# Zotac GeForce 9800 GT Amp! Edition



## W1zzard (Jul 29, 2008)

NVIDIA's new GeForce 9800 GT Series is not really new. The performance, specification and GPU are identical to that of the GeForce 8800 GT. Only a few minor features like Purevideo HD and Hybrid Power are present. At least Zotac showed a bit of creativity and added a bright orange PCB and higher clocks out of the box.

*Show full review*


----------



## ShadowFold (Jul 31, 2008)

Zotac did a hell of a job of OCing that thing if its 9% better than stock!


----------



## vojc (Jul 31, 2008)

too expensive


----------



## lucassp (Jul 31, 2008)

where can we find ATiTool's succesor?


----------



## W1zzard (Jul 31, 2008)

on my hdd. it will be public when it's ready


----------



## newtekie1 (Jul 31, 2008)

> The G92 has been used on other products before like the GeForce 8800 GT, 9600 GT and 9800 GTX.



I though the 9600GT used the G94 core.  I thought the only cards that used the G92 were the 8800GS, 8800GT, 8800GTS 512MB, 9600GSO, 9800GTX, and 9800GX2.



W1zzard said:


> on my hdd. it will be public when it's ready



Patiently waiting.


----------



## wolf2009 (Jul 31, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> on my hdd. it will be public when it's ready



cant wait.,


----------



## robertc (Jul 31, 2008)

Eh, 9800GT is just another rebranding. 8800GT with Physx added to the driver. Same card and specs, though msrp of a reference 9800GT is a little less than a reference 8800GT.


----------



## OnBoard (Jul 31, 2008)

So does it have the 1.1 Vcore or something else? 8800GT stock core voltage doesn't do those (761MHz) clocks  But it does have a downclocked Shader ratio of 2.42 something instead of 2.5 in 8800GT, that helps a bit.


----------



## v-zero (Jul 31, 2008)

Well in the UK the 9800gt is cheaper than the 8800gt, and is also £30 ($60) cheaper than the 4850! Looking at the reviews I've seen this card is just a tiny bit behind the 4850 once overclocked, which makes it a fantastic deal!


----------



## W1zzard (Jul 31, 2008)

robertc said:


> 8800GT with Physx added to the driver.



8800 gt supports physx too


----------



## newtekie1 (Jul 31, 2008)

I find it a shame that they don't have Tri-SLI with this card.  I really throught the whole reason for the 9800GT over the 8800GT was going to be Tri-SLI.  Without it, I don't see a reason to really release it.  It just adds confusion to the market, the 9800GT and 8800GT are the same card.  That is stupid, IMO.


----------



## MKmods (Jul 31, 2008)

newtekie1 said:


> I find it a shame that they don't have Tri-SLI with this card.  I really throught the whole reason for the 9800GT over the 8800GT was going to be Tri-SLI.  Without it, I don't see a reason to really release it.  It just adds confusion to the market, the 9800GT and 8800GT are the same card.  That is stupid, IMO.



I TOTALLY agree.:shadedshu


----------



## robertc (Jul 31, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> 8800 gt supports physx too



Where? Show me on Nvidia's site where Physx is natively supported on the 8800GT without modifications to the .inf file and getting your drivers from somewhere besides Nvidia.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8800gt.html

Now look at the 9800GT:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9800gt.html

If you mod your drivers, sure, just about any 8*00 or 9*00 will work w/ Physx. I'm talking about not having to do that stuff.

Specs:

       GeForce 8800 GT   
Stream Processors  	        112
Core Clock (MHz) 	        600 MHz
Shader Clock (MHz) 	        1500 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz) 	        900 MHz
Memory Amount 	                512MB
Memory Interface 	        256-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 	57.6
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) 	33.6


      GeForce 9800GT
Processor Cores 	                112
Graphics Clock (MHz) 	        600
Processor Clock (MHz) 	        1500
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) 	33.6 	 
Memory Clock (MHz) 	        900
Standard Memory Config 	512 MB
Memory Interface Width 	256-bit GDDR3
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 	57.6


----------



## mlee49 (Jul 31, 2008)

Thanks for the review Wiz. I have just a couple quick questions.
1. What is the criteria for the range of cards compared?  Are you selecting the comparison cards from a time frame or cards in action?  Just curious how the cards used to compare are added to the the comparison charts. (Perhaps those cards that have been reviewed/tested?)
2. On the $/Performance chart is the price comparison set up for the card being reviewed at 100% and the performance #'s fall around the card?  And is Newegg the only reference for this chart?  

