It's really been a struggle for NVIDIA ever since ATI dropped a bomb on them with the RV770. It completely caught them off guard and which is also the primary reason for the existence of the 9800GTX+.
We've already reviewed one 9800GTX+ from Zotac which incidentally is clocked at the same frequency as the XFX one, so it should be interesting to see jut how much two cards, based on the same core and same panel, but from different manufacturers actually differ in performance. Let's take a quick look at the specifications of the card and the different models available.
Like I said, the specs are virtually identical to the Zoatc card except for maybe the memory, which is around 50Hz more for the Zotac. The rest is the same including the reference cooler from NVIDIA.
You would think that since they are clocked at the same speeds the performance would also be similar, well that's not always the case and you'd be surprised at how much performance can differ between two identical cards from different manufacturers.
There are four different variations for the 9800GTX+, the one we have is the overclocked version without the Assassins Creed game. There is no indication on the box, so you have to go by the product id.
The GPU-Z screenshot still recognizes the fabrication process as 65nm but all 9800GTX+ are indeed 55nm.
XFX bundles the following accessories with their 9800GTX+
Installation manual
Driver CD
SPDIF cable
DVI to VGA adapter
S-Video to Component dongle
PCI-E to Molex power adapter
PCI-E power cable extender
One thing I liked is the PCI-E power cable extender. This should come in handy for people with cramped cases and is also the first I've seen bundled with any graphics card
The Card
The box is designed differently compared to the rest of the 9 series cards but still looks quite good.
The front of the card is exactly the same as the Zotac since it uses the same reference cooler that Nvidia specifies. The only thing different is the sticker on the card.
The front panel consists of the same dual DVI ports and a single S-Video our port. Above that we have the exhaust grills for dumping the hot air outside the case. There is also a LED at the back and lights up when the card is powered.
The power connectors are still at the same and there are two 6-pin connectors to supply additional power to the card.
Here we have the 3-way SLI connectors allowing you to configure three GeForce cards in SLI.
Testbench
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme X9770 @ 3.2 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS3 RAM 2 x 1GB DDR2 1066 MHz (5-5-5-15)
HDD: Hitachi 250 GB SATA II (7200 rpm)
PSU: CoolerMaster 1000W SMPS
Monitor: Viewsonic G90fB Monitor (19-inch, Max Res. 1920 x 1440)
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate
VGA Driver: Forceware 177.79
3D Mark 06
Things started off quite well for XFX as it flies past Zotac's 9800GTX+ and even the Radeon HD4850.
3D Mark Vantage
Overclcocking
For the overclocking bit, I used RivaTuner v2.1 which now adds support for all the new ATI cards as well including the HD4870 X2 . Remember this card already comes pre-overclocked from the stock frequency of 738MHz but we'll still try and overclock it.
After a couple of crashes and reboots I finally got a stable overclock of 790MHz for the core. The shaders and the memory refused to go higher, so I settled for what I could get.
Conclusion
You can get this card for around 15.5K with a 3-year warranty from your local vendor. After reviewing a couple of XFX graphics cards, this price does not surprise me. Needless to say that it's expensive. You could probably get the Zotac card for less or even better a HD4850.
This card definitely runs a lot cooler compared to any HD450, so it has that going for it. But other than that the HD4850 still makes better sense not only because of it's lower price but also stronger AA performance if you can ignore the heat issues.
It all depends on what you're looking for. If you want a card with a performance similar to the HD4850, runs cool and don't mind shelling out a little more, then yes this will do the job but definitely not at this price.
Instead if you want to save some cash and don't mind the higher temperatures then look no further, ATI's HD4850 is still the best at that price.
We've already reviewed one 9800GTX+ from Zotac which incidentally is clocked at the same frequency as the XFX one, so it should be interesting to see jut how much two cards, based on the same core and same panel, but from different manufacturers actually differ in performance. Let's take a quick look at the specifications of the card and the different models available.
Like I said, the specs are virtually identical to the Zoatc card except for maybe the memory, which is around 50Hz more for the Zotac. The rest is the same including the reference cooler from NVIDIA.
You would think that since they are clocked at the same speeds the performance would also be similar, well that's not always the case and you'd be surprised at how much performance can differ between two identical cards from different manufacturers.
There are four different variations for the 9800GTX+, the one we have is the overclocked version without the Assassins Creed game. There is no indication on the box, so you have to go by the product id.
The GPU-Z screenshot still recognizes the fabrication process as 65nm but all 9800GTX+ are indeed 55nm.
- Bundle
XFX bundles the following accessories with their 9800GTX+
Installation manual
Driver CD
SPDIF cable
DVI to VGA adapter
S-Video to Component dongle
PCI-E to Molex power adapter
PCI-E power cable extender
One thing I liked is the PCI-E power cable extender. This should come in handy for people with cramped cases and is also the first I've seen bundled with any graphics card
The Card
The box is designed differently compared to the rest of the 9 series cards but still looks quite good.
The front of the card is exactly the same as the Zotac since it uses the same reference cooler that Nvidia specifies. The only thing different is the sticker on the card.
The front panel consists of the same dual DVI ports and a single S-Video our port. Above that we have the exhaust grills for dumping the hot air outside the case. There is also a LED at the back and lights up when the card is powered.
The power connectors are still at the same and there are two 6-pin connectors to supply additional power to the card.
Here we have the 3-way SLI connectors allowing you to configure three GeForce cards in SLI.
Testbench
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme X9770 @ 3.2 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS3 RAM 2 x 1GB DDR2 1066 MHz (5-5-5-15)
HDD: Hitachi 250 GB SATA II (7200 rpm)
PSU: CoolerMaster 1000W SMPS
Monitor: Viewsonic G90fB Monitor (19-inch, Max Res. 1920 x 1440)
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate
VGA Driver: Forceware 177.79
3D Mark 06
Things started off quite well for XFX as it flies past Zotac's 9800GTX+ and even the Radeon HD4850.
3D Mark Vantage
Overclcocking
For the overclocking bit, I used RivaTuner v2.1 which now adds support for all the new ATI cards as well including the HD4870 X2 . Remember this card already comes pre-overclocked from the stock frequency of 738MHz but we'll still try and overclock it.
After a couple of crashes and reboots I finally got a stable overclock of 790MHz for the core. The shaders and the memory refused to go higher, so I settled for what I could get.
Conclusion
You can get this card for around 15.5K with a 3-year warranty from your local vendor. After reviewing a couple of XFX graphics cards, this price does not surprise me. Needless to say that it's expensive. You could probably get the Zotac card for less or even better a HD4850.
This card definitely runs a lot cooler compared to any HD450, so it has that going for it. But other than that the HD4850 still makes better sense not only because of it's lower price but also stronger AA performance if you can ignore the heat issues.
It all depends on what you're looking for. If you want a card with a performance similar to the HD4850, runs cool and don't mind shelling out a little more, then yes this will do the job but definitely not at this price.
Instead if you want to save some cash and don't mind the higher temperatures then look no further, ATI's HD4850 is still the best at that price.
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