The GX2 is hard to ignore...

[Talonman]

At $599.99 it isn't cheep, but for us intel based mobo guy's running 1920 x 1200 res, it isn't too shabby!!

Using this review's numbers: http://publish.it168.com/2008/0315/20080315000604.shtml
It still holds true that the 3870x2 does well in 3DMark06, but slower in actual game play.

If my calculations are correct, and looking only at 1920 x 1200 res... (What I need)

------------------------------- 3870x2 ------- 9800 GX2 --- %Diff
3DMark06 ---------------------- 14,190 -------- 14,167 ----- 23 Points lower!
Crysis -------------------------- 13FPS -------- 22FPS ----- 69% faster
Lost Planet --------------------- 24FPS -------- 31FPS ----- 29% faster
Lost Planet 8xAA/16xAF---------- 11FPS -------- 13FPS ----- 18% faster
Company of Heros --------------- 56FPS -------- 77FPS ----- 37% faster
Word in Conflict ----------------- 34FPS -------- 41FPS ----- 20% faster
Word in Conflict 4xAA/16xAF ----- 14FPS -------- 26FPS ----- 85% faster
Half Life ----------------------- 111FPS ------- 115FPS ------ 3% faster
Half Life 8xAA/16xAF ------------ 73FPS --------- 76FPS ----- 4% faster
NeedForSpeed ------------------ 48FPS -------- 102FPS --- 112% faster
NeedForSpeed 4xAA ------------ 33FPS ---------- 91FPS --- 175% faster
Unreal Tournament ------------ 112FPS --------- 109FPS ----- 2% slower
Quake4 ----------------------- 115FPS --------- 120FPS ----- 4% faster
Lost Planet -------------------- 11FPS ---------- 13FPS ---- 18% faster
FEAR 4xAAx16xAF -------------- 87FPS ---------- 79FPS ---- 10% slower

On average, the GX2 is currently 40% faster than the 3870x2 at 1920 x 1200 res.

I still think the GX2 is the best single card to have right now...



Using the AnandTech review's numbers: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3266&p=1

Putting the 8800 Ultra against the 9800 GX2...

If my calculations are correct, and looking only at 1920 x 1200 res... (What I need)

------------------------- 8800 Ultra -------- 9800 GX2 ----- %Diff
Call of Duty ---------------- 70FPS ------------ 110FPS ----- 57% faster
Call of Duty 4Xaa----------- 55.7FPS ---------- 83.1FPS ----- 49% faster
Crysis High Quality---------- 25.8FPS ---------- 39.4FPS ----- 52% faster
Oblivion -------------------- 46FPS ------------ 84.3FPS ----- 83% faster
Oblivion 4XAA -------------- 36.1FPS ---------- 63.9FPS ----- 77% faster
Quake Wars ---------------- 85.2FPS -------- 120.4FPS ------ 41% faster
Stalker --------------------- 48.8FPS --------- 73.3FPS ------ 50% faster
Word in Conflict ------------ 30FPS ------------ 33FPS ------- 10% faster.

On average, the GX2 is currently 52% faster than the 8800 Ultra at 1920 x 1200 res.

I think we can say that nVidia hit their 30% minimum speed increase over the Ultra...

As soon as the OC'ed GX2's are released, I am jumping on one too. :)

Bye-bye 8600 GT, it's time to go our seperate ways... :up:

[[XC] itznfb]

will it be possible to tri-sli 3 gx2's?

[technodanvan]

itznfb;2854806']will it be possible to tri-sli 3 gx2's?

I'm pretty sure there is only one SLI connection on them, so no probably not.

[Talonman]

Quad SLI is the limit (2 GX2's)... :)

[Tonucci]

Imo min fps figures are alot more important than average/max fps. Thats what really tells about smooth gameplay. Some cards like the 3870x2 lack in this department, while outputting great max fps. Something to pay attention... Most reviews only show average FPS.

[Buckeye]

Mine will arive today, plus a pile of other stuff :)

Woot ! very excited :)

Find a nice frame to put your 8600 GT in and hang it on the wall.

[Talonman]

Congrats Buckeye!!

I want to know the feeling of a GX2 being delivered too..

I am actually saving some of my vacation days until it arrives.

[Buckeye]

Oh man :shocked:

[Linchpin]

I'll be ordering mine in around a week hopefully along with a new mobo and memory.

[Buckeye]

My mobo and ram will come tomorrow, everything else is here but still waiting on SSD and phase unit.

Gah it's so hard to wait with all this stuff here now !

[Talonman]

What does a GX2 smell like!!

Man-O-man!! it's in your hands right now... :rofl:

[Talonman]

A fun read even though it's Fud!

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6392&Itemid=1

9800GX2 beats two 8800 GTS (G92) in SLI

"Crysis prefers the new card and it's up to 21 percent faster. At 1600x1200 with AA the SLI setup didn't provide us with a playable framerate, while the 9800 GX2 did".

More proof the GX2 does well in Crysis, as the above tests also indicated. Beating two 8800 GTS (G92) in SLI by 21% is a bit shocking though... :shocked:

------------------ 3870x2 ------- 9800 GX2 --- %Diff
Crysis ------------- 13FPS -------- 22FPS ----- 69% faster


--------------------- 8800 Ultra --------- 9800 GX2 --- %Diff
Crysis High Quality---- 25.8FPS ----------- 39.4FPS ----- 52% faster

[Flip_Lx]

hrm if i break my old 7950gx2 and play stupid think evga would replace it with a 9800gx2? i mean they are both gx2s.....

[Talonman]

Mabey you can sweet talk them into it? :)

I think nVidia has changes their SLI approach after the 7950 was released...

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1032237057#post1032237057

If you look closer at the presentations and things that nVidia and ATi put out, you'd realize that they have abandoned their original approach, and are now splitting the workload to 2 and more GPUs in a different way.
So in a way they started from scratch again, and things are working better now.
Besides, what they need is a purpose. Crossfire and SLI were rare in the past, because you had to have a system with two PCI-e slots, and buy two cards.
The technology will be more commonplace now that you can buy a single card with two GPUs, and prices have come down considerably.
If the technology becomes more widespread, the companies will (have to) invest more in supporting them.

Same goes for game developers btw... They will have to be made aware of certain scenarios that should be avoided for multi GPU.

Another speed report on that same page...
Like I said which concurs with your findings. My two 9800GX2's crushed my three 8800GTX by a sound leap. I am floored and I'm pretty happy about my purchase (more than I could have ever been with the 7950's and the third addition of the 8800GTX in tri-sli).

Sounds impressive... :)

[adamsleath]

i just saw a gx2 digging a hole and burying an 8800ultra

[Buckeye]

HAHA ! poor o'l Ultra :)

I have plans on putting my old 8800gtx's under some LN2 and seeing what they do :)

I will post a few pic's of all the stuff tomorrow when mobo and ram arrives. Tho there is plenty of pic's around hehe !

[Talonman]

I think the new King has officially arrived... :clap:

At least until some new tech comes out. :p:

[Fujimitsu]

hrm if i break my old 7950gx2 and play stupid think evga would replace it with a 9800gx2? i mean they are both gx2s.....

hah! no

but I bet they'd send you an 8800 series of some sort, which would be better.
Maybe 9600gt?

[G80]

Wonder how much that thing will overclock. Maybe get crysis to 30-40 FPS on that res?

[myth8892]

I guess i am the lucky one indeed :D , I am getting all my stuff now from
New Egg, my new graphics card is the 8800 gts g92, I will play with it for
a week or 2 and suddenly realize my son needs an upgrade from his 7950:eek:

Than i will just have to order another new video card and i wonder which one that will be :shocked:

[Talonman]

Good GX2 video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qbgvtgzl_Uo

[adamsleath]

http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/98gx2qsli_g_02.gif
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1347/4/page_4_benchmarks_crysis/index.html
probly already posted.

[xMrBunglex]

-------------------------------------- 3870x2 ------- 9800 GX2 --- %Diff
3DMark06 ------------------------------ 14,190 -------- 14,167 ------ 23 Points lower
Crysis --------------------------------- 13FPS -------- 22FPS ----- 69% faster
Lost Planet ---------------------------- 24FPS -------- 31FPS ----- 29% faster
Lost Planet 8xAA/16xAF---------------- 11FPS --------- 13FPS ----- 18% faster
Company of Heros --------------------- 56FPS --------- 77FPS ----- 37% faster
Word in Conflict ----------------------- 34FPS --------- 41FPS ----- 20% faster
Word in Conflict 4xAA/16xAF ----------- 14FPS --------- 26FPS ----- 85% faster
Half Life ----------------------------- 111FPS -------- 115FPS ------ 3% faster
Half Life 8xAA/16xAF ------------------ 73FPS --------- 76FPS ------ 4% faster
NeedForSpeed ------------------------ 48FPS -------- 102FPS --- 112% faster
NeedForSpeed 4xAA ------------------ 33FPS ---------- 91FPS --- 175% faster
Unreal Tournament ------------------ 112FPS --------- 109FPS ----- 2% slower
Quake4 ----------------------------- 115FPS --------- 120FPS ----- 4% faster
Lost Planet --------------------------- 11FPS ---------- 13FPS --- 18% faster
FEAR 4xAAx16xAF -------------------- 87FPS ----------- 79FPS --- 10% slower


call me an old grouch, but is there an actual practical difference? if a game isn't playable on the 3870, it isn't playable on the 9800 either. if a game is playable on the 9800, it's also playable on the 3870. am i wrong? Need for Speed 4xAA is pushing it with the 3870, but you only need 30 fps on driving games. so are those meaningless numbers worth an extra $150? apparently the jury says yes. i'll pass though.

