Most serious gamers here play on a high end CRT or a 24" LCD so its 1920's for them.
 
helmutcheese said:
And Core Clocks are NOT more important than Memory Clocks, its a balance and varies from game to game.

Look at ATI, with 100mhz+ more Core Clock than Nvidia but far lower Memory Clocks and the Nvidia cards doing better.
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Helmut. Core clocks vs memory clocks are significantly different in performance gain. Comparing the core clock of two different manufacturers isn't what is in discussion here. It's Nvidia :confused:. Core and Shader increase gives the best performance gain. Not memory overclocking :p.

That's like saying 2.8Ghz is just 2.8ghz no matter if you go AMD or Intel. An AMD CPU (X2) at this speed would be comparable to an Intel Core 2 duo at 2.4Ghz. So I don't know why you mentioned ATI :confused:.
 
theres still only one real game that stresses a 8800gtx, that would be Crysis, theres barely another game out that would give NOTICABLY bad performance. Sure one card might give 30 in WIC and another might give 50, but its a slowass RTS< you would simply not be able to see the difference.

The one two games that actually stress current cards are faster on the wider bus of the 8800gtx.

THe fact that in most games you push the settings up high enough the 8800gtx will beat out the 9800gtx means its faster. Saying its slower because at lower settings where literally its working less hard, its faster, even though it can't win when both cards are doing more work is just ridiculous.

But the main question was is the 9800gtx worth it from a 8800gtx, anyone that says yes needs commiting to an insane asylum. In almost any normal situation game not at its highest I bet no one could tell you which machine had which card in with two closed cases playing ANY game. THen in the super high stress situations 98% of the time the 8800gtx will win.
 
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