XFX Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2 600M 1GB

XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 – Box and Bundle

Before we move onto testing the GeForce 9800 GX2, we should have a quick look over the bundle that comes with XFX's card.

The box uses the same artwork as the card – it's some crazy tripped out '9' covered in all kinds of wires and devices. It looks like something that belongs to the Machines race in The Matrix in my opinion.

On the back of the box, there is a list of the features that the card supports in logo form and all of the usual suspects are there – HDMI, Dual DVI, HDTV, RoHS Compliancy are all listed and there are more too.

XFX lists a blurb about power supply requirements on the bottom of the box as well – it states Nvidia's minimum requirements of a 580W (or higher) PSU with a minimum 12V current rating of 40A and also adds its own recommendations into the mix as well.

It recommends at least a 630W power supply for single card operation and 680W for SLI – that's a little different to Nvidia's recommendation. We contacted XFX to confirm this and the company said that it is aware of the problem and is fixing it (or has already fixed it) on retail boxes – the company's representatives said that if you're uncertain, you should follow Nvidia's 850W recommendation for Quad SLI.


The card is packed inside an anti-static bag and is surrounded by generous amount of foam, such that most of the box is actually taken up by foam. This should prevent your card from being damaged during shipping! The bundle comes complete with Company of Heroes, including a DX10 patch disc, and XFX said that it will offer Assassin's Creed when the game is released on the PC next month.

In terms of cables and connectors, there are two DVI-to-VGA converters, a single Molex to six-pin PCI-Express power adapter and a S/PDIF connector. This is an ample selection, but given that you can run three monitors concurrently, it would have been nice to see an HDMI-to-DVI converter included as well. This isn't a complaint, but it would have gone a long way to making the bundle a complete one.

There's also the usual driver CD and quick install guides included, while the bundle is rounded off with a door tag, which says "I'm Gaming, Do Not Disturb." I'm sure that this will be quite handy if you really want to catch up on some of the great games you missed out on in the run up to last Christmas, or alternatively you can use it during one of your night-long WoW sessions!

How we tested

As always, we did our best to deliver a clean set of benchmarks, with each test repeated three times and an average of those results is what we’re reporting here. In the rare case where performance was inconsistent, we continued repeating the test until we got three results that were consistent.

Nvidia Test System

• XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 600M 1GB - operating at 600/1,500/2,000MHz using Forceware 174.53 beta
  
• Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SLI - operating at 650/1,625/1,940MHz using Forceware 169.44 beta
  
• Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB - operating at 612/1,500/2,160MHz using Forceware 169.44 beta

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (operating at 3.00GHz – 9x333MHz); Asus Striker II Formula motherboard (nForce 780i SLI); 2x 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C5 (operating in dual channel at DDR2-800 5-5-5-12-1T); Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 200GB SATA hard drive; Enermax Galaxy DXX 1000W PSU; Windows Vista Ultimate x86-64; Nvidia nForce 9.46 WHQL.

ATI Test System

• ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB - operating at 825/1,800MHz using Catalyst 8.3 WHQL

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (operating at 3.00GHz – 9x333MHz); Asus Maximus Formula motherboard (Intel X38 Express); 2x 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C5 (operating in dual channel at DDR2-800 5-5-5-12-1T); Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 200GB SATA hard drive; Enermax Galaxy DXX 1000W PSU; Windows Vista Ultimate x86-64; Intel inf 8.3.0 WHQL.

Games Tested

We used the following versions of the games listed to evaluate the performance of these video cards:

• Crysis, version 1.2 (64-bit) with DirectX 10 and DirectX 9.0
  
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare version 1.5 with DirectX 9.0
  
• World in Conflict, version 1.007 with DirectX 10
  
• BioShock, version 1.1 with DirectX 10
  
• Supreme Commander, version 3280 with DirectX 9.0
  
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, version 1.2 with DirectX 9.0
  
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, version 1.4.0