[Fuzzy_3D]

i just saw a gx2 digging a hole and burying an 8800ultra

That's not fair, it's a 2 on 1 fight :(

Still impressive how they got even lower power consumption than the Ultra, even with 2 cards.

I'll be waiting for the 2gb version (1gbx2) though. :p:

http://images.tomshardware.com/2008/03/18/nvidia_9800_gx2/ut2.png (http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/18/nvidia_geforce_9800_gx2_review/page7.html)

Yellow bar = bad times :down:

[trinsic]

:yepp:

http://i32.tinypic.com/2nsoufs.jpg

[Talonman]

call me an old grouch, but is there an actual practical difference? if a game isn't playable on the 3870, it isn't playable on the 9800 either. if a game is playable on the 9800, it's also playable on the 3870. am i wrong? Need for Speed 4xAA is pushing it with the 3870, but you only need 30 fps on driving games. so are those meaningless numbers worth an extra $150? apparently the jury says yes. i'll pass though.

Check this: (On 1 GX2)
174.60 fixes it.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2905/770sk0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Crysis will run on a single GX2, and be enjoyable!

The [H] review: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3NSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
The parts I enjoyed the most:

"The XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 allows a very enjoyable gameplay experience in Crysis at high resolutions. As you can see above, for the first time we have found Anisotropic Filtering to be playable in Crysis using these dual-GPU configurations".

This is the kind of info we needed to know...

"With two GeForce 8800 GTs in SLI we found 8X AF was playable at 1600x1200 but we had to disable it at 1920x1200 in order to keep “High” Shaders Quality and “High” Texture Quality".

It was good to know that it would take more than two 8800 GT's to match the performance level you get from the GX2...

"The Radeon HD 3870 X2, however, had a large impact on performance when AF was enabled at 1920x1200, and when we tried 16X AF at 1600x1200. We found 8X AF was playable at 1600x1200, and disabling it still did not allow us to raise any of the settings to “High.”

"Besides AF, there were some major in-game quality differences between the XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 and ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2. As you can see, at 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 the game was playable only be setting everything to “Medium” on the Radeon HD 3870 X2. The XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 however was able to run with almost everything at “High” at 1600x1200 (save for Objects and Post Processing Quality.) At 1920x1200 it was able to produce higher Texture Quality, Higher Shaders Quality and higher Volumetric Quality, along with 8X AF. The experience was night and day between the XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 and ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 in Crysis, at any resolution".

I enjoyed they confirmed the fact that the HD 3870x2 will not look as good in game play as a GX2, nor can we expect the same level of performance in games using it.... (Not sure everybody was on board with that.)

"One important fact about the XFX GeForce 9800 GX2s performance in Crysis is that it perfectly matches the gameplay experience of two GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB video cards in SLI".

Just a good fact to know.... Especially for us non SLI mobo guy's!

Here we see the Radeon HD 3870 X2 trailing, it is important to note that while it doesn’t look so bad in this graph, it felt very bad actually playing the game. It was as if there was severe lagging and choppiness as we played the game at these settings on the Radeon HD 3870 X2, it certainly felt worse than it looks on the graph.

XFX has put together a solid bundle with the XFX GeForce 9800 GX2. The video card performed great, with no hardware problems; it had a very solid feel to it. We were quite impressed with the overclocking ability, and while it is not guaranteed we do feel the GX2 has some good overclocking potential.

The XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 games extremely well, allowing a very high level of gameplay experience in Crysis and the shader intensive game Jericho. The GX2 performance matched that of GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SLI. The real advantage to the GeForce 9800 GX2 is going to be its ability to allow non-SLI motherboard owners a better performing alternative than the current 8800 GTX.

Totally agree, and plan on taking adventage if that myself!!

Glad they thought the card was a beauty also...

[Talonman]

That's not fair, it's a 2 on 1 fight :(

Still impressive how they got even lower power consumption than the Ultra, even with 2 cards.

Can I ask what you paid for your Ultra? Just wondering if it was more than a GX2. ($599.99 Currently)
Allot of people think the GX2 is way too expensive. I don't see it that way myself. More par for the coarse in my book, especially with the performance you get...

If nVidia wouldn't have told us the GX2 was the Ultra's replacement, there probably wouldn't be so many direct comparisons between the two.

They also threw out there that the GX2 would be 30% faster than an Ultra at a minimum, so allot of us were looking to confirm that number. I was.. ;)

Some are saying it's not fair to compare ATI's flagship card (The 3870x2) against a GX2 because it's cheeper... :shrug:

Nobody wants to be compared to the GX2 these days withought calling foul! I guess it is an odd bird that just likes to fly fast? :p:

Go GX2!

[xMrBunglex]

Crysis? is that all you got? nobody plays Crysis. there's no way in hell i'm paying $600 for a g-card so i can play Crysis.

[Linchpin]

Crysis is overrated but the card tears through everything else as well and besides with this sort of performance you'll still be gaming at good settings in 6 months time imho.

[xMrBunglex]

i'm just trying to help a few people save money. you can buy a different g-card and the same games will be playable for $150 less.

[Monkeywoman]

by force ware 180, the GX2s performance would have plateaued. with ati on the other hand, there will be alot more performance gains during the life of the card. id say that the card will reach within 10 percent of the gx2 before no more performance can be squeezed out. factor in the price advantage and lower power consumption and the 3870x2 is the best buy.

[Linchpin]

i'm just trying to help a few people save money. you can buy a different g-card and the same games will be playable for $150 less.

True but the ATI card is giving borderline playable frame rates in some cases whereas the GX2 pushed things into the comfort zone. I for one don't see myself buying an ATI card because I really got burned a couple of time by their drivers a year or so back. Besides some people will pay more money for the GX2 simply because they want the best.

[Talonman]

Heck, as much as I spent on building my rig, I don't want save a few bucks on the GPU...

I agree, it's not the best bang for the buck, but the high-end never is really... :shrug:

How much was an ultra?

[Linchpin]

I'm pretty sure the Ultra was over $600 and lots of people still bought them.

[E.R]

by force ware 180, the GX2s performance would have plateaued. with ati on the other hand, there will be alot more performance gains during the life of the card. id say that the card will reach within 10 percent of the gx2 before no more performance can be squeezed out. factor in the price advantage and lower power consumption and the 3870x2 is the best buy.
That sounds familiour for some reson, was not the same thing said about HD2900XT when it not performed in anything other than 3dmark and get overrunned hard by 8800GTX in games and reallife?
And now the same fairytale but this time around 3870X2 and driver to unleach something magic that really don´t exists in the architecture that HD2900XT and HD3870 is based on? You can se why my BS bell is ringing (once again) right.
The only way in my mind for ATI to catch up and fast before it is to late is to release the "50% better than HD3870X2 that is "only" on par with expectation" namely R700 aka 4870X2 or whatever they will call it. But not even that is going to be good enought to beet the "old" 9800Gx2 in some cases and i doubt that it will be enough to fight of G92b 9900Gx2 or 55nm 9800Gx2 or not even an "old" OC:ed 9800Gx2 when the time is here for the topdog battle and only 50% is added in performance over 3870X2.
And as Talonman i could not care less about anything else but 1920x1200+ with AA and AF added.

That the comon sence is to wait for "better card if you have 8800GTX or Ultra" is starting to piss me off big time when ATI can´t even do better than just 50% better than their new/old stuff that not even is the best around performecewice, not even in top three and that with 2 cores and not be able to beeting the old 8800 Ultra so my fait in ATI and that they can do anything right for once is just about nothing atm.

Heck, as much as I spent on building my rig, I don't want save a few bucks on the GPU...

I agree, it's not the best bang for the buck, but the high-end never is really... :shrug:

How much was an ultra?
$680-900 for an EVGa now for the last ones though their website.
Heck i payed over $640 in november 2006 for my GTX converted 1:1 USD:EURO

[metro.cl]

call me an old grouch, but is there an actual practical difference? if a game isn't playable on the 3870, it isn't playable on the 9800 either. if a game is playable on the 9800, it's also playable on the 3870. am i wrong? Need for Speed 4xAA is pushing it with the 3870, but you only need 30 fps on driving games. so are those meaningless numbers worth an extra $150? apparently the jury says yes. i'll pass though.

