Help the newbie with his build!!

[Talonman]

More bad news on the 9800 GTX front. Apparently it is only getting a 14K score in 3DMark06. The New 8800 GTS is already getting real close to that, so it's more disturbing evidence that the GTX is nothing more than an OC'ed GTS.
http://www.techpowerup.com/53685/NVI..._3DMark06.html

I also noted that these 9800 GTX screen shots, are also showing that revision A2 was used, not the A3 I was looking for...

I like what 'Trog' and 'brian.ca' posted:

What's happened is very simple.. to take the wind out of atis 3xxx series cheapo launch.. The green team bought forward two 9xxx series cards at low relative prices.. The 8800gt and the 8800gts...
This worked very well.. but now the two fake 8800 card are being presented in their proper place its not looking so good...
The 8800gt being presented as the new 9600 is clever but the 9800 cards are just a let down.. They have to be.. There is nothing left in the hat to pull out..
Also ati didnt cheat.. producing the same performance for half the power draw and heat is a new generation chip.. with multiple gpus heat and power draw is the key factor..

trog

Image taken from: http://www.techpowerup.com/53358/GeF...p_Updated.html

Higher number doesn't mean the better chip, it's the 9600 that uses the G94, the 9500 uses the G96, the rest are all the G92 used within the 8x00 series cards released last fall/winter.

Trog above pretty much nailed what happened.. the G9x chip was Nvidia's next gen chip. ATI had two good cards coming out within the 38x0s. As a pre-emptive strike Nvidia rushed out some versions of the G92 cards (remember how stock supply was such a problem for them? That was probably b/c of the rush job) as 8x00 series cards. The GT and GTS should have been 9800 cards, but for one reason or another (most likely they didn't want to introduce them as the new gen when they may not have been completely ready and the other variants were also not ready yet) they were solds as 8800s. It's less that Nv is trying to rebrand an old card as much as they improperly branded a new card. But one way or another though don't expect too much of a gain on any of the 9x00 series cards over what we saw of G92 chips among the 8x00 series b/c the changes will mostly be tweaks.

'brian.ca

I myself am disappionted with what I am hearing about the 9800 GTX. If this dosen't turn out to be a bad joke, I am looking at the 9800 GX2 now as my first choice...

A wise man from over at the Hard Forum posted:

^^^
Okay, that's really sad. So the 9800 GTX has:

• Less ROPs than the 8800 Ultra (16 as opposed to 24)
• Less memory than the 8800 Ultra (512 as opposed to 768)
• Slower memory than the 8800 Ultra (1100mhz as opposed to 1150mhz)
• 40 GB/s less memory bandwidth than the 8800 Ultra (70 GB/s as opposed to 110 GB/s)
• Less texture fillrate than the 8800 Ultra (37 vs 47 GTexels)
• Still no DX10.1 compliance (duh it's a G92)

This card is a downgrade in so many ways, it's sad. Prepare for Geforce FX series all over again.

I still want a card that does Crysis at 1,920 x 1,200 res, with high detail. I no longer believe the 9800 GTX will be up for the job...
The 9800 GX2 looks to be $449.00.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/...force_9800gx2/

No wonder nVidia was listing the 9800 GX2 as their Big Dog. It is!

The up side is the GX2 gets released before the GTX. I hopefully won't have to wait as long to figure out the pick of the litter on the GX2 cards.