Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB

Point of View GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB

Manufacturer: Point of View
Warranty: Three years (parts and labour) in Europe
UK Pricing: £218.00 (inc. VAT)
US Pricing: N/A


It’s been a while since we’ve had a Point of View graphics card in our labs, but the company is still working hard to break into the UK market like so many other Nvidia board partners. It’s predominantly a European brand that also in the process of expanding its presence across the world – we’re told that the company’s products aren’t available in North America “yet”, which suggests that they might be available at some point in the future.

The card is packed inside a standard anti-static bag and then is secured in the box with folded cardboard, while the accessories included in the box fit underneath. It’s not an optimal solution—we’d much prefer to see foam packaging—but it’s a happy medium between inadequate and excessive, while at the same time it manages to keep costs reasonable for Point of View.


The bundle is fairly standard although, like the one that comes with BFG Tech’s card, there are some omissions. Point of View has included the DVI-to-HDMI converter, but strangely has decided not to include an S/PDIF cable, meaning that you cannot carry audio over the DVI port unless you have a spare S/PDIF cable.

Of course, you could purchase a cable separately, but it’s something that should really be included. We spoke to Point of View about this, and the company’s representative said that the cable should be included in the retail boxes (it has been on the company’s GeForce 9600 GT and GeForce 9800 GX2 cards) – it’s a sample-specific problem apparently.

Along with the DVI-to-HDMI converter, there is a single DVI-to-VGA converter, a six-pin PCI-Express power adapter, a driver CD and a quick install guide inside the box. In addition, Point of View has teamed up with THQ to include a full retail copy of Frontlines: Fuel of War (not pictured)—a game that we thought was pretty good in some respects, but flawed in others—which is not an essential addition, but it rounds off the bundle fairly nicely. You could argue for and against the inclusion of only one DVI-to-VGA converter, but it’s becoming less and less of an issue these days given the prominence of digital flatscreen displays.

Warranty

Point Of View offers a three-year parts and labour warranty with all of its video cards - this is a year longer than most NVIDIA board partners offer. It's a standard procedure where you'll send the card back to the retailer during the first year and then liaise directly with Point Of View support for the remaining two years of the warranty term.