# Zotac GeForce 9800 GX2



## W1zzard (Mar 16, 2008)

Today NVIDIA launches their GeForce 9800 GX2 dual GPU card. It comes with two G92 GPUs and uses a new cooling design where a single cooler sits in the middle and cools both GPUs. We have the card from Zotac on our testbench today which follows the reference design specification. Unlike many other publications all our testing was conducted in Windows XP because we think that's what the majority of users still plays on.

*Show full review*


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## rampage (Mar 18, 2008)

great review as always, as we know this isnt for the average joe, but for those who like the best or who have 60" tv this would be a must have...


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## intel igent (Mar 18, 2008)

as allways great review W1zz!

im surprised to see that the performance between this and the 3870x2 is so close, i really thought it would be much better

if it were me id save the $150 get the 3870x2 and a few gigs of god RAM


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## EastCoasthandle (Mar 18, 2008)

Great review, I wasn't clear on the drivers used though.  However, I do like the idea of you using a motherboard other then a 790i or 780i 

Edit: OK, I looked again and the drivers found in the Test Bed are clear! 

W1z, is it possible to OC the E6550 to 3.6GHz and bench 2 games just to see if the CPU is holding the X2 and GX2 back?


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

Yeah, I would definitely guess the CPU is hold the GX2 and X2 back at the lower resolutions, which is causing the results to be a little unclear.  These cards should be scoring much higher scores at lower resolutions.

The card isn't perfect, but it is good to see the cooling doing a much better job than the X2's cooling.  NVidia has really put some thought into it, and it shows.  The design definitely is complicated, and after market cooling will be a pain, but with temps as good as they are, who needs aftermarket cooling?  It is nice to see it overclock so well also.

I definitely thing the card is a very good card, but not worth $600.  Buying two 8800GTS 512MB cards is cheaper than that.  Then again, buying two 3870s is cheaper than buying a 3870x2.  I'd expect the price to drop on this once the initial hype of the card is gone.  I expect to see a the price drop to the $500 range in a few weeks.

I'm interested to see quad-SLI up and running though, I hope it is better supported than now than it was before.

Great review W1z, I love your reviews.  They are so detailed.


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## DaMulta (Mar 18, 2008)

I saw a post yesterday with a single card almost scoring 30k in 3dmark06.


Great review as always.


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## Hawk1 (Mar 18, 2008)

DaMulta said:


> I saw a post yesterday with a single card almost scoring 30k in 3dmark06.
> 
> 
> Great review as always.



Yeah, saw that too, but I think that was with insane OC on the CPU/GPU (~5.7Ghz on the CPU, cant remember GPU numbers). Should be good for some WR.

BTW, also like to say great review W1zzard.


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## W1zzard (Mar 18, 2008)

3dmark06 also has cpu score included in the final result. look at other benchmarks.

i also ordered an e8400 for our future gpu reviews rig .. once they are in stock


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## zOaib (Mar 18, 2008)

now thats a satisfying review , honestly , my hats of to Wizz on this one ................. this is the best comparision i have seen b/w the  x2 and gx2 .................. and the difference is clear and i am actually surprised ( but happily ) that we dont need an sli board to run this ............ maybe when the prices drop ( wishful thinking ) ill get me self one.

but for value of money and what an x2 and gx2 deliver , they stand perfect in their spots , as bang for you buck.


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## 3870x2 (Mar 18, 2008)

what of the tweaktown review? way off


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## intel igent (Mar 18, 2008)

DaMulta said:


> I saw a post yesterday with a single card almost scoring 30k in 3dmark06.



That was k|ngp|n have you seen Hipro5 score with single x2? It like 32000 or something


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## Hawk1 (Mar 18, 2008)

Title needs to change - unless this IS the 9600GX2, and the 9800 is yet to come - lol that would be something.


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## ShadowFold (Mar 18, 2008)

Great review w1z  

The card is a pretty big disappointment to me.. it only scores a few extra frames or its on par with everything else. Nvidia better hope its just drivers


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## btarunr (Mar 18, 2008)

Bad pricing.


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## Basard (Mar 18, 2008)

Nvidia should turn their gpu's into cpu's.  That would be godly.


