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Am i missing something with the 9800GX2?

Sh4rkie

Sh4rkie

Sh4rkie

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Joined
26 Mar 2007
Posts
1,644
On paper from what i've read it seems a really good buy when up against the ATI 4870 or the 280GTX at it's current discounted pricing.

Is there something glaringly obvious i've missed that wouldn't make it an ideal card for 1920 x 1200 gaming (using a single card solution)? It seems to often surpass both the above mentioned cards sometimes with quite a lead and even the very budget / performance friendly 4850 in crossfire.

Currently tempted to upgrade my 8800GTX and i've narrowed it down to three, GX2, 4870 and 280. I don't mind spending the extra on the 280 but wonder if i can save a few pounds and end up with more with the GX2?
 
4870 is still a better choice for AA and AF imo. Its cheaper and iirc the GX2 has some driver/bug problems. Nt really been following in detail tho so those could well be fixed by now
 
Save some cash and get a 4870, more than powerful enough to plow through current and upcoming games, plus you don't have to rely on NV to release SLI profiles for games that may not support it.
 
I have a 9800 gx2 and i love it. I have not had any problems with drivers at all with games i have been been playing. Mainly eve online,sins of a solar empire,cod4,quake wars, half life 2. And have fantastic frame rates on all of them. If it will be a major upgrade for you im not so sure. But all things considered it is a great card and does seem to be overlooked quite a bit at the moment with people telling anyone who asks just to get a 4870.

In my opinion its currently a great card and at a good price from Oc :p
Just make sure you have a big case. People are not joking when they say it is a large card.
 
Not aware of any bugs/problems with the 9800GX2 drivers - and you don't have to rely on nVidia releasing profiles - in many cases you can create your own or force SLI on - sometimes you won't get the full benefits of SLI without the developer tweaking their game for better SLI support or nVidia releasing a driver with a fix+profile. Pretty much all major titles have working SLI support and proper profiles anyhow.
 
The 9800GX2 is arguably one of the best cards on the market, as it offers GTX280-beating performance (in most cases) for £35 less. It's faster than every single card solution except the 4870x2 which costs around £150 more.

HOWEVER, it's not a good choice for everyone, given the following:

-Power hungry
-Dependent on good driver/game support
-Quad-SLI performance looks a bit suspect compared to GTX280-SLI
-Lack of VRAM comes into play at very high res/AA
-Takes a lot of space so won't fit all cases

For people with a big case, decent PSU and no plans to upgrade for a while, I reckon it's a good option though.
 
Single slot not Sli driver dependent
Click to expand...

One of those statements that when you read what you actually wrote later you wonder 'what was I thinking':confused:

Apologies - been a bad day today , blame it on teeth, injections and pain or ,as I had to post elsewhere, a 'senior moment'.

Think I'll go and lie down in a dark room somewhere :o
 
goujon945 said:
4870 is still a better choice for AA and AF imo. Its cheaper and iirc the GX2 has some driver/bug problems. Nt really been following in detail tho so those could well be fixed by now
Click to expand...

Totally agreed! 9800GX2 might be more powerful in most of the current games but 4870 is a future-proof(for 1 year I mean) and coded better on DX10 games. On the other hand, 98GX2 generates too much heat and noise. AMD-ATI are still working very hard on their drivers, we would see the gap closing down between the 4870 and the 98GX2.

GTX 280 is a must-avoided card for me cos it's too expnesive and can not beat 98GX2 in all-around. Worsely, it's successor is nearly ready to come out, which is the 55nm version of 280.
 
disagree, the GTX 280 is the fastest single gpu solution at the moment, and therefore the most stable and dynamic for things like gaming in windows, multi monitor support. so what if it's abotu to be superceded, everything else is too.
 
Cyber-Mav said:
9800gx2 looks massive, would it even fit into an antec 900 case?
Click to expand...

I can confirm it will, but you'd need to take out one of the stock drive cradles or move it to the top and move your optical drive below it, like this:

[---HDD---]
[---HDD---]
[---HDD---]
[---DVD---] (or other single optical drive)
[_________] <-Empty bays for card
[_________] <-'
[---HDD---]
[---HDD---]
[---HDD---]

With it set up like that you can fit basically any of the common huge cards out right now.
 
Junk said:
disagree, the GTX 280 is the fastest single gpu solution at the moment, and therefore the most stable and dynamic for things like gaming in windows, multi monitor support. so what if it's abotu to be superceded, everything else is too.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's the fastest single CPU in the market NOW. But in a month or so, the 55nm would be out with much higher clocks at the same price. What's the point to waste your £260+ on it? If you had already enjoyed the GTX280 for a couple of months, that's very worthy. But not for the new buyers. If OP want a GFX card right now, the HD4870 is still the best choice. It's only around £160 but it beats the GTX260 and only 5-10% behind 280.
 
Cheers for all the feedback, especially those with first hand experience of the GX2 :).

The GX2 seems a very capable card but power, card length and generated heat as noted have edged it out. I’m leaning towards the 280 over the 4870 as it seems the most capable single slot / gpu solution to date. I know the 55nm will be out soon(ish) and i’ve been stung countless times on product refreshes all the way back to Vesa cards but at some point you have to get down off the fence and buy :).
 
Id get a 4870 for that res, beats the GTX 280 in some at that, GX2 is SLi, so in games that are not SLi supported, your only going to to be running on 1x core, which is a single GTS downclocked to GT speeds, which is quite a bit slower than the 4870.
 
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