NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 Coming February 2008

[DFI pit bull]

I bet this card will cost $900-1000 in the UK, well at least for the first couple of months after release.

[jabski]

you guys are saying 800, i wouldnt be surprised if nvidia jumped for the 900-1000 range :\

thats what i was thinking. $800 wouldnt be too bad if they were clocked nice

[Jasonx82]

is this card gonna be based on the G100 or the G92 ? Because I've been hearing about a dual gpu solution from nvidia based on the g92 =(

[RedBull78]

You mean on crunching? That's because that Cell processor has about 7 cores that are pretty much made for those kind of calculations. A PC that used an ATi graphics card along with the crunching still was faster, but there were far more PS3s and the scoring was done differently on a system with a graphics card. One problem with those 7 cores is, they are pretty hard to use, their best use is for physics probably. Luckily there is this other bigger core that can more easily take care of the rest. This makes the Cell processor superior to a C2Q from a crunching perspective, but not from a general purpose point of view.

Thanks for explaining it to me. So while consoles excel in physics the pc's excel in graphics. So im curious if this is the relationship ATI/AMD is trying to make with the Fusion platform in 2010?

[ExodusC]

Ugh, I'd much rather prefer a G100 based 9800GT or GTS, something cheap but effective.

[lowfat]

I hope it's not a dual card configuration. Thats a pita for water cooling.

you never know the Swiftech kit that extends the space between the cards may fit.

[7499richard]

You sure on that? I thought when PS3 came out it surpassed something that pc has been doing for years in matter of weeks... but i dont know i could be wrong...

I am not sure what was surpased, but I do know that my PC is light years ahead of any console out there. search ps3 vs. pc and you will see.

[RedBull78]

I am not sure what was surpased, but I do know that my PC is light years ahead of any console out there. search ps3 vs. pc and you will see.

I think it has something to do with a scientfic DNA program. PS3 just surpased it in matter of days i believe. It was very hot on topics for weeks. Funny how quickly people forgot about this.

[Zytek_Fan]

I think it has something to do with a scientfic DNA program. PS3 just surpased it in matter of days i believe. It was very hot on topics for weeks. Funny how quickly people forgot about this.

It was with Folding@Home...

[Scubar]

GTX and Ultra were £480 in Uk when it was first released so im expecting the same for this one. Ive already got £800 set aside anyway for Q9450 and a 9800GTX and maybe a new PSU because of this stupid 6pin and 8pin power.

[[XC] hipno650]

i hope this is complete crap or that they will have a highend card as well (single GPU) i was hopping for a 2tflop beast on a single GPU int he 9800gtx. but i fear this is AMD's fault they can't challenge Nvidia on the high end so nvidia just has to beat them by a little bit and they make way more money.

[Zytek_Fan]

i hope this is complete crap or that they will have a highend card as well (single GPU) i was hopping for a 2tflop beast on a single GPU int he 9800gtx. but i fear this is AMD's fault they can't challenge Nvidia on the high end so nvidia just has to beat them by a little bit and they make way more money.

AMD probably won't be able to challenge NVIDIA until R700...

[zerazax]

I dont know if 9800GX2 is the right name - after all, it could just as easily be the 8800GX2 w/ the dual G92's as rumored earlier, as a response to the R680/3870X2

[stayfrosty]

I hope they release a ~400$ single card as well its also a shame that that didnt call it the 9800XT2

[Scubar]

I dont know if 9800GX2 is the right name - after all, it could just as easily be the 8800GX2 w/ the dual G92's as rumored earlier, as a response to the R680/3870X2

Thats kind of what i am expecting, 2x8800GTX on single PCB and then the true 9800GTX in march

[Decami]

Ohhh I see. I thought of that myself but I didn't think cpu was anywhere near the gpu in terms of crunching huge amount of data.

Overall the ps3's cell unit processors does pose a threat when compared to the latest gpus. But that shouldn't affect the pc industry unless IBM has future plans to make their cell tech a mainstream cpu. I just hope IBM buys of AMD and make all this possible. Imagine the possiblities!

Nah, the cell is way over rated. They are trying to sell it like its some monster advancement, but it isnt. Its an advancement, but not a monster one. The cell is awesome at crunching. But it, in no way, threatens the gpu market at all. (the cpu market either, for that matter) That stupid thing is way over rated by some.

[zerazax]

Thats kind of what i am expecting, 2x8800GTX on single PCB and then the true 9800GTX in march

Same here, after all the 7950GX2 lasted only a couple months before the 8800GTX stomped it..