You need more than 30fps, dont know where that number came but 30 fps is not what you will want, for optimal gameplay you need 60fps

[Talonman]

Well heck, if an 8800 Ultra is $680 to $900, a GX2 is a steal at $599.99 and faster!! (Quad SLI ready to boot.) :)

[adamsleath]

you want the best they make you pay...

when hasnt it been like that for computer toys?

9800gx2~/=8800gts sli without the sli mobo requirement

i would expect 8800ultra prices to fall slightly....but then it doesnt rely on 2x gpu functionality/drivers so...

[Talonman]

you want the best they make you pay...

when hasnt it been like that for computer toys?
Sad, but true! :up:

[xMrBunglex]

That sounds familiour for some reson, was not the same thing said about HD2900XT when it not performed in anything other than 3dmark and get overrunned hard by 8800GTX in games and reallife?

don't turn this into an ATI vs. Nvidia flame war. nobody is recommending a 2900 XT. Xtremesystems is better than this.

Metro, you only need 30 fps on driving games. you need 60 on shooters, but driving games don't look any different at higher framerates. and besides, that review's claim of 33 fps for the 3870 X2 seems way low to me. i'll reinstall the game on my computer and see what i get.

[Envydia007]

I am confused with the power connector, an 8-pin and a 6-pin? Enlighten me pls

[Talonman]

Yepper, you need 1 of each. Some PSU's give them to you stock, some don't.

There is talk of more people starting to including an adapters in the box with the GX2's, to help the guys out that don't have the 8 pin I believe...
The BFG 9800 GX2 does include an adapter already...

I was lucky and have both stock with my PSU.

One other thing is the locking clips that keep the power cords in, may need to be moded. The clips face each other, and may interfere with each other. I am not too sure on this point. I have heard it also said that the power cables may plug in fine, but there isn't enouigh room to remove the clips due to the locking tabs being unaccessiable due to space constraints. Again, not really sure. You might be playing for keeps when you plug the power cables in? :)

I am sure I will find a way around the issue, and see that my GX2 get's all the juce it requires. ;)

I laugh at the guy's that like to post 'You baught too much PSU!'. Never... :p: :rofl:

"The following is a list of power supplies which have been tested to work on NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GX2. These power supplies meet the requirements for power rating, have at least one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCI Express power connector, and support NVIDIA® HybridPower™ mode". http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9800gx2_pwr_supply.html

You can add the Toughpower 1000w Cable Management PSU to the list too...
Ref link: http://www.dvhardware.net/review118_toughpower_1000w.html

[fornowagain]

Just take off the metal shroud, simple enough and any 6/8 pin will fit.

[Talonman]

Good idea! Thans for the tip.

[Talonman]

Welp! Just to let you know where my system performance is currently with my Q6600 @3.8GHz and 8600 GT OC to (Core-606MHz, Memory-801MHs, and shader-1333MHz). Stock settings are (Core-540MHz, Memory-700MHs, and shader-1188MHz).

I set my registered version of 3DMark06 (Came free with the Maximus), to the res I want to run at, with 2xAA on. Ran the test just to see my fps.

3DMark06 @ 1920x1200 with 2xAA, Vista Ultimate with SP1 installed.

Total Score = 2,068
SM2.0 Score = 819
Return to Proxycon = 7.817fps
Firefly Forest = 5.825fps
HDR/SM3.0 Score = 621
Canyon Flight = 5.394fps
Deep Freeze = 7.021
CPU Score = 5,403
CPU1 Red Valley = 1.820fps
CPU2 Red Valley = 2.566fps

My system has room for improvement.... ;)
I'll run it the same way after the GX2 is installed and see how much the fps moved...

I installed FRAPS 2.9.4.

In COD4 1920 x 1200 AAx2
Sync every frame - NO
Shadows - NO
Specular Map - NO
Everything else to YES or Normal

34 to 39 fps in game play.


Crysis 1920 x 1200 AA off
Fullscreen X'ed
VSYNC not X'ed
Plane flying in - 4 to 7 fps
'OK gentlemen listen up' scene - 10 fps
'Parachute in' scene - 11 fps
Swimming in the water to the beach - 8 to 9 fps

Wow... my 8600 GT is an animal... Not!!

[E.R]

don't turn this into an ATI vs. Nvidia flame war. nobody is recommending a 2900 XT. Xtremesystems is better than this.

I don´t and will not since i would love ATI to be back in the game and force the development of speed forward more than now has been done rather than sideways with "only" 30% or around that, but Monkeywoman is flaming by make that stupid statement about "magic" driver when we all know it is BS stinks high heaven.

[Talonman]

Ujesh Desri nVidia's GeForce General Manager speaking about the GX2.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YUdMrU4yXH8

Sounds like the driver support might be better this time around to me... :)

[safan80]

factor in the price advantage and lower power consumption and the 3870x2 is the best buy.


lol ok.. I care more about performance and the GX2 is a much better card esp. in Quake Wars

[Talonman]

This video graphically illustrates your point safan80!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BAo_sxUBVVI

GX2 -vs- ATI Video...

:D

[y2kbos]

I have just takin the plunge and ordered a 9800gx2 for €420, I sold my 8800gtx over 3 weeks ago for a decent price ( €280 ), been using a 7600gt for the last few weeks...

Anyway will my system show it off to the best of its abiltiy?

Q6700 @ 3.20ghz ( can go to 3.50ghz max)
gigabyte ds3l
2gb pc 6400
Vista Premium 32bit
750watt psu..

This what my 8800gtx @ stock was getting on 3dmark 06

http://www.pix.sparky-s.ie/images/o01vfhb1e8pmfd24btw_thumb.jpg (http://www.pix.sparky-s.ie/viewer.php?file=o01vfhb1e8pmfd24btw.jpg)

What should I expect with my new card?

[Talonman]

I have just takin the plunge and ordered a 9800gx2 for €420, I sold my 8800gtx over 3 weeks ago for a decent price ( €280 ), been using a 7600gt for the last few weeks...

Anyway will my system show it off to the best of its abiltiy?

Q6700 @ 3.20ghz ( can go to 3.50ghz max)
gigabyte ds3l
2gb pc 6400
Vista Premium 32bit
750watt psu..

This what my 8800gtx @ stock was getting on 3dmark 06

http://www.pix.sparky-s.ie/images/o01vfhb1e8pmfd24btw_thumb.jpg (http://www.pix.sparky-s.ie/viewer.php?file=o01vfhb1e8pmfd24btw.jpg)

What should I expect with my new card?


Congratulations! :cool:
I think it will do just fine...

I had thought that it would take 3.5GHz on your CPU to take full advantage of a GPU... (At least a GPU as fast as the GX2.)

Due to discussions in other threads, I now believe anything close to 3GHz on your CPU will keep any GPU happy.

The reason is that if you move your CPU from 3GHz to say 3.5, you suposidly will not see a large gain in FPS. I can't speak from experience due to my current GPU, wich is soon to be upgraded too.

They say that the graphic intensive games we like to play at high res, will always be more GPU dependant than CPU.

In short, I think your Q6700 @ 3.20ghz and a GX2 should fly like the wind.
Hang on... :)

Nice score BTW... :)
I am not sure what 3DMark score you will hit with the GX2...
I am sure however that it will have better performance than a single 8800 GTX in games.

You should be able to run Crysis with these settings: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3NSwzLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

What res do you run at?

[BlueAqua]

I've decided to use the Step Up program to trade one of my 8800GTS 512mb cards for an 9800gx2, I'm excited to use just a single gpu and intel chipsets.

[Talonman]

Congratulations to you too BlueAqua. :D
It's killing me.. I just wan't that dam OC model, waste of money or not!! :)

I think they had to wait 2 weeks, so I think the 1st is 'click buy' day for me, if not sooner.

I am excited.. If you can't tell....

I have never had a speedy GPU, nor built a system from scratch..

Double thrill for me.

Did I tell you I want a GX2? :rofl:

All thoes graphs just make me wonder in awe of how my system will respond! Run baby run!!

[speedfreak86]

I have been very satisfied thus far with the stock card's performance. I hope soon that they will release a driver that scales well with overclocks though. Right now, I am just barely able to break 19000 in 3dmark06 with a single gx2 and the specs in my sig with an overclock at 730/1825/1100 as compared to around 18400 with stock settings. I think if you can afford it, you will like it.

[Talonman]

Ujesh Desri nVidia's GeForce General Manager speaking about the GX2.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YUdMrU4yXH8

Sounds like the driver support might be better this time around to me... :)

So what did you guys think about the comment he made at the end about how hard they had been working on 'game compatibility'. I actually baught it. I was wondering if the first GX2 we don't like to talk about.. ;)
had as good support, and the same number of members on the team?
I am guessing not? Don't know...
I just have faith that that this card will get the proper support... Not sure why. :)

[fornowagain]

Definitely something odd about the XP 06 scores. I get 20K at stock with a 4GHz quad, overclock to 777/2300 and 4.6Ghz and it hardly changes. Vista does increase but the scores are terrible, 22.5K with 777/2300 4.6GHz.

