When I first heard that NVIDIA will launch their GeForce 9800 GTX using the G92 core I was already sceptical. But after testing the card I am really disappointed. When comparing this card against the GeForce 8800 GTX, the "last generation product" is faster. Even though it's only two percent it's far from the performance improvement you would expect from a sucessor. Also I wonder why the clocks are so low, our overclocking tests showed a huge untapped overclocking potential that NVIDIA could have used to offset this card's performance from their other products. It also puzzles me why the card needs two power connectors when the GeForce 8800 GTS which is very similar uses only one? Maybe there is a psychological component to this. If the card had one power connector only, many people would think "is that a midrange card?".
Another thing I have to put my finger on is the noisy fan under load. The GeForce 8800 GTS runs at 26.0 dbA under load, but the 9800 GTX needs 39.6 dbA to stay cool, while it's only 4% faster. However, the benefit of this noisy fan is that the GPU temperatures are really low.
Let's talk about the positive things. The card offers a great performance/Watt ratio and is fairly priced at $299 a bit expensive with listings at $329 on e-Tailers, considering a small premium for "GTX". During all our testing it was completely stable, there were no issues at all. If you are an SLI fanatic, this card can also be used in triple SLI, which the GeForce 8 cards can't. A unique feature is the support for HybridPower which completely shuts off your graphics card and renders on the integrated NVIDIA graphics of your motherboard (if you have it). This helps to save a considerable amount of power.
Zotac delivers a great package that includes all cables required for the power cabling and also to use the card in your media center PC with HDMI + HDCP + Audio. Overall I don't expect the NVIDIA 9800 GTX to reach a popularity like the previous 6800 Ultra, 7800 GTX and 8800 GTX cards achieved, there are just too many similar offerings in NVIDIA's product stack.