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## ShadowFold (Mar 18, 2008)

Basard said:


> Nvidia should turn their gpu's into cpu's.  That would be godly.



 what? I dont think that would work lol 

also the titles says 9600GX2 lol


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## Solaris17 (Mar 18, 2008)

miss spelled 9800GX2 on the closer look page.....

it says 

" the zotek 9600GX2 is compatable with any 9600GX2"


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## W1zzard (Mar 18, 2008)

oops .. fixed


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## Nicksterr (Mar 18, 2008)

Need some tests with 174.53. Apparently many things were optimized in that driver version.


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## EastCoasthandle (Mar 18, 2008)

> Please note that the core clock of both GPUs is dependent on the PCI-Express clock signal, just like on the GeForce 9600 GT. Please read our article here for additional details.


Source
This is what I wanted to know.  Until I know the PCIe frequency from other reviewers I will take their results with a a grain of salt!  Thanks W1z! 

W1z is it possible to show results with the GX2 with a PCIe freq of 100 and 110 to see what kind of gains are had with the PCIe Freq vs GPU OC?


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## W1zzard (Mar 18, 2008)

Nicksterr said:


> Need some tests with 174.53. Apparently many things were optimized in that driver version.



i'm happy i even had an XP driver at all... nvidia said "blah blah great card for vista and dx10" .. and gave reviewers only vista drivers .. "we will have xp drivers at launch" .. kthxbye


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## FilipM (Mar 18, 2008)

Well, what will 3 HD3870's or a 3870X2 + 3870 compare to the GX2?

Cos, 449 for an X2 + 170 for a 3870 = 619$ which is not that more from the GX2's 599$ price tag.

Oh, and BTW, great review!


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## Trigger911 (Mar 18, 2008)

Wowo allot of game bench's was weird the first few benches you did the single way out preformed the duel. But when aa mode was on the duel kicked up only because the aa work load was shared right. But awesome Review like always.


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## btarunr (Mar 18, 2008)

intel igent said:


> That was k|ngp|n have you seen Hipro5 score with single x2? It like 32000 or something



Apparently Hipro5 used two cards in Crossfire X. source


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## Solaris17 (Mar 18, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> i'm happy i even had an XP driver at all... nvidia said "blah blah great card for vista and dx10" .. and gave reviewers only vista drivers .. "we will have xp drivers at launch" .. kthxbye



lol @ kthnxbye


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## intel igent (Mar 18, 2008)

btarunr said:


> Apparently Hipro5 used two cards in Crossfire X. source



my bad the 32xxx score was 2 x2's and on air! 

i was reffering to his 3D05 single card x2 score of 37xxx on LN2


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## mdm-adph (Mar 18, 2008)

Wow... I'm just stunned....

...I didn't think any card would ever offer less performance per dollar than the HD 2900 XT.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

mdm-adph said:


> Wow... I'm just stunned....
> 
> ...I didn't think any card would ever offer less performance per dollar than the HD 2900 XT.



W1z's relative performance, Performance per Watt, and Performance per $ are off because of the CPU limitting the lower resolution scores.

Because the lower resolution scores are CPU limitted, it makes it seem like the 9800GX2 performs the same at lower resolutions compared to the 3870x2 and other high end cards.

Though this is a prime example of what happens when you pair a $600 video card with a $170 processor.  Perhaps an update to the charts is in order once W1z gets his E8400 as I think both the 3870x2 and 9800GX2 is severally limitted by the CPU at lower resolutions by any Core 2 Duo below 3.0GHz.


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## Grings (Mar 18, 2008)

Im kinda shocked by the power usage and noise being so low, its not such a donkey after all.
And props to w1zz for running a 'single core' test, gives a good (rough) indication of how a 9800 gtx will perform


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## Edito (Mar 18, 2008)

i loved the review... keep the things like this wizz ur reviews are sou clear i really liked it... i think this card rocks not for my wallet but rocks lol...