[BlueAqua]

I'm optimistic. I really look forward to a very slick single pci-e card. I hope the support stays strong and it lives up to they hype once many more people have them.

[Talonman]

It is ther Top Card right now... I would think they would want to make it run as fast as possible. They may have more '2 in 1' cards in store for us down the road. They need a strike here. Nothing less will do! They have to make us believe there is no searous down side to internal SLI GPU's.

I bet the official 25th Quad SLI driver will impress too...

Not an option for me, but I bet the Quad boys will enjoy it.

I am in intel based mobo fan by nature, but if Quad SLI turnes out to be untouchable.. until next year... nVidia will sell more mobo's between now and then just because of the GX2.

If I had to chose between mobo's right now, I would have to confess I might be more inclined to go SLI compatible.

The GPU is more important to me than the mobo I guess...

I still love my Maximus, but if I was buying now... hmmmm. :)

[Buckeye]

Check one out on your current rig first Talon.

I would be a shame to tear down that great machine for a new mobo with out seeing if everything works great for you with the Max board.

[Talonman]

No worries... I am keeping it. Besides, my wife would kill me...

I would never get to enjoy the new mobo!

I just think the GX2 is that good, that it's going to sell more new SLI motherboards until new tech cards are out.
I think people in general when building a new system think GPU first, and mobo second. :)
I never thought I would be an SLI guy. The new 9800 GTX won't give me 1920 x 1200 in Crysis. I think the GX2 is my best bet... Hello SLI! Suprise..

I have been very satisfied thus far with the stock card's performance. I hope soon that they will release a driver that scales well with overclocks though.

I wonder if that is why nVidia told EVGA they had to wait two weeks to release an OC GX2 model? It was in that cbit video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=lfaigoUzSxI

[Buckeye]

I really wanted the Striker II Extreme but I cannot seem to find one up for sale yet.

But I saw people I trust using the EVGA 790i Ultra so I went with that. I will still end up getting a Striker for later testing.

My plan on the build is to bench it out first with 1 9800gx2, then install the second and bench again just to see the dif between 1 and 2 cards.

[y2kbos]

Congratulations! :cool:
I think it will do just fine...

I had thought that it would take 3.5GHz on your CPU to take full advantage of a GPU... (At least a GPU as fast as the GX2.)

Due to discussions in other threads, I now believe anything close to 3GHz on your CPU will keep any GPU happy.

The reason is that if you move your CPU from 3GHz to say 3.5, you suposidly will not see a large gain in FPS. I can't speak from experience due to my current GPU, wich is soon to be upgraded too.

They say that the graphic intensive games we like to play at high res, will always be more GPU dependant than CPU.

In short, I think your Q6700 @ 3.20ghz and a GX2 should fly like the wind.
Hang on... :)

Nice score BTW... :)
I am not sure what 3DMark score you will hit with the GX2...
I am sure however that it will have better performance than a single 8800 GTX in games.

You should be able to run Crysis with these settings: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3NSwzLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

What res do you run at?

Thanks for that Talonman, I was getting a bit worried when I was checking reviews of cards on here with Q9650 @ 4.2ghz etc and thinking I was going to bottleneck it...

I play at 1680 by 1050, 22" Samsung Monitor...

Have already played Crysis to death lol, it ran fine on my 8800gtx, put a few settings like post processing, physics etc to medium and the cool stuff like texture, model detail etc to high/very high, it ran perfect and looked great...

Playing Gears Of War and Tomb Raider legend at the moment, but really need the new card to play them properly ( Legend looks class with next gen on) getting World in Conflict free with the card ( xfx one) and will get Assassins Creed when it comes out...

How do you do that fancy benchmark on Crysis with custom the settings?

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2905/770sk0.jpg

I know their is a benchmark for crysis in the bin folder ( cpu and gpu) but they are different...

My 3d Mark score wasnt bad,I had the gtx for over a year and only ran it for the first time a few weeks ago lol...

[Talonman]

I really wanted the Striker II Extreme but I cannot seem to find one up for sale yet.

But I saw people I trust using the EVGA 790i Ultra so I went with that. I will still end up getting a Striker for later testing.

My plan on the build is to bench it out first with 1 9800gx2, then install the second and bench again just to see the dif between 1 and 2 cards.
Good deal, you can see how efficient you Quad SLI is working...

Opps the 2 weeks wasen't in that video.. Can't remember where I saw it now... :)

Oh well... soon I hope on the OC model!

Good luck on the Striker II Extreme hunt too...

[Talonman]

will get Assassins Creed when it comes out...

At 1680 by 1050 you should flat out haul butt! :clap:

Assassins Creed Looks killer!!
Better than Crysis to me.. These 3 videos are for the PC version. Looks well done: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/assassinscreed/index.html
The Conan game should be good two, if they ever get it released.

Both will probably be GX2 material!

[y2kbos]

At 1680 by 1050 you should flat out haul butt! :clap:

I have seen the 3 videos on the Assassins Creed web page... Looks killer!!
Better than Crysis to me..

The Conan game should be good two, if they ever get it released.

Both will probably be GX2 material!

Nice..

One question though and I fear know the answer already.

I have a 22" monitor on my desk with a 32" samsung hdtv 720p above it, sometimes I watch movies on the tv with the pc...

Can I still do that with the 9800gx2 without having to switch between tv dvi cable and monitor dvi cable ( switching between monitor 1 and 2, only using one at a time) or do I have to switch dvi cables everytime I want use tv or monitor?

http://www.pix.sparky-s.ie/images/q7vc0lr20iqwjed9vezd_thumb.jpg (http://www.pix.sparky-s.ie/viewer.php?file=q7vc0lr20iqwjed9vezd.jpg)

[Talonman]

Good question. Not sure. :)

[Buckeye]

Yeah that looks pretty hot !

I hope it's not a bad port, I hate games that are done for both console and PC as I do not like console controls.

[Fusion2002]

Anyone done any testing between Quad SLI and Tri SLI? I'd like to see some comparisons.

[pvtdonuts]

Has anyone taken one of them apart yet? I'm curious as to how much a new application of TIM would help the temps on these guys, but I dunno how delicate that sli bridge is. These cards get blisteringly hot, when i put my hand near the side vent the air coming out feels really really hot, I'm hoping for a nice waterblock or a good aircooler to come out soon, its only a matter of time before some1 tries to stick 2 HR-03's on these guys.

[videogamer323]

14 days on my step-up program. Personally I'm waiting to see what the GTX will do. I'm thinking if it performs something like 15-20% better than my 8800gts 512 then I will upgrade to it. Since rumored prices are around $360 and I paid $360 for my 8800gts lol. I don't have high hopes though. GX2 looks HOT.

[Talonman]

Good luck on the GTX, it's out the 1st correct? You should be able to read allot of reviews soon... :)

[Talonman]

Did you guys see this? ;)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2869750#post2869750

Eddy to the rescue, working hard to make us a GX2 waterblock worth installing! Go EK!!

Copper rules...

I will be getting one down the line... :)

[xMrBunglex]

At 1680 by 1050 you should flat out haul butt! :clap:

Assassins Creed Looks killer!!
Better than Crysis to me.. These 3 videos are for the PC version. Looks well done: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/assassinscreed/index.html
The Conan game should be good two, if they ever get it released.

Both will probably be GX2 material!

don't hold your breath. as pretty as Assassins Creed looks, it is another Ubisoft 360 port. Ubisoft is notorious for making games for the 360 and then doing a hack job to port their titles to the PC, often with little or no support after their release. i'm still pissed about Double Agent. i promised i'd never buy another Ubisoft port again until they patched the game and fixed its terrible flaws, but they never did that.

[Talonman]

Thanks for the tip... I will wait for the reviews. ;)

[bluehaze]

Pretty easy to ignore actually...it's the first card I haven't bought on release in the last 6 months mainly due to the 600 dollar price tag. Nvidia is raping non SLi mobo owners with this one, better performance has been availablle for a long time now for cheaper if your running an Nvidia chipset with SLi.

[TouGe]

I finally ordered my GX2 earlier today:up:.
I had purchased a 3870X2 but it arrived damaged so I sent it back. By the time everything settled and my account had been credited the 9800GX2's were released. After reading reviews on the GX2 and seeing some comparisons involving COD4 & WiC I'm glad my 3870X2 was damaged.

I definitely liked my OC'd 8800GTX, it performed rather well @ 1920x1200. My 2 OC'd 1GB 2900XT's were okay but nothing special, there were no magic drivers as some suggested. Now, if these GX2's are the beasts that I believe them to be, I will be happy once again.

