Published in Reviews

Gainward's 9800GX2 shows what it's made of

by on18 March 2008

Index



Testbed

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Ustupio EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Ustupio Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Ustupio OCZ)
        na testu CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black ( Ustupio OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Ustupio Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Ustupio Artic Cooling)

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM


Futuremark tests

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In 3Dmarku03 the Radeon 3870 X2 is slightly faster, but in 05 and 06 the advantage is on Nvidia's side. In this case the 3Dmarks don't do the card justice, as in actual games the Geforce GX2 is much faster than the twin-headed ATI.

Games

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Without FSAA and Aniso, Gainward's 9800 GX2 is around 12 percent faster than the Radeon 3870 X2. However, as soon as you turn on FSAA and Aniso, the Radeon falls back by 17 percent. Over 100 FPS at 1920x1440 with 4X FSAA and 8X Aniso is an impressive score.

 

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At 1280x1024 with eye candy the Gainward 9800 GX2 is about 22 percent faster than the Radeon 3870 X2. At 1600x1200 with 4X FSAA and 8X Aniso the GX2 is 47.5% faster. This is a huge difference. Even at 1920x1440 with 4X FSAA and 8X Aniso Nvidia is around 35 percent faster.

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Ah, Crysis. Even with the mighty Geforce 9800 GX2 it barely goes over 50 FPS, without FSAA and Anisotropic filtering. Still, the difference compared to Radeon 3870 X2 at 1280x1024 4X FSAA, 8X Aniso is a huge 83 percent. At 1600x1200, 4X FSAA, 8X Aniso it increases to almost 86 percent. In plain FPS, Gainward gets us a playable 28.8 FPS, while the 3870 X2 manages just 15.5 FPS.

Obviously, you will need two GX2 cards to enjoy Crysis at 1920x1200 or higher.

 

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World in Conflict under XP definitely loves the Radeon 3870 X2, at least at lower resolutions and settings. Only at 1920x1440 with 4xFSAA and 8X Aniso the Geforce 9800 GX2 manages to outperform the Radeon and score 26.6 percent more.

 

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In Half Life 2 ATI scores better at 1280 with effects and 1600 without eye candy. Even the 8800 Ultra manages to outperform the Geforce 9800 GX2 on the first two resolutions, but at higher ones the dual GPU 9800 GX2 shows its teeth.

At 1600x1200 with 4x FSAA and 8x Aniso the Geforce 9800 GX2 is almost 18 percent faster, while at 1920x1440 with 4x FSAA and 8x Aniso it scores 41 percent more.

Conclusion

Even at reference clocks the Gainward 9800 GX2 manages to drastically outperform Radeon 3870 X2 cards.

It needs higher resolutions to show what it's capable off, but then again, you won't spend €550 to play in 1024x768. This card is at home at high resolutions and high settings and in these circumstances it leaves the Radeon 3870 X2 behind in a cloud of dust.

The 8800 GTX and Ultra can enjoy their retirement days knowing that the GX2 offspring is more than capable of taking care of family business. It is much faster than its predecessors and even at these prices it's a good investment if you've got a screen capable of handling high resolutions.

It's much faster than the Radeon 3870 X2, but at the same time it is much faster in many scenarios. If you want the fastest card on the planet, we can easily recommend it. Only the overclocked 9800 GX2 cards will be faster.

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Last modified on 19 March 2008
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