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

Grings said:


> And props to w1zz for running a 'single core' test, gives a good (rough) indication of how a 9800 gtx will perform



Meh, overclocking a 8800GTS512 to 9800GTX levels would give a better indication of how a 9800GTX will perform.  Since the 9800GX2 is clocked even lower than the 8800GTS, it isn't really a good indication of how a 9800GTX will perform.


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## W1zzard (Mar 18, 2008)

newtekie1 said:


> because of the CPU limitting the lower resolution scores.



the sli architecture limits as well .. thats why you see lower scores with 2 gpus than with one gpu. but you are right, since we use all results for performance summary, 1024x768 scores are included there as well.

still performance/dollar wise the card sucks .. even if it was twice as fast as it is now on average


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## phresh (Mar 18, 2008)

*muchas gracias*

Just signed up to say thanks for the review. After seeing that the GX2 is out on slashdot, I went looking for confirmation that it'll work on my p35 board. Found that information and more with this review. Much thanks.

Personally I bought an EVGA G92 GTS in early January with the hopes of 'stepping-up' to one of these beasts eventually and my plan seems to be coming to fruition. I'd never shell out $600 for a card in one motion but as it is I'm looking at about $250 for the 'step-up' so I'm not having much difficulty justifying the purchase. Now I've just got to decide if I want to push my luck waiting to see how the 9800GTX stacks up..

Cheers,
-phresh


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> the sli architecture limits as well .. thats why you see lower scores with 2 gpus than with one gpu. but you are right, since we use all results for performance summary, 1024x768 scores are included there as well.
> 
> still performance/dollar wise the card sucks .. even if it was twice as fast as it is now on average



What do the performance/dollar charts look like when all the CPU limitted results are thrown out?  How does it look with just the 1600x1200 resolutions and higher(or 1280x1024 in Crysis)?  Pretty damn good I bet.

Personally, I don't really care how a $600 performs at 1024x768 0xAA, it is CPU limitted with all but the highest CPUs, and I'm not hooking a $600 card up to a crappy monitor either.

I'd like to see the relative performance, performance/watt, and performance/price calculated just considering the higher resolutions, the resolutions that are more likely to be used by people that are buying the card, and the resolutions that aren't CPU limitted.

I'm not saying it is all CPU limitting causing the lower performance at lower resolutions.  SLi and Crossfire both show much bigger gains at higher resolutions, in fact the common argument in all 2 card vs. 1 threads is usually that dual cards are only worth while if you use high resolutions.  Multi-card solutions are simply more efficient at higher resolutions.

I think the Price/performance needs to be taken in context, at higher resolutions the price/performance is amazing.  In fact, it seems this is the only single card configuration that is capable of playing Crysis@1600x1200 4xAA 16xAF.

This is essentially 2 8800GTS512 strapped together.  A single 8800GTS is $290.  So this is only $20 more than buying the two cards seperately.

The 3870x2 is two 3870s strapped together, with GDDR3 RAM in place of GDDR4, so the 3870x2 is actually a lower value than two 3870s.  The 3870 goes for $210.  So the 3870x2 is $20 more than two 3870s.

I think nVidia is suffering because they have made a card that is too powerful.  It is expensive, but the price is justifable, IMO.  The Price/Performance in the review seems low, but I think that is because it was tested in situations that no one will probably ever use it in.  I highly doubt anyone is buying this card with the intention of playing any games at 1024x768, I don't even think there are people out there intending to play at 1280x1024 with this card, or at least not sane people.

W1z, I think the review is great, don't get me wrong.  I'm not trying to say the review is bad, it is fair.  You can't just ignore the low resolution performance, and to keep the testing fair you need to test this card with the lower resolutions, just like you tested the rest.

However, it needs to be pointed out that the resolutions where the card performed poorly are resolutions that no person in their right mind would ever use with this card.