[Talonman]

I'm sure you will love your GX2 TouGe!! :cool:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/03/18/xfx_geforce_9800_gx2_600m_1gb_graphics_card/9

"What's interesting is the fact that the GeForce 9800 GX2 is slightly faster than a pair of GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards right across the board—even despite the 50MHz core and 125MHz shader clock speed deficits. We knew that the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB was memory bandwidth limited, but a 30MHz increase in memory speed shouldn't be all that it takes to alleviate that problem. We're not alone seeing this though, so it looks like the BR04-300 chip is working its magic in one way or another".

"Again, we see another impressive showing from the GeForce 9800 GX2 – it manages to eke out a 10 percent performance advantage over the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SLI configuration at both 1920x1200 2xAA 16xAF and 2560x1600 0xAA 16xAF with all of the in-game details turned up to the 'Very High' preset".

"Not only that, but it's also considerably faster than the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SLI configuration again. Nvidia hasn't really been specific on the performance advancements made between the GeForce 9800 GX2 and the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SLI configurations, but I can't quite believe that an almost 30 percent performance differential can be made up with a driver drop—at least not in a game that's been out for a relatively long time".

Your GX2 has the 'new' BR04-300 chip in it, that makes a GX2 faster than two higher clocked 8800 512MB GTS'es in SLI. :up:

The reviewer dosen't believe a driver update alone, could account for the 30% speed increase that the GX2 showed over the SLI GTS config... :shrug:
Looks like it will at least take 2 SLI'ed 9800 GTX'es to officially beat one GX2. Two SLI'ed GTS'es won't quite do it, despite the 50MHz core and 125MHz shader clock speed difference.


Here is the BR04-300-A1 version found on a 780i mobo... http://www.oc-forum.org/nForce-7-t21680.html

Here is the GX2's NP200-SLI-A2 version... http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-01-28/1-9.jpg

I think the NP200-SLI-A2 chip, is the GX2's updated version of the BR04-300-A1?

Is this correct?

This is the built in SLI chip, that is normally found on a mobo, that the GX2 has on board... Sweet!

The GX2 has the A2 revision, even over the 780i's with it's A1... :eek:

So... Intel baised mobo's are going to get faster 2 card SLI speed, than the boy's running official SLI compatible old chiped mobo's, providing the card the intel member selected was the GX2!!
Ain't that a kick in the pants... :D

The A2 revision on the SLI chip...(snicker)... It's just faster! :clap:

[TouGe]

^^Yeah I am having a hard time playing games right now knowing that everything will look so much better once my GX2 arrives on Monday.

SLI or tri SLI in regards to the GTX is definitely out of the question. I went through 4 680i boards (3 EVGA & 1 Giga) last winter and really don't feel like going through that debacle again this year w/ their 780i's eventhough I am sure things have matured substantially since then. I can't quite get that bad taste out of my mouth. Intel chipsets (975/p35/X38) have always worked for me (4 for 4 so far) so I choose the path of least resistance.
If the card is as good as some of the reviews state then I should be all set until the end of the year then maybe I'll revisit ATi's offerings again or buy the next gen Nvidia flagship.
As much as I dislike Nvidia sometimes, when it comes to their latest generation of cards, their Sh!+ just works. I've tried really hard to like ATi but.....

[Talonman]

Monday should bring you a whole new gear! :up:

Good luck on your install. :)

[Buckeye]

Good stuff up there Talonman !

I can wait until I can get both of my 9800gx2's running :clap:

[Talonman]

Thanks...

I guess the GX2 has a (lower latency) pci express controller. :up:

[Nunzi]

I finally ordered my GX2 earlier today:up:.
I had purchased a 3870X2 but it arrived damaged so I sent it back. By the time everything settled and my account had been credited the 9800GX2's were released. After reading reviews on the GX2 and seeing some comparisons involving COD4 & WiC I'm glad my 3870X2 was damaged.

I definitely liked my OC'd 8800GTX, it performed rather well @ 1920x1200. My 2 OC'd 1GB 2900XT's were okay but nothing special, there were no magic drivers as some suggested. Now, if these GX2's are the beasts that I believe them to be, I will be happy once again.


Good luck with your new card... I had a 8800gtxu now have 2 3870x2's
on the maximus formula working good sofar.

[TouGe]

Good luck with your new card... I had a 8800gtxu now have 2 3870x2's
on the maximus formula working good sofar.
:up:
I was really considering running 2 3870X2's but the thought of being tied to Windows Vista in order to use 4 GPU's is kind of a turn off at the moment. I guess the same could be said with running two GX2's. I think I'm just going to stick w/ a "single" card solution for the time being. Maybe after the next gen cards come out I'll reconsider, if I don't have to sell a kidney in order to purchase two of them.
How are the two cards behaving in crossfire? With so much riding on these cards you would think ATi would be working overtime trying to make quad GPU's compatable w/ as many of the current titles as possible.

[Nunzi]

:up:
I was really considering running 2 3870X2's but the thought of being tied to Windows Vista in order to use 4 GPU's is kind of a turn off at the moment. I guess the same could be said with running two GX2's. I think I'm just going to stick w/ a "single" card solution for the time being. Maybe after the next gen cards come out I'll reconsider, if I don't have to sell a kidney in order to purchase two of them.
How are the two cards behaving in crossfire? With so much riding on these cards you would think ATi would be working overtime trying to make quad GPU's compatable w/ as many of the current titles as possible.

surprisingly great have played a lot of different games & all are working great
had nvidia cards for the longest, thought is was time for a change it should get even better as the drivers come out

INJOY.......

[videogamer323]

TouGe let us know your experiences with the GX2 when you get it. I'm still on the fence and tomorrow supposedly the GTX is coming out so we will see official numbers (unless it is some SICK April fools joke). Just remember take everything around this time with a grain of salt lol.

[CedricFP]

A little off topic, but this thread just serves to remind me how badly ATI have dropped the ball. I remember when they really were king in the GFX department.

When I owned an 19XTX... I loved the red. I still do actually. Prior to that I had an X800 and before that even a Rage Pro...

The GX2 looks like a god buy. But remember all the problems with the 7 GX2... shoddy driver support etc.

I prefer true single card solutions any day of the week.

[TouGe]

TouGe let us know your experiences with the GX2 when you get it. I'm still on the fence and tomorrow supposedly the GTX is coming out so we will see official numbers (unless it is some SICK April fools joke). Just remember take everything around this time with a grain of salt lol.

Its here!!! UPS just dropped it off a couple of hours ago. I'm definitely liking how Nvidia put both cards in a single enclosure. It doesn't even look like a video card, very sleek.
I gave 3DMark06 a run:

Edit: Removed image because ImageShack _uck_ @$$!

Sorry about the image size, I thought I uploaded it @ 1920x1200. The score is 18919 in case people can't read it. The card is still stock for that test. I'm not sure if that's good or not since I don't run 3DMark that often. I'll do more testing after I finish installing windows again.

I just want to finish by saying that I am definitely happy with this purchase. More later....

Edit: Here's the results link (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6030534).

[videogamer323]

That was in the day of very crappy SLI support, today is better, but far from perfect. Which is why I really have my fingers crossed for the GTX but I think it's probably useless. I'll get a gx2 and hope it lasts till the 10xxx series when Nvidia actually brings something decent out (or ATI).

[Talonman]

Just ordered my EVGA SSC GX2 OC'ed to 675MHz. Not as high of an OC as I had hoped, but I can still deal with it. ;)

It cost me $625.99 with UPS Ground shipping...

I hope it dosen't take too long to go from EVGA to Ohio.

[lefy]

what's with the current evga GX2 family pricing?

9800GX2 SSC 675/2100 $610
9800GX2 KO 650/2050 $600
9800GX2 SC 625/2000 $590
9800GX2 600/2000 $600??

why would anyone buy the stock clocks for $600 when you can get the KO for the same price? i guess if i'm going to do the step up then I'll go for the SSC

[Buckeye]

Just ordered my EVGA SSC GX2 OC'ed to 675MHz. Not as high of an OC as I had hoped, but I can stoll deal with it. ;)

It cost me $625.99 with UPS Ground shipping...

I hope it dosen't take too long to go from EVGA to Ohio.

Woot !!!!

Congratz Talonman !!!

[Stanley Pain]

^^Yeah I am having a hard time playing games right now knowing that everything will look so much better once my GX2 arrives on Monday.

SLI or tri SLI in regards to the GTX is definitely out of the question. I went through 4 680i boards (3 EVGA & 1 Giga) last winter and really don't feel like going through that debacle again this year w/ their 780i's eventhough I am sure things have matured substantially since then. I can't quite get that bad taste out of my mouth. Intel chipsets (975/p35/X38) have always worked for me (4 for 4 so far) so I choose the path of least resistance.
If the card is as good as some of the reviews state then I should be all set until the end of the year then maybe I'll revisit ATi's offerings again or buy the next gen Nvidia flagship.
As much as I dislike Nvidia sometimes, when it comes to their latest generation of cards, their Sh!+ just works. I've tried really hard to like ATi but.....