Thanks for the awesome reviews TPU!


----------



## newtekie1 (Jul 31, 2008)

robertc said:


> Where? Show me on Nvidia's site where Physx is natively supported on the 8800GT without modifications to the .inf file and getting your drivers from somewhere besides Nvidia.
> 
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8800gt.html
> 
> ...



The same driver that you download for the 9800GT, that enables PhysX support, is also available as a beta driver directly from nVidia's site for the 8800GT, and it also enabled PhysX support on the 8800GT.  If you look in the "Beta and Archived" section of nVidia's Driver's page, you can search for the 8800GT's drivers, and 177.79 comes up.  It comes up for a bunch of cards, 177.79 natively supports all the 8 and 9 series cards.

And right now, not all 8 and 9 series cards work with PhysX, even if you use the newest drivers.  The PhysX part also has to support the card, and nVidia hasn't updated that part yet to include all the 8 and 9 series cards.

The whole issue is kind of backwards really.  It isn't that the card doesn't support PhysX, it is that PhysX doesn't support the card.


----------



## WhiteLotus (Jul 31, 2008)

I hate this crap by Nvidia. What is the point in this - seriously. Just ripping people off for no good reason.


----------



## Megasty (Jul 31, 2008)

A rebadge of the 8800gt...

Its just not a good idea to put something like this out when there are already several cards out there that cost the same (or lower), yet beats it. This is more that just a little confusing. They want to round off the 9 series, but the gt card has no discernible features that set it apart from the 8800gt. The 8800gt was a popular card, so NV just rebadged it. It makes no sense to buy this unless you don't know that an 8800gt can be had for $100


----------



## DarkMatter (Jul 31, 2008)

OnBoard said:


> So does it have the 1.1 Vcore or something else? 8800GT stock core voltage doesn't do those (761MHz) clocks  But it does have a downclocked Shader ratio of 2.42 something instead of 2.5 in 8800GT, that helps a bit.



I was thinking the same. Anyway I don't like what Nvidia is doing with the 9800 GT. No way 65 nm and 55 nm cards are going to peroform the same. Maybe 55nm will be 9800 GT+. It would be confusing but better than the other choice IMO.

As a side note, will this card work in SLI with an 8800 GT?


----------



## newtekie1 (Jul 31, 2008)

DarkMatter said:


> I was thinking the same. Anyway I don't like what Nvidia is doing with the 9800 GT. No way 65 nm and 55 nm cards are going to peroform the same. Maybe 55nm will be 9800 GT+. It would be confusing but better than the other choice IMO.
> 
> As a side note, will this card work in SLI with an 8800 GT?



The fab processes used won't affect performance unless they change something else also.  If both are clocked the same, shrinking the fab process down to 55nm won't help performance any.  They cards will run cooler, and use less power, but performance will be identical.


----------



## DarkMatter (Jul 31, 2008)

newtekie1 said:


> The fab processes used won't affect performance unless they change something else also.  If both are clocked the same, shrinking the fab process down to 55nm won't help performance any.  They cards will run cooler, and use less power, but performance will be identical.



Maybe it's a language issue (a loss in the meaning or something), but when I say "perform", I also talk about, power consumption, temperatures, etc...

Anyway 55 nm should open up new OC oportunities and it'd make a performance difference if you could push 55nm GT close to 800 Mhz on stock, don't you think? I was implying that on my post.