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## MilkyWay (Mar 18, 2008)

how the hell do you get 123.2fps on unreal tournament on an 8800gt 512mb when i get 61fps on the latest leaked beta driver 174.50 windows vista ultimate 32bit granted a better cpu than mine was used but DOUBLE my average frames per second is ridiculous

i game at 1280x1024 because thats all my CRT monitor allows granted my crt monitor has a good clear picture

i had everything at max settings in unreal tournament 3 options

the cards overkill for most gamers okay for big 40plus inch hd tv users and high resolution gamers yeah its a must
really dear compared to the 3870 x2 isnt it

EDIT: how the hell did the 8800gs do so good at 1024x768


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

kieran_fletch said:


> how the hell do you get 123.2fps on unreal tournament on an 8800gt 512mb when i get 61fps on the latest leaked beta driver 174.50 windows vista ultimate 32bit



He is using DX9(WinXP) and you are using DX10(Vista).  That is why.  DX10 is a lot harder on graphics cards.  Plus the fact that you are playing it in Vista also causes a performance hit.


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## ShinyG (Mar 18, 2008)

Good to finally see a direct comparison between the x2 and the gx2. Top review as always, W1zzard!
The card is 8% percent better that the X2 but comes at a 33% price premium! Damn, is it just me or do high-end buyers get ripped off like this all the time?
Just stick to magic quadrant: 3850, 9600GT, 3870, 8800GT I say


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## W1zzard (Mar 18, 2008)

thats the relative performance for 1600x1200 and 2048x1536. feel free to guesstimate price/performance yourself

Relative Performance
perfrel;%;400;27;7;Higher
828282;HD 2400 Pro 256M|6
828282;HD 2400 XT 256M|8
828282;GeForce 8500 GT 256M|10
828282;GeForce 7600 GS 256M|15
828282;HD 2600 XT 512M|20
828282;X1800 GTO 256M|20
828282;HD 3650 512M|21
828282;GeForce 8600 GT 256M|22
828282;GeForce 8600 GTS 256M|27
828282;X1950 Pro 512M|29
828282;GeForce 7900 GTX 512M|40
828282;HD 3850 256M|44
828282;X1900 XTX 512M|46
828282;GeForce 8800 GS 384M|48
828282;HD 2900 XT 512M|56
828282;HD 3870 512M|56
828282;HD 2900 XT 1024M|57
828282;GeForce 9600 GT 512M|59
828282;GeForce 8800 GT 512M|66
828282;Zotac 9800 GX2 single|71
828282;GeForce 8800 GTS 512M|72
828282;GeForce 8800 GTX 768M|76
828282;HD 3870 X2 1024M|86
828282;Zotac 9800 GX2|100


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## trt740 (Mar 18, 2008)

*for once in a loooong time a ATI card is the better deal*



Solaris17 said:


> lol @ kthnxbye



now maybe prices will drop.


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 18, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> thats the relative performance for 1600x1200 and 2048x1536. feel free to guesstimate price/performance yourself
> 
> Relative Performance
> perfrel;%;400;27;7;Higher
> ...



so a 14% Performance boost over the 3870x2 while costing 180-200$ more. not justifyable for most, but those with the money will pay for that 14%, especially considering that the 9800xt was only a few % faster than the 9800 pro 128mb yet cost 150$ more.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

Very nice when you look at it in that light.  The 9800GX2 is 14% faster than the nearest competition(X2) when considering only the higher resolutions.  Thanks W1z for the graph.  14% is a pretty major jump, especially when comparing the highest of the high cards.  Definitely still not a great price/performance, but when considering high end cards like this, every 1% increase in performance is going to cost you 2% in price.


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## zOaib (Mar 18, 2008)

newtekie1 said:


> Very nice when you look at it in that light.  The 9800GX2 is 14% faster than the nearest competition(X2) when considering only the higher resolutions.  Thanks W1z for the graph.  14% is a pretty major jump, especially when comparing the highest of the high cards.  Definitely still not a great price/performance, *but when considering high end cards like this, every 1% increase in performance is going to cost you 2% in price.*



u wud make a great financial advisor for nvidia on - performance on par to how the pricing shud be ............. j/k .............. i am sorry cudnt help saying that , its just the way you phrased the above post


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## newtekie1 (Mar 18, 2008)

zOaib said:


> u wud make a great financial advisor for nvidia on - performance on par to how the pricing shud be ............. j/k .............. i am sorry cudnt help saying that , its just the way you phrased the above post



Well when you look at it, it is true.

Look at the HD3870 and 8800GTS512.