I know how you feel.

I, aswell have been burned by a few Nvidia chipsets, whereas my Intel chipset boards have been nothing but rock solid stable.

Right now I'd love to get another 8800 GTX in SLI, but my Asus Maximus won't do SLI :(.

I'm really tempted to upgrade to a single GX2, but I think I'll wait and see what's around the corner Crossfire wise and then make a choice.

[Talonman]

Woot !!!!

Congratz Talonman !!!

Thanks buddy... :)

I will be an official intel based mobo SLI user soon!!

[TouGe]

Just ordered my EVGA SSC GX2 OC'ed to 675MHz. Not as high of an OC as I had hoped, but I can stoll deal with it. ;)

It cost me $625.99 with UPS Ground shipping...

I hope it dosen't take too long to go from EVGA to Ohio.

Congrats. How could you go ground? Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. I believe its around a 26-30HR drive from Ohio to California, unless you drive super-fast.

what's with the current evga GX2 family pricing?

9800GX2 SSC 675/2100 $610
9800GX2 KO 650/2050 $600
9800GX2 SC 625/2000 $590
9800GX2 600/2000 $600??

why would anyone buy the stock clocks for $600 when you can get the KO for the same price? i guess if i'm going to do the step up then I'll go for the SSC

Actually I would buy the stock clocked GPU unless there was a change in the cooling mechanism or a change in GDDR or whatever that I thought was better than the reference design. These cards clock so easy. I'm already stable at 725/1812/1050 w/o trying.

I know how you feel.

I, aswell have been burned by a few Nvidia chipsets, whereas my Intel chipset boards have been nothing but rock solid stable.

Right now I'd love to get another 8800 GTX in SLI, but my Asus Maximus won't do SLI :(.

I'm really tempted to upgrade to a single GX2, but I think I'll wait and see what's around the corner Crossfire wise and then make a choice.

Yeah, I caught myself reading a review of the new Striker board. Not going to go there because I know I'll just kick myself for it later. I'm really hoping this GPU tides me over for the rest of the year, I think it should. I need to start saving for a good 4 gig kit of DDR3 so I can jump on the DFI x48-T3R when it comes out.

[lefy]

"The following is a list of power supplies which have been tested to work on NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GX2. These power supplies meet the requirements for power rating, have at least one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCI Express power connector, and support NVIDIA® HybridPower™ mode". http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9800gx2_pwr_supply.html

You can add the Toughpower 1000w Cable Management PSU to the list too...
Ref link: http://www.dvhardware.net/review118_toughpower_1000w.html

hmmm... will the Corsair HX620W be enough to power my rig if I swap for a GX2? am I going to need a new psu if I want this card?

edit: i think i just answered my own question by using this power supply calculator (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine). says I need 1002 watts for my rig. off to the PSU forum

[Stanley Pain]

Congrats. How could you go ground? Tick. Tock.

Yeah, I caught myself reading a review of the new Striker board. Not going to go there because I know I'll just kick myself for it later. I'm really hoping this GPU tides me over for the rest of the year, I think it should. I need to start saving for a good 4 gig kit of DDR3 so I can jump on the DFI x48-T3R when it comes out.



What's the deal with that board? Looks like it'll have a "godlike" bios (at least the reviews that I read seem to hint at that).

edit: AHh looks like it has some pretty sweet voltage regulation too :D

I've been almost tempted to get onto the massive $$$$ bandwagon, and get a skulltrail board. SLI + Crossfire, then I wouldn't have to worry nearly as much about which video.

However, that board + 4GB of DDR3 would definitely break my upgrade fund by a lot. Maybe if I get a good bonus from work I'll jump on it hehe..

[Buckeye]

I have come very, very close myself on the Skulltrail setup. But I do not feel that the cost vs performance is right atm. I think I saw on another post someplace that they might be working on a Skulltrail II, not sure tho ?

If they lower the CPU/RAM requirements it might become more actractive. But for right now, without connections it's a rather stiff price to pay.

[TouGe]

Here is a quick run at 700/1750/1050:

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/3236/70017501050zy0.th.png (http://img374.imageshack.us/my.php?image=70017501050zy0.png)

I need another image host. ImageShack keeps down sizing my picks. The score is 20688. Here is the futuremark linky: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6050572 and the excel spreadsheet:


GT1 - Return To Proxycon 67.027 FPS SM2.0 Graphics Tests
GT2 - Firefly Forest 68.900 FPS SM2.0 Graphics Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 2.100 FPS CPU Tests
CPU2 - Red Valley 3.108 FPS CPU Tests
HDR1 - Canyon Flight 99.514 FPS HDR/SM3.0 Graphics Tests
HDR2 - Deep Freeze 86.597 FPS HDR/SM3.0 Graphics Tests
Fill Rate - Single-Texturing 11271.156 MTexels/s Feature Tests
Fill Rate - Multi-Texturing 67898.984 MTexels/s Feature Tests
Pixel Shader 1190.800 FPS Feature Tests
Vertex Shader - Simple 3225.951 MVertices/s Feature Tests
Vertex Shader - Complex 275.405 MVertices/s Feature Tests
Shader Particles (SM3.0) 145.688 FPS Feature Tests
Perlin Noise (SM3.0) 402.912 FPS Feature Tests
8 Triangles 18.421 MTriangles/s Batch Size Tests
32 Triangles 74.883 MTriangles/s Batch Size Tests
128 Triangles 290.779 MTriangles/s Batch Size Tests
512 Triangles 534.792 MTriangles/s Batch Size Tests
2048 Triangles 649.825 MTriangles/s Batch Size Tests
32768 Triangles 696.360 MTriangles/s Batch Size Tests


There's not much room for me in regards to core clock, 725MHz is not stable for me @ stock voltages in 3Dmark06. I'm still testing Shader and memory right now so will see how high I can get those numbers. With the fan @ 80% (~1300 RPM) my idle temps are 54/48 and I can't distinguish it from the panaflo on my CPU. All in all, very happy so far.

[Talonman]

Thanks for the post!

In Firefly Forest I currently am getting 5.825fps
And you got 68.9... Snicker... :clap:

Bracing for upgrade!! :D

[TouGe]

Thanks for the post!

In Firefly Forest I currently am getting 5.825fps
And you got 68.9... Snicker... :clap:

Bracing for upgrade!! :D

Ouch:eek:
You deserve this card more than me:up:.

[Stanley Pain]

This thread is making me want to get a GX2 really badly. Currently have an 8800 GTX. Money.Burning.Hole.In.Pocket

[Origin_Unknown]

This thread is making me want to get a GX2 really badly. Currently have an 8800 GTX. Money.Burning.Hole.In.Pocket

join the club... but a 9800GTX for £200 is starting to break me

[Stanley Pain]

join the club... but a 9800GTX for £200 is starting to break me


You know, if I had an SLI board I'd probably get two of them. They are a great price, and run a LOT less hot than the 8800 GTXs

[Danger30Q]

What video card manufacturers allow you to remove the heatsink and apply your own TIM without voiding the warranty?

I'm mostly interested in EVGA since Newegg has a nice $30 rebate that brings the 9800GX2 to $550. I own an XFX card and from my understanding they do allow you to remove the heatsink without voiding the warranty.

[Stanley Pain]

I don't think any of them let you remove the heatsink without voiding said warranty.

[TouGe]

I don't think any of them let you remove the heatsink without voiding said warranty.

EVGA will uphold its warranty as long as you do not physically damage the card.

[Stanley Pain]

Looks like EVGA might be my next favorite manufactuer.

[videogamer323]

Yeah EVGA will uphold it's warranty as long as the original heatsink is on the card (or motherboard) when it is returned. Also they have the 90day step up and lifetime warranty. Honestly a great company all around. Currently in queue spot #9 for my 8800gts 512 > 9800GX2 stepup! :D

[Talonman]

I just have to post 1 time today...

My EVGA SSC GX2 is getting even closer to the house!! :D

Thanks for letting me YELL once more!!! :p:

I'm excited to get my first fast GPU!!

The price went up 10 bucks today too, on my model at the EVGA site.
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-N897-AR ($619.99 Now)
Mabey I did get a deal buying on the 1st after all? :yepp:

[Durkadurka]

I read that the cooler on GX2 dumps the heat inside the case instead of out the back like on 8800GTX/Ultra and similar cards.
Could this be a problem for watercooled systems?
I have my rad at the top of the case with fans pulling, that would mean that most of the air the GX2 would dump would be pulled through the rad.
Any thoughts?

[Talonman]

Not sure about the case air going through the rad...

It might cost you some, but mabey not enouigh to cause you to have to change any of your systems performance settings? Not sure...

As far as if I think the card can change my temps in any way that would hurt me and my TJ09, naaa. It will be the only thing not on water (So far) inside the case. With all the fans I have going the case air dumps out into my cold basement at an excellent rate. I am hoping it can move my room temp up some to be honest.