[mdzcpa]

Whats with all the hate towards the 7950gx2? It was an awesome card...

I agree. Of all the cards I've gone through, the 7950x2 has been a card lasted longer than most in the household. My son is running it now. Plenty of firepower for his P5W non SLI mobo. Although its a bit out dated now, it still has enough juice.

Given that Intel won't be running SLI any time soon, I really like the idea of a single card, multi GPU solution.

[LordEC911]

Wow lots of Fud/bad speculation in this thread...
I'll start from the beginning correcting people.

It won't cost $800, unless Nvidia is TRYING to not compete.
R680, HD3870x2, is supposedly being priced under $400.
With HD3870 in CF battling 8800GTs and with the AMD card having a slight lead, I would have to expect Nvidia to price their dual card somewhere close, no more than $450.

As for the poster talking about raytracing, that is still at least 5 years off, if not more. These are more about being able to hit both the gaming/enthusiast market and the GPGPU market. With multicore becoming the future, I expect us to leave APIs behind, bye bye MS.

About the PS3 "excelling" at Folding@Home, there were some 200k units crunching compared to the couple of thousand ATi cards crunching... a really fair comparison.

Jason- IMO this card has to be using a G92, 8800GT specs to be more clear, a G92 GTS has a 140w TDP leaving the roughly 20w to spare, 75+75+150, I highly doubt that Nvidia would come that close to the power limit.
The only other possibility is maybe a midrange of their new 9series desktop chip or possibly a mobile of their new highend, though mobiles usually aren't ready at the launch of a new product so don't hold your breathe.
8800GT speced G92 sounds like the most logical solution, though that leaves Nvidia equal to or a bit behind AMD's solution.

Derek- I doubt that will happen, though it might be nice.

Zytek- Umm... R680 should be MORE than a handful for Nvidias new dual GPU.

[systemviper]

It should be cheap because Amd will be offering their multi-gpu for dirty cheap in order to stay a float while begging the aliens for new cpu design in near future. .. lol

So expect both solutions for no more then 450 dollars. Heck, I remember when I dished out 400 bucks for a 4600ti back in the days and now you can get a high end card between $220-340.......

i'll take 2

[Zytek_Fan]

Zytek- Umm... R680 should be MORE than a handful for Nvidias new dual GPU.

I hope so

[xlink]

You sure on that? I thought when PS3 came out it surpassed something that pc has been doing for years in matter of weeks... but i dont know i could be wrong...

that'd be F@H

but NOT gaming.

[RedBull78]

that'd be F@H

but NOT gaming.

Why not gaming? Consoles are known for just that..?

I'm not much into consoles at all but my brother is so he tells me we are not seeing not even half of what ps3 can do. He says GT3 will change everything among other exclusive games. I kind a believe him since consoles have much advanced programming tools for games. Dont ya think?

[Tibu]

Isn't it weird we are getting news on the 9800GX2 before there's any news on the 9800?

[Helmore]

Why not gaming? Consoles are known for just that..?

I'm not much into consoles at all but my brother is so he tells me we are not seeing not even half of what ps3 can do. He says GT3 will change everything among other exclusive games. I kind a believe him since consoles have much advanced programming tools for games. Dont ya think?

It is probably true that we are not seeing the full potential of the PS3 and that will take a while, but PCs were already surpassing it before it was even launched.
The RSX graphics chip in the PS3 is just a GeForce 7900 clocked at 500 core/600 memory and this makes a GeForce 7900 GTX faster. The Cell processor is fine and dandy but it's really tough to program for and well (which is why it will take a while before we will see the PS3's full potential), a C2D will surpass it when used for the kind of code seen in games. About memory on the PS3: RSX has 256MB under it's command and Cell can use another 256MB, this is not too bad as you will not be playing games at such a high resolution compared to PCs.

The best part about a console is that you have quite some time to optimize your games for it. The specs will not change and every PS3 can do the same, this is a completely different story on a PC where you have thousands of combinations for every PC. You have different amounts of RAM, hundreds types of GPUs at multiple speeds and many different CPUs at varying speeds. Then you have the operating systems that differ, a couple of other variables and the fact that systems progress through time, which make it impossible to know what you are programming for. All these things make it impossible to optimize games for the PC to the same level you can on a console. (all this also counts for every console so far, X-box 360, Wii, DS, PSP and previous generations)
So from a capability point of view, the PC is far ahead of modern consoles but utilizing them to their full potential will never be accomplished and this is different for a console.