Published in Reviews

MSI's overclocked 9800 GTX tested

by on09 April 2008

Index


Image

Review: Core running at 720MHz

 

Geforce 9800 GTX is the latest card on the market, and it's the third one from Nvidia´s 9th generation. Only a couple of days old, this card is also available as an overclocked version.

As far as we know, MSI is one of the first partners that dared to overclock them, but the others also have aces up their sleeves.


Geforce T2D512 N9800 GTX card runs at 720MHz, compared to the reference speed of 675MHz. The memory was left unchanged at reference 1100MHz, whereas the Shaders run at 1750MHz.

Image

Geforce 9800 GTX is based on G92 GPU, a chip that we’ve already seen in action in numerous iterations, and it’s the main reason for 8800 GT or GTS cards' great success. Specification-wise, 8800 GTS resembles GTX, but GTX is faster. Furthermore, it’s the speed that underwent most changes in the latest G92 GPUs. Although MSI dared to overclock the cores to high speeds, 720MHz isn’t the maximum that this card can churn out.

If you take a look at reference 8800 GTS results, you’ll see that GTX isn’t much faster than 8800 GTS, but its overclocking potential is far beyond 8800 GTS capabilities. 800MHz isn’t a problem for 9800 GTX, but MSI chose not to go higher with their N9800 GTX cards, most probably in order to make sure that your card runs for a long time.

MSI T2D512 N9800 GTX is Tri-SLI and Hybrid Power ready, and although it will do well in multi-media – gaming is its area of expertise.

Image

MSI kept the reference design, and the only thing different about this card is MSI stickers and plastic caps on DVI outs.

The cooler is dual slot, and it looks stylish just like it should because it hides the entire PCB. However, that results in slightly higher temperatures and we could easily hear the fan run in 3D apps. We can’t say that it’s too loud, but it would’ve been better if the temperatures exceeded 75°C and the card ran quieter.

For your HDMI+HDCP+Audio MSI includes an HDMI adapter in the box. In order to have HDMI with audio, you’ll have to do an already common routine where you connect your motherboard/soundcard’s SPDIF out to your graphics card, using a cable also supplied in the box. Apart from the DVI outs, you also have a 7-pin analog video-out port that enables S-Video plus composite and component (YPrPb) through an optional dongle.

Image

Suggested price is between US$299-349, whereas Europeans will have to pay somewhere around €250. The card is 10.5’’ long, similar to 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra or 9800 GX2 cards.

Image


The PCB and the cooler on 9800 GTX are quite different from those on 8800 GTS cards, but the core is quite similar specification-wise.

Image

Eight memory chips surround the core and they’re well cooled, since they touch the cooler’s aluminum base. The prints in the white paste suggest that the VRM is also taken care of. Hot air is pushed out through the free bracket of this dual slot cooler.

The card packs 512MB of GDDR3 memory with 256bit memory interface. The memory in use is the fastest GDDR3 around (0.8 ns, 1200MHz – 2400MHz effectively) and that’s Samsung’s K4J52324QE-BJ08. However, on this card it runs at 1100MHz, and that led us to think that there’s a lot of overclocking potential.

Image

The new 9800 GTX is powered by two 6-pin PCIe connectors (identical to Ultra or the old 8800 GTX), placed on the upper side of the card. Its maximum consumption should be 156W, whereas Ultra and 8800 GTX draw 175W and 145.5W, respectively.

9800 GTX has two SLI connectors that you might need in your Tri-SLI setup. The card also supports Hybrid SLI technology and its HybridPower and Geforce Boost features. We already wrote about these, so we know that Geforce Boost is a feature aimed at low-end graphics cards whereas HybridPower will work just fine with 9800GTX.

HybridPower will let your card power down when not needed for demanding 3D apps. We’ve grown quite fond of it since we’ve seen it in action.

Image

Nvidia chipset’s integrated graphics will handle 2D, less demanding 3D and HD video content viewing until the need for your discrete GPU arises. This will save you precious digits on your power bill, without sacrificing your rig’s everyday performance.

MSI N9800 GTX card comes in MSI’s standard packaging with standard features, such as the driver CD and a quick-start manual.

Image

Image


 

Testbed:

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Supplied by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Supplied by Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Supplied by OCZ)
        during testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Supplied by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Supplied by Artic Cooling)

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


Futuremarks

Image

The card scored 12562 in 3DMark06, and it’s the best single GPU card result so far. It beat Gainward’s 9800 GTX (that we reviewed yesterday) running at reference speeds by 181 marks or 1.5%. MSI N9800 GTX’s result is slightly better than the one scored by 8800 Ultra, but the card is slower than Radeon HD 3870 X2 by 7%. Still, gaming should paint the picture better and we should see some serious competition.


Overclocking

MSI N9800 GTX runs at stock 720MHz, but we managed to push it up to 800MHz. The card ran stable and it seems that some extra effort might yield even better overclocking results. What struck us as odd is that we didn’t manage to overclock the memory by more than 30MHz. That’s nowhere near this memory’s potential and we think that the culprit for this is old Bios, because we received one of the first cards.



Gaming

Image

MSI N9800 GTX takes Radeon HD 3870 X2 head on, and it does quite well. It’s only at highest resolutions that it loses by 3.5%. At resolutions lower than 1920x1440, HD 3870 X2 loses to N9800 GTX, which is a great result since HD 3870 X2 costs some €50 more.

Image

MSI did well in World in Conflict, but still loses to Radeon HD 3870 X2 by up to 8%. Reference 9800 GTX card is slower, so HD 3870 X2 beats it by up to 15%. It seems that similarity to 8800 GTS has taken its toll and the faster memory found on the non-overclocked 9800 GTX didn’t make a difference. MSI overclocked the core and it resulted in a score that’s up to 7% better than Gainward 9800 GTX’s.

Certain games need more than just a GPU overclock, and significantly benefit from memory speed and bandwidth increase.

Image

In Crysis, MSI N9800 GTX beats Gainward 9800 GTX, but only by a slight margin (by up to 3.6%). It seems like overclocking the core without additional memory bandwidth doesn’t play a major role in Crysis.

Image

Image

The last two games crave memory bandwidth, so the overclocked MSI N9800 GTX’s core can’t handle the demanding graphics algorithms.

Conclusion

MSI is one of the first companies with an overclocked 9800 GTX card and our hat is off to them. However, core overclock is not accompanied by adequate memory support that was left at reference speeds. The core runs at 720MHz, Shader processors at 1750MHz and the memory at 1100MHz.

T2D512 N9800 GTX is a card that will most definitely please gamers. It outperforms 8800 GTS (G92), and you can upgrade it to a Tri-SLI setup, which means that no matter what frame-rate you’re aiming at – this card will let you achieve it. This card’s potential is in overclocking and we managed to push it up to 800MHz. Nvidia’s G92 GPU is great for multi-media, too, and the card supports HDMI with HDCP through an adapter.

Priced at €260 it’s a great deal, but bear in mind that it's just slightly faster than 8800GTS card. We recommend it to anyone who wants to play all the current games, and might want to upgrade their system with one or two additional cards in the future. Still, once again - the price makes it a great deal.

Last modified on 09 April 2008
Rate this item
(0 votes)