It's cold down here... 61.3F right now.
Case temp is at 64.0F. ;)
I have this little deally transmitting from inside the case, back to the base unit. The remote sensor stayes in the case all the time.
http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/9124/

My case can brunt the heat and then some, so can my room. :up:

[TouGe]

I read that the cooler on GX2 dumps the heat inside the case instead of out the back like on 8800GTX/Ultra and similar cards.
Could this be a problem for watercooled systems?
I have my rad at the top of the case with fans pulling, that would mean that most of the air the GX2 would dump would be pulled through the rad.
Any thoughts?

The GX2's fan pulls air from inside your case, blows it across the cards and out the rear.

[TouGe]

I just have to post 1 time today...

My EVGA SSC GX2 is getting even closer to the house!! :D

Thanks for letting me YELL once more!!! :p:

I'm excited to get my first fast GPU!!

The price went up 10 bucks today too, on my model at the EVGA site.
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-N897-AR ($619.99 Now)
Mabey I did get a deal buying on the 1st after all? :yepp:

You should be getting it today(Thursday) then, right?

[Talonman]

I hope... I am off today, and paceing around the house...

Wish me well!! :D

[Buckeye]

I hope... I am off today, and paceing around the house...

Wish me well!! :D

LOL !

I know the feeling Talonman hahaha :rofl:

[Talonman]

11:08AM ... no GX2 yet! :)

So to change from my current driver, over to the GX2's driver I should do these things...

1) Download program XXXXXX to remove my old driver under Vista Ultimate.

2) Turn computer off and install the GX2.

3) Boot in safe mode with the GX2 installed, and run XXXXXXXX to remove my old driver.

4) Reboot in normal mode and install driver XXXXX for the GX2.

Is this correct, and what is the best program for Vista Ultimate to remove my old drivers?

If you have a link handy to download, I would be glad take that too. :)

[Linchpin]

Step one should be just uninstall your current driver via add/remove programs. Can't remember the exact name of the app but it was either Driver Cleaner or Driver Sweeper I think.

[Buckeye]

Yup it's something like that

Step one should be just uninstall your current driver via add/remove programs.

Shut down machine

Remove graphics card

boot into safe mode and run driver cleaner, then run it again just to make sure.

reboot normal

It may try and install generic drives when it first see's the new card, cancel that.

Install New Nvidia drivers



Talonman I sent you a PM also :)

[Talonman]

Thanks for the reply's...

My SSC GX2 that I ordered directly from EVGA on the 1st, has yet to leave the building.
Thought I might get it early, due to the GX2 SSC not even being listed on NewEgg yet, at the time...

I just called them, and the dude told me it takes 3 to 5 business days for the order to get sent...

It still is showing a status of "Waiting to Process" on their web page.

I guess this is the norm. I am suprised by this. :shrug:

I bet the NewEgg SSC's are already being sent to their customers...

I feel like I just went to the back of the line.

EVGA might make good cards, but NewEgg wins for actually getting your order out the door.

Guess I gotta wait... Man-O...

[Stanley Pain]

I don't think I've used driver cleaner since I switched to Vista. There's no real need for it, and having other driver revisions makes it REALLY easy to switch between them.

[Talonman]

I just called EVGA back and begged to management... ;)

I was nice...

Joe was 'The member of the team' I got, and told me he would go back right now, and see if he could get my order out the door!!

I let him know about my Monday and Tuesday vacation days I took, just to spend with my GX2!!

Thanks Joe, and Go EVGA!!

[Buckeye]

I don't think I've used driver cleaner since I switched to Vista. There's no real need for it, and having other driver revisions makes it REALLY easy to switch between them.

You know I used to do the same thing and 9 times out of 10 everything works fine not using driver cleaner. But I have had a few times that it helpped. That was back in the days when new or beta drivers were coming out every few days for the 8800gtx's when I ran into a few wierd things that happened after a driver new driver install and driver cleaner seemed to fix it.

So prolly will not hurt to not use driver cleaner.

[Buckeye]

I just called EVGA back and begged to management... ;)

I was nice...

Joe was 'The member of the team' I got, and told me he would go back right now, and see if he could get my order out the door!!

I let him know about my Monday and Tuesday vacation days I took, just to spend with my GX2!!

Thanks Joe, and Go EVGA!!

HAHA Never tell them that ! hehe I can see them in the back going... see this guy Talonman, lets have some fun and just delay the shipment a day :)

[Talonman]

God!! I hope not.. hehehe:rofl:

I'll just feel better knowing it has some wheels under it, rolling toward me! ;)
They do give you a tracking number too. :)

[TouGe]

Thanks for the reply's...

My SSC GX2 that I ordered directly from EVGA on the 1st, has yet to leave the building.
Thought I might get it early, due to the GX2 SSC not even being listed on NewEgg yet, at the time...

I just called them, and the dude told me it takes 3 to 5 business days for the order to get sent...

It still is showing a status of "Waiting to Process" on their web page.

I guess this is the norm. I am suprised by this. :shrug:

I bet the NewEgg SSC's are already being sent to their customers...

I feel like I just went to the back of the line.

EVGA might make good cards, but NewEgg wins for actually getting your order out the door.

Guess I gotta wait... Man-O...

Ouch, you ordered from EVGA? Wow, you are far more patient than I. There is no way I could survive the wait. The one thing I like about Newegg is there cheap overnight rates through UPS/FedEx. I always go with overnight shipping plus the added $2.99 for quicker processing. Oh, and always order before noon:up:.

[TouGe]

Well, I finally took my GX2 apart today to clean off their thermal paste and apply some MX-2. What a pain in the ass! You have to unscrew approximately 25 screws just to get it apart. My temps are lower though, 48 idle so far. If you plan on doing this make sure you set aside at least an hour to get evenything done. As an aside, it will be interesting to see how thermalright implements a cooling solution for this card.

[Talonman]

Thanks for the tip on taking the GX2 apart...

I might give mine the MX-2 treatment too. The GX2 and MX2 togeather, just sound like a good match to me? :shrug: :p:

I do usually order from the egg too. On the 1st however, my SSC was only listed on the EVGA site. Joe is a man of his word, and did get my GX2 out the door today!

It now has wheels under it, and is rolling toward my house right now!!
I do feel better. :D

I also would love to see what Thermalright might make for the GX2...
Tough assignment. :yepp:

FYI - Here is a new cooling option for the GX2.

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7598.html

It's kind of hard on the eyes. ;)
I still would like to see a review with numbers...

I think I would rather get the EK block myself, but none the less, there it is! ;)

I think I am going to go slow on ordering a waterblock until I decide if my GX2 is really going to be my 1 time step up card.
If not, and I keep it for a year or so, EK will probably win.

[TouGe]

Thanks for the tip on taking the GX2 apart...

I might give mine the MX-2 treatment too. The GX2 and MX2 togeather, just sound like a good match to me? :shrug: :p:

I do usually order from the egg too. On the 1st however, my SSC was only listed on the EVGA site. Joe is a man of his word, and did get my GX2 out the door today!

It now has wheels under it, and is rolling toward my house right now!!
I do feel better. :D

I also would love to see what Thermalright might make for the GX2...
Tough assignment. :yepp:

FYI - Here is a new cooling option for the GX2.

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7598.html

It's kind of hard on the eyes. ;)
I still would like to see a review with numbers...

I think I would rather get the EK block myself, but none the less, there it is! ;)

I think I am going to go slow on ordering a waterblock until I decide if my GX2 is really going to be my 1 time step up card.
If not, and I keep it for a year or so, EK will probably win.

Glad to hear that they pushed it out the door for you. EVGA usually isn't too slow with shipping products. I was pretty happy w/ their service during my whole 680i fiasco.

Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever get around to water cooling my graphic card. If the next generation cards are a larger leap forward then maybe I would consider doing so but for now I'm just planning on water cooling my CPU/NB sometime around the fall of this year.

As far as taking apart the GX2 it is fairly easy in retrospec and it will probably only take 30min max to do everything.

1.You'll need to remove the visible screws on the one side of the case and at the ass end where the fan is located.
2. Gently pull the case apart like a clam shell. The opposite end is latched together and will come apart with a little wiggling.
3. Remove the screws from the second half including the two that are holding the face plate to the card (one on each end). Then unscrew the 4 screws that are on either side of the DVI connectors, remove plate.
Then all you have left is to remove each card from the fan assembly. The easiest way to do this is just remove one card at a time but becareful not to separate the SLI connectors. After cleaning and re-applying thermalpaste just re-attach it to the HS/fan and flip it over to do the next card.

I made the mistake of removing both cards at once which made the whole process more awkward then needed and I was moving kind of slow since I didn't want to have one of those "uh-oh" moments.

[Talonman]

Thanks again buddy!! ;)

[zodiac]

You know I used to do the same thing and 9 times out of 10 everything works fine not using driver cleaner. But I have had a few times that it helpped. That was back in the days when new or beta drivers were coming out every few days for the 8800gtx's when I ran into a few wierd things that happened after a driver new driver install and driver cleaner seemed to fix it.