The HD3870 MSRP is $210, the 8800GTS512 MSRP is $290.  That is a 38% price increase.  The 8800GTS512 is 16% faster than the HD3870.  So for a 16% increase in performance you are paying a 38% price premium.

Look at the HD3870x2 and the 9800GX2.

The HD3870x2 is $450, the 9800GX2 is $600.  That is a 33.3% price increase.  The 9800GX2 is 14% faster than the HD3870x2.  So for a 14% increase in performance you are paying a 33.3% price premium.

The 9800GX2's price seems on par to the performance to me.  Yes, the card is expensive, but the performance is there too.


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## candle_86 (Mar 19, 2008)

newtekie1 said:


> Yeah, I would definitely guess the CPU is hold the GX2 and X2 back at the lower resolutions, which is causing the results to be a little unclear.  These cards should be scoring much higher scores at lower resolutions.
> 
> The card isn't perfect, but it is good to see the cooling doing a much better job than the X2's cooling.  NVidia has really put some thought into it, and it shows.  The design definitely is complicated, and after market cooling will be a pain, but with temps as good as they are, who needs aftermarket cooling?  It is nice to see it overclock so well also.
> 
> ...




yea look at some of the scores not changing alot the higher the res goes, and finally we have a card that plays crysis


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## DaJMasta (Mar 19, 2008)

A good review, as always, quite through and a very powerful card it seems... of course at the obligatory insane price.


One thing that has bothered me about video card reviews from this site..... though they include a batch of other cards and info like performance/dollar and such, the choice of resolutions seems very random.
It seems to me that there's a huge prevalence of 20-24 inch widescreens..... and that their class of resolutions aren't represented at all by the chosen resolutions.  1024x768 and 1280x1024 i think are really necessary on the low end of cards, but 1600x1200 I rarely see in actual use.  I think it would be more useful to the readers to see 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 or even 1900x1080 resolutions with moderate levels of AA and AF, which I think is more representative of midrange and high end computer systems bought and owned today.

2048x1536 seems like a less common resolution to use... though since it's bigger than 1920x1200and with all the eye candy it probably gives a better picture of the overall huge monitor performance (multiple large monitors, 1080p tvs, other huge options) but again, I can't imagine that it's used by all that many people now.


Not that the chosen resolutions don't paint a good general picture and offer performance comparison information, but if they're supposed to be representative of the reader base, I think the higher end resolutions could use an update.


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## W1zzard (Mar 19, 2008)

i dont have a widescreen monitor for testing .. 1600x1200 = 1.92Mpixel, 1680x1050=1.76Mpixel so even less.


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## ArkanHell (Mar 19, 2008)

dont like it, it could be better.


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## vega22 (Mar 19, 2008)

top review as always, i do wonder why it seems to be outperformed by the almost identicle 88gts 512 in single gpu mode but hey 



W1zzard said:


> ...i also ordered an e8400 for our future gpu reviews rig...



any chance you can re-run a few cards with it when you get it setup? if you only did maybe 5 of the top sellers at the time to show how they all compare with the 45nm tech powering them to try and gauge if there is an increase over the current 65nm in games as well as synthetic benchmarks.

edit

@darren
your amd is chocking your gpu m8 check the 3dmarkscores.


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## kaosII (Mar 19, 2008)

btarunr said:


> Apparently Hipro5 used two cards in Crossfire X. source



You are right George used them crossfired.


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## W1zzard (Mar 19, 2008)

marsey99 said:


> any chance you can re-run a few cards with it when you get it setup? if you only did maybe 5 of the top sellers at the time to show how they all compare with the 45nm tech powering them to try and gauge if there is an increase over the current 65nm in games as well as synthetic benchmarks.



i will rerun all cards i have and also use newer drivers, numbers will be included in the next review i publish using this setup


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## DOM (Mar 19, 2008)

what cards do you still have ?  wanna give me one


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## BumbRush (Mar 20, 2008)

bad price perf ratio in my book, makes the 3870x2 look like a good buy to me, specly in games like stalker where it stomps the gx2........

i game a 1600x1200.........dont really care about other res's


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## W1zzard (Mar 20, 2008)

DOM_ATI_X800XL_PCI-E said:


> what cards do you still have ?  wanna give me one



yes of course .. finally someone asked .. i have so many cards to give away .. send me 30$ shipping cost to paypal funds@techpowerup.com, include your address and the card you want


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## btarunr (Mar 20, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> yes of course .. finally someone asked .. i have so many cards to give away .. send me 30$ shipping cost to paypal funds@techpowerup.com, include your address and the card you want



If by the slightest chance I win that $200 contest, don't pay me, send me an autographed (signed) X1900 XTX you have in that box.


