HD 3870 X2 vs 9800 GX2

DominiKing · #1 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

The card has potential, and we can see it’s got the power in some applications. It just needs to be harnessed better. If you had been reading the reviews online and thought “Bugger this, I’m off to get a HD 3870 X2”, we would hold off, at least for a week or two.

As soon as word of a new driver comes out, we will be placing the card back on the test bench to hopefully get the gains that we expected.

At the moment the card doesn’t deserve to carry a new generation naming scheme, but with a little bit of hope seen from under Windows XP we could be alright. Now we just have to wait and see if we get a new driver in the next day or two.

After I saw this article I was a little let down. I'm expecting the GX2 to be a killer card but apparently it's not. Not in it's early stages at least. What do you guys think will end up happening to it?
NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GX2 - Early Test! :: TweakTown

Dukefrukem · #2 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 01:46 PM

that article is complete fail...

1. they mention that they dont have very good drivers for it
2. they mention that it outperforms the 3870 in 3dmark06
3. they mention that it outperforms the 3870 in HL2:E2
4. they mention these cards are a temp rehash of the 8800s until the new RV770 cards come in June

how is this card not impressive???

VincentVega · #3 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 02:22 PM

what will happen?

nVidia will not release a new flagship product that is slower than the last. Roughly equivalent, yes. But not slower. The 9800 is the same core (G92) as the 8800GT. Now don't tell me you consider that slow. Clock speeds may be reduced since it's a 2 gpu solution, but overall, especially at very high RES with AA on, it will smoke. I have no doubt of this

BuddhistSoldier · #4 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 02:30 PM

The article is fail indeed. Simply on the crappy drivers.

DominiKing · #5 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 02:30 PM

so if you buy one of these are you essentially buying two 8800GT's? For that, wouldn't you want something else?

K_Dog · #6 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 02:53 PM

Of course we will not really know untill the nda is expired and real info is out but based on the rumors and leaked data. the 9800gx2 and 9800gtx look preaty lame for a 8800 - 9800 number change all after to g80- g92 change and keeping the 8800 name.
The 9800 gtx (from leaked maybe wrong data)looks like a 8800gts(g92) slightly tweeked. the gx2 will be cool because you should be able to run dual gpu's without a sli motherboard.

in any case the next week will be interesting as real data starts showing up.

MundaneRaptor · #7 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 05:53 PM

Priceless...

K_Dog · #8 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 11:43 AM

@Mundane huh ?

firing squad has posted beanchmarks for the 9800gx2 and they are quite meh. getting beat out by the 8800gts(g92) sli in the game tests I looked at.

This is really looking bad for the 9800GTX for anyone thinking of upgrading from a 8800GTX but we will find out next week

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 Performance Preview

Dopefish · #9 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 12:14 PM

The GX2 cards have always performed slightly less than two cards in SLI. The benefit is that you can get near the same performance with only one card instead. It's good for people that don't have SLI motherboard or those that are stuck with 8x per slot in SLI rather than 16x per slot.

VincentVega · #10 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 12:18 PM

exactly. and also the fact you can run quad SLI with two cards. no need for some ultra expensive quad SLI board and a PSU with like 8 PCI-e connectors.

The downside is that the thing is rumored to suck down 250 watts. and I believe it. That's not small. anyone running two of those together will need at least a 1K watt unit.