So prolly will not hurt to not use driver cleaner.

Guru3d has it...unless I missed another one. This one nukes files, but lets you pick.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=582 (Hope this is the one you're referring to. )

My GTS512 has wheels to Cali right now...stepped up to GX2....wanna see some after market air cooling solutions SOON. I'll be watching this thread for sure... Z

[cantankerous]

Hi TouGe, your sig says bios mod for your 9800GX2. What exactly did you do? Last I heard there was no way to flash a bios to TWO/BOTH parts of the card, but only one. With the card containing two PCB's they both need a bios flash and NVflash as far as I know was unable to do this.

If you have found a way, or know something I do not, please do share! As well, did you lock in your desired clocks AND mod the fan speed by any chance? I loved this about my Ultra card. Have clocks exactly how I want them and fan speed at 100% at all times. I never need software installed anymore. My card just runs as I like right from the get go. This is what I would like to see happen with the GX2. As soon as they get dual display support while running SLI I will be grabbing this card and hope to tune the bios exactly to my liking.

BTW, your new clocks in sig, is that your absolute max to sustain 100% stability and a clean image? What are your load temps in a worse case scenario with those clocks. Do you have a before and after temp for idle/load before you applied MX2?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions.

[Buckeye]

Thanks for the tip on taking the GX2 apart...

I might give mine the MX-2 treatment too. The GX2 and MX2 togeather, just sound like a good match to me? :shrug: :p:

I do usually order from the egg too. On the 1st however, my SSC was only listed on the EVGA site. Joe is a man of his word, and did get my GX2 out the door today!

It now has wheels under it, and is rolling toward my house right now!!
I do feel better. :D

I also would love to see what Thermalright might make for the GX2...
Tough assignment. :yepp:

FYI - Here is a new cooling option for the GX2.

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7598.html

It's kind of hard on the eyes. ;)
I still would like to see a review with numbers...

I think I would rather get the EK block myself, but none the less, there it is! ;)

I think I am going to go slow on ordering a waterblock until I decide if my GX2 is really going to be my 1 time step up card.
If not, and I keep it for a year or so, EK will probably win.

Good find on that cooling block !

[zodiac]

Hi TouGe, your sig says bios mod for your 9800GX2. What exactly did you do? Last I heard there was no way to flash a bios to TWO/BOTH parts of the card, but only one. With the card containing two PCB's they both need a bios flash and NVflash as far as I know was unable to do this.

If you have found a way, or know something I do not, please do share! As well, did you lock in your desired clocks AND mod the fan speed by any chance? I loved this about my Ultra card. Have clocks exactly how I want them and fan speed at 100% at all times. I never need software installed anymore. My card just runs as I like right from the get go. This is what I would like to see happen with the GX2. As soon as they get dual display support while running SLI I will be grabbing this card and hope to tune the bios exactly to my liking.

BTW, your new clocks in sig, is that your absolute max to sustain 100% stability and a clean image? What are your load temps in a worse case scenario with those clocks. Do you have a before and after temp for idle/load before you applied MX2?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions.

Cantankerous....I just saw this regarding BIOS...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2884980



Also found a guy on MVKtech dot net, that is talking about running the EVGA 9800 GX2 KO bios on his stock GX2.
I'd like to see the SSC bios (see stats below) running on a stock GX2 also.

e-GeForce 9800GX2 SSC 1024MB
Part Number 01G-P3-N897-AR
Core Clock Speed 675MHz
Stream Processors 256
Memory Clock Speed 2100MHz
Memory Bandwidth 134.4GB/sec
Shader Clock Speed 1674MHz
Bus PCI-E
Interface DVI-I, DVI-I, HDMI

[cantankerous]

Great, thanks a ton for this. So we can in fact save and flash bios with edited clocks, but what about fan speed adjustment? Can you ramp up the fan speed and flash with the faster RPM's as well as clocks? I would like to run the fan much faster and not have to rely on installing software to do this.

[zodiac]

Not too sure on that man....TBH, I'm n00bish in the video bios....hopefully to be rectified very soon : )
I would imagine, that even after the bios flash, that one could use ntune to up the GPU fan speeds... unless of course mvktechnet has some info regarding fan speeds in the bios. That is what I'd be doing in the interim. I can deal with the extra noise if it means lower temps. I'll keep hammering the net for answers tho.

Z

Edit: Should have looked before I answered. See link
http://www.mvktech.net/content/view/2069/37/
Pretty serious walkthrough on NiBitor... User defined fan speeds is in the list.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1260590 This thread discusses fan speeds in NiBitor...
Versions 3.7 and newer support fan speed modifications....mvktech has the lateest and greatest versions
Here --> http://www.mvktech.net/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,0/func,fileinfo/filecatid,2537/parent,category/


Here's the thread I'm watching for the SSC bios...
http://www.mvktech.net/component/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,34/func,view/id,48955/catid,13/
:up:

[phelan1777]

I am going from 8800GTS 640 to 9800GX2

so wonder what I will see for an improvement.

Packing up my 8800 today to ship out.

[Linchpin]

I am going from 8800GTS 640 to 9800GX2

so wonder what I will see for an improvement.

Packing up my 8800 today to ship out.

Should be a rather noticeable increase, I went from the 640MB GTS to the 9800GTX and the difference is very noticeable.

[TouGe]

Hi TouGe, your sig says bios mod for your 9800GX2. What exactly did you do? Last I heard there was no way to flash a bios to TWO/BOTH parts of the card, but only one. With the card containing two PCB's they both need a bios flash and NVflash as far as I know was unable to do this.

Already answered and very easy to do.

If you have found a way, or know something I do not, please do share! As well, did you lock in your desired clocks AND mod the fan speed by any chance? I loved this about my Ultra card. Have clocks exactly how I want them and fan speed at 100% at all times. I never need software installed anymore. My card just runs as I like right from the get go. This is what I would like to see happen with the GX2. As soon as they get dual display support while running SLI I will be grabbing this card and hope to tune the bios exactly to my liking.

As of NiBitor v4.0 the area where you would change fan speed is grayed out, so I don't see how we could change fan speeds right now.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm12/Shalack/Nibitorv40.png

Maybe with the next version of NiBitor we will be able to change this setting. Just use RivaTuner for now.


BTW, your new clocks in sig, is that your absolute max to sustain 100% stability and a clean image? What are your load temps in a worse case scenario with those clocks. Do you have a before and after temp for idle/load before you applied MX2?

As for my clocks, 702/1782/1080, these were the most stable for me. I could have set them at 720/1836/1062 but I would get infrequent glitches in 3DMark06 and errors in ATi Tool. When I am able to bump the voltages @ the BIOS level I'll probably revisit my current clocks but as they sit now I am able to score over 20,000 in 3Dmark06, so I am happy.
My Idle temps right now are 54/49 w/ fan @ 75%. When running ATi Tool I believe they were ~61/58. For some reason one card isdles hotter than the other. I noticed this when I first installed the card as well. I might try to re-apply MX-2 again next week to see if this changes anything.
My before temps were in the mid to upper 50's on both cards @ idle, so I gained 3-4 degrees w/ an additional 100MHz on the core clock.

[Talonman]

I have the Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W Cable Management PSU.

Out of the wires that remain attached all the time, are 2 Black 8 pin connectors.
One Black 8 pin connector goes to my mobo wich is working fine.
My second black 8 pin connector is just hanging in space right now. (and can't be removed)

The extra wires that I can plug into the PSU have 6 and 8 pin connectors, but both are colored RED.

I know I will need to plug in 1 RED 6 pin plug in to power my GX2.

My question is, can I use my 2nd permanent Black 8 pin connector that is hanging in space to power my GX2, or do I need to plug a RED 8 pin connector in the PSU to power the GX2?

Could I still have a wrong 8 pin connector available to plug in, if my mobo already has one in it?

** UPDATE **
My PSU does have two 8 pin CPU connectors that are both Black!!
I need to continue to let that one hang in space... ;)
Actually, I guess I can finally hide it now...
All this time I thought it was going to be needed for my future GPU...
It was made for running another mobo the entire time! :rofl:

I will stick to the RED removable wires marked:

(1) 6 pin to 6 pin with 'To VGA Card Rail: +12V4' on one end, and 'To PSU Location V4' on the other.
(1) 8 pin to 8 pin with 'To VGA Card Rail: +12V4' on one end, and 'To PSU Location V4' on the other.

My V4 12 volt rail is rated at 36 amps max, with nothing currently plugged into it...
Word is on the net, that a GX2 requires a +12 volt rail rated at 28 amps minimum to work properly.
I should be golden. :up:

Time to load this puppy down some! Common UPS Ground... Roll baby roll... :bounce:
I wan't to feed this new monster card some juce!! :upset:
Then let er run like the wind! :sonic:

[Talonman]

never mind.. :)