----------



## W1zzard (Jul 31, 2008)

mlee49 said:


> Thanks for the review Wiz. I have just a couple quick questions.
> 1. What is the criteria for the range of cards compared?  Are you selecting the comparison cards from a time frame or cards in action?  Just curious how the cards used to compare are added to the the comparison charts. (Perhaps those cards that have been reviewed/tested?)
> 2. On the $/Performance chart is the price comparison set up for the card being reviewed at 100% and the performance #'s fall around the card?  And is Newegg the only reference for this chart?
> 
> Thanks for the awesome reviews TPU!



1) everything that's somewhat recent and where i own the card (broke my only 8800 gts 512 recently). will add 3870x2 scores and 3450 soon. i rebenched all cards over the last month. will rebench all nvidia this month again with unified driver
2) i usually check prices on newegg and google the ones i cant find there. certainly the prices won't be 100% accurate always but its still a good indicator and better than what most other websites offer you. yes, the tested card is 100%, the numbers in perf/$ are based on the relperf chart, just factor in the price of each card.


----------



## farlex85 (Aug 1, 2008)

Thanks for the review wiz, if I can myself be a little critical I think you may be a little soft on them (at least in score) sometimes. I haven't seen you ever really give a bad review (although I haven't been around that long), and this card I suppose is good in a way, I mean, the 8800gt is a good card. There is absolutely no point to this card though, and as you said isn't worth more than $5 to $10 more the the 8800. To me that warrants a bad score. I dunno, I just keep waiting to see you rip into a product and tell us how worthless it is but it doesn't happen.  I know you got your reasons for every score though, and the card does make sense as far as the 9 series so far from nvidia, which is solid in of itself but just not exciting I guess. I'll keep holding out for that bomb and the 5.0 from you though............Thanks again and always for the review.


----------



## candle_86 (Aug 1, 2008)

it is better stock dualslot cooler adds points to it, also nothing wrong with a rebadged card it makes Nvidia look to there shareholders and to the market at large Nvidia is doing something. Remember to the normal person a 9500GT or 9600GT look like better cards overall because the model number is higher.


----------



## W1zzard (Aug 1, 2008)

farlex85 said:


> Thanks for the review wiz, if I can myself be a little critical I think you may be a little soft on them (at least in score) sometimes. I haven't seen you ever really give a bad review (although I haven't been around that long), and this card I suppose is good in a way, I mean, the 8800gt is a good card. There is absolutely no point to this card though, and as you said isn't worth more than $5 to $10 more the the 8800. To me that warrants a bad score. I dunno, I just keep waiting to see you rip into a product and tell us how worthless it is but it doesn't happen.  I know you got your reasons for every score though, and the card does make sense as far as the 9 series so far from nvidia, which is solid in of itself but just not exciting I guess. I'll keep holding out for that bomb and the 5.0 from you though............Thanks again and always for the review.



i really find it hard to find a product that sucks at everything.

the 8800 gt is a good card as you say, so the 9800 gt is a good card as well if there wasnt the name. how much does it matter for the end user if his card is called 8800, 9800, 10800, or donald duck as long as it performs? sure its lame from nvidia to not innovate at all, but declare a product useless because of that?


----------



## candle_86 (Aug 1, 2008)

they said the same about the Geforce4 MX, granted it wasn't the excat same situation, but no one can honestly say the MX was a bad card, it was one of Nvidia's most popular cards, but the community at large called it a lame duck


----------



## newtekie1 (Aug 1, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> i really find it hard to find a product that sucks at everything.
> 
> the 8800 gt is a good card as you say, so the 9800 gt is a good card as well if there wasnt the name. how much does it matter for the end user if his card is called 8800, 9800, 10800, or donald duck as long as it performs? sure its lame from nvidia to not innovate at all, but declare a product useless because of that?



Very well said.  The name on the card, IMO, means nothing.


----------



## caldran (Aug 1, 2008)

I think it has one important thing every one forgot....Hybrid SLI technology. again cant these guys implement it on the card itself by disabling sp s than using a separate set on a motherboard. hope the next gen does that.


----------

