Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB

Overclocking

Before we wrap up, there's one thing left to talk about and that's overclocking. Since we had four cards sent to us ahead of the launch, we felt we'd get a good idea of how we can expect the GeForce 9800 GTX to overclock. One card might be an exceptional overclocker, but getting four cards gives a bit more variability--especially since they're from four different partners.

So how did it overclock? Well, first of all, let's remember that the stock frequencies for the GeForce 9800 GTX are 675/1,688/2,200MHz on core, shader and memory... And here's how each of the four cards got on:

• BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GTX - 799/1,998/2,340MHz
  
• Point of View GeForce 9800 GTX - 730/1,825/2,268MHz
  
• Leadtek WinFast PX9800 GTX - 782/1,956/2,306MHz
  
• Zotac GeForce 9800 GTX - 731/1,828/2,230MHz

Yes, you read that right, we nearly hit a 2,000MHz shader clock on one of the four cards!

These results are pretty impressive and we've not seen shader clocks quite this high before. The memory clocks on three of the cards are also pretty promising too, considering the card still uses GDDR3 DRAM chips. The core clocks are a bit of a lottery, but even the poorer cards delivered greater than a 50MHz core speed increase, which could be the difference between playable and unplayable in some games. If you get a good card, you could be getting almost 125MHz using nothing more than the stock cooler.

Rounding up

If you were looking towards the GeForce 9800 GTX as the card that drives single GPU performance forwards again, you're going to be sorely disappointed with this card. And to some extent, we are disappointed because this is the cost of no competition - something we hope will change soon.

When I first heard about the GeForce 9800 GTX, it felt like a nothing release for gamers and that's pretty much what it has proved to be - if you've already got a GeForce 8800 GTX or 8800 GTS 512, there's no need to consider this card at the moment. With that said, there's nothing wrong with the card itself - performance is good in isolation and comparable to what's out there when you take into account competition.

Its relatively low power consumption is also a good thing to see and, while we're on the topic of power, the one true benefit to this card over a factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GTS 512 is HybridPower. The nForce 700a series boards will be the first to support the technology and sadly the release of these boards has already been delayed. Nvidia first talked about all of this technology back at CES and, frankly speaking, we've heard nothing but hot air about how great it is since then.

We're into the second quarter now and we still don't have motherboards supporting Hybrid SLI on the market so, instantly, the biggest benefit is basically null and void for the time being. And what's worse is the fact that Intel is still the platform of choice for many enthusiasts, and the technology won't be available to those users for quite some time.

The other point of concern for me is the promised PureVideo HD support on all G92 based graphics cards - we're still yet to see the GeForce 8800 GT and GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB obtain support for the new video technologies that we've been told they both support. The first Forceware 173-series driver was released with the 9600 GT back at the end of February and we still haven't seen one that officially supports the G92-based 8-series cards.

Final Thoughts...

In isolation, the GeForce 9800 GTX is a pretty good card - it does a lot of things right and performs well. However, it's not until you actually sit down and compare it to what's already on the market, that you realise that there's really nothing new here. In fact, you could argue that it's just a slightly overclocked GeForce 8800 GTS 512 with an extra six-pin power connector, much better overclocking and HybridPower support - we'd joked about calling it the 8800 GTS 512 SOE (slightly overclocked edition) because that's essentially what it is.

At around £210-£230 including VAT, depending on where your allegiance lies, the GeForce 9800 GTX is on the expensive side... especially when you can pick up a GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB card for as little as £165 (inc. VAT). What's more, you can pick up a factory-overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX for under £200. Why would you opt for the 9800 GTX right now?

If you've already got a GeForce 8800 GTX, you'd be better off spending your money on a second... and the same holds true for the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB - you'll get more of a performance increase from going down that route. And if you don't have any of these cards, both the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 and the 8800 GTX both offer better value for money over the 9800 GTX because the one useful feature is frankly useless at the moment.

It's the 1st of April today, and Nvidia has delivered what might be the ultimate irony. The 9800 GTX is a card targeted at gamers, but sadly it's on that front where this card falls down - it's just not an upgrade for anyone that would consider buying it.

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