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## xfire (Mar 20, 2008)

btarunr said:


> If by the slightest chance I win that $200 contest, don't pay me, send me an autographed (signed) X1900 XTX you have in that box.



same here


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## newtekie1 (Mar 20, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> yes of course .. finally someone asked .. i have so many cards to give away .. send me 30$ shipping cost to paypal funds@techpowerup.com, include your address and the card you want



If you are giving away cards for $30 I'll gladdy get in on that, I'd even pay a little bit more since it is going towards improving TPU.


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## 3870x2 (Mar 20, 2008)

I would gladly buy an x700 or x850xtx for $100-$150 in original packaging. depending on card type and condition.


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## W1zzard (Mar 20, 2008)

guys .. i cant sell the cards .. i told you so many times .. was hoping that some fools would just paypal the money


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## xfire (Mar 20, 2008)

lol


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## newtekie1 (Mar 20, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> guys .. i cant sell the cards .. i told you so many times .. was hoping that some fools would just paypal the money



I know I know, but people can dream can't they.

I wasn't actually expecting you to give away any of the cards, how would you keep writing reviews if you did.  I was just playing along.


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## 3870x2 (Mar 20, 2008)

wait...does that mean that i lose my 30 dollars? LoL


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## Rignold (Jun 5, 2008)

Does anyone know if the HDMI out can be used in conjunction with the 2 DVI ports or do you give up a DVI port when using HDMI? I want to run 2 22" computer monitors with a 42" plasma. Or am I looking at 2 cards?


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## phresh (Jun 7, 2008)

Rignold said:


> Does anyone know if the HDMI out can be used in conjunction with the 2 DVI ports or do you give up a DVI port when using HDMI? I want to run 2 22" computer monitors with a 42" plasma. Or am I looking at 2 cards?



I believe it will, when it's not in SLI mode. I haven't tried as I don't have an HDMI savvy display. But, in this state (SLI off) you'll see 3 possible displays for it in the windows display settings. When it's in SLI mode it will only output to one display and you'll only see one display connected to it in the display settings.

Hope this is helpful,
-phresh


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## trt740 (Jun 7, 2008)

W1zzard said:


> yes of course .. finally someone asked .. i have so many cards to give away .. send me 30$ shipping cost to paypal funds@techpowerup.com, include your address and the card you want



Wizard great review the 3870x2 really keeps up well here. From what you have read do you think a 9900gtx will beat the 9800 G92


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## Solaris17 (Feb 25, 2010)

wizz i commend you. just took mine apart to clean TM OMG that is teh hardest thing computer wise i have ever done. the screws are soooo tight. i thought i was going to break it a couple of times


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## sneekypeet (Feb 25, 2010)

*in spooky voice* Necroooomancerrrr!

Sorry had to, glad u cleaned em out Sol, but a 2 year old bump


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## cdawall (Feb 25, 2010)

good god what a 9800GX2?


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 25, 2010)

time to let this dinosaur die from extinction Cough9800Cough


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Feb 25, 2010)

W1zzard said:


> yes of course .. finally someone asked .. i have so many cards to give away .. send me 30$ shipping cost to paypal funds@techpowerup.com, include your address and the card you want



pwnt by this post.


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## pantherx12 (Feb 25, 2010)

W1zzard said:


> guys .. i cant sell the cards .. i told you so many times .. was hoping that some fools would just paypal the money



Could you perhaps use older ones you no longer use in bench marks as prizes ?

Everyone loves contests and prizes after all XD


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## TIGR (Feb 25, 2010)




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## brandonwh64 (Feb 25, 2010)




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