MaximumPC 2008 07

I

f you’re already gaming with a G92-based 8800 GTS, there’s very little reason to move

up to a G92-based 9800 GTX such as PNY’s XLR8. The architecture in both GPUs is near-

ly the same, with 128 stream processors, a 256-bit interface, and 512MB of GDDR3.

Slightly faster clock speeds yield only a modest bump in performance.

The most important diff erence between these two architectures is the fact that you

can build a rig with three 9800 GTX cards, thanks to the presence of three SLI edge con-

nectors on the top of the board (the 8800 GTS has only one, so it’s limited to two-way

SLI). The new card also consumes more power and requires two six-pin connections to

your PC’s power supply (the 8800 GTS requires only one).

The 9800 GTX also supports Nvidia’s HybridPower technology, which will be

of interest only to consumers who own a motherboard that also supports Hybrid-

Power (currently, that means a motherboard outfitted with an nForce 730a chip-

set). When running less graphics-intensive applications (surfing the web, using

productivity software, or watching a movie, for example), HybridPower will shut

down the videocard in the PCI Express slot and rely instead on the integrated

graphics built into the motherboard.

PNY bumped the 9800 GTX’s clock speeds just a wee bit beyond Nvidia’s

reference design: The core runs at 725MHz (from a stock 675MHz), the shaders at

1.813GHz (from a stock 1.688GHz), and the memory at 1.160GHz (from a stock

1.1GHz). These tweaks mark the extent of PNY’s customization, as the card features

a reference-design cooler. All 9800 GTX cards are equipped with two six-pin power

connectors and two SLI edge connectors; the 8800 GTS has one of each.

In our benchmark tests, PNY’s im-

plementation of the 9800 GTX proved

to be roughly 10 to 15 percent faster

than a stock 8800 GTS—a perfor-

mance delta that we don’t think

justifi es a price premium that

ranged from $50 to $75 at press

time. Adding a second 9800 GTX

to run in SLI mode resulted in

a 34-percent boost in Crysis

performance (at 1920x1200

resolution with 2x AA and all

other values set to high), but

even with SLI, the game remains just barely tolerable at those settings. And

that’s unfortunate, because we imagine most people won’t see how exquisite

this game can look because there just isn’t any hardware available today

that’s capable of delivering it.

So what if you’re moving up from an older GPU architecture? AMD still

doesn’t have anything worthwhile for the hardcore gamer, and frankly,

we’d still stick with the cheaper G92-based 8800 GTS. Aside from making

three-way SLI a possibility and supporting HybridPower, the 9800 GTX has

no signifi cant new features worth the extra dough. –MICHAEL BROWN

PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX

Move along, there’s nothing to see here

Nvidia seems to be reaching the point of

diminishing returns: The 9800 GTX is not

signifi cantly more powerful than the older—

and cheaper—G92-based 8800 GTS.

+ -

VERDICT

$300, http://www.pny.com

7

Supports three-way

SLI and HybridPower.

Immaterial perfor-

mance boost over

G92-based 8800 GTS.

BITTE

PNY XLR8 GEFORCE 9800 GTX

BITTER

Best scores are bolded. Cards tested with an EVGA 680i SLI motherboard, Intel 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPU, and 2GB of Corsair DDR RAM. Benchmarks performed on ViewSonic VP2330wb monitors.

VISTA BENCHMARKS

PNY 9800 Leadtek 8800

GTX (G92) GTS (G92)

3DMark06 Game 1 (fps) 31.2 27.6

3DMark06 Game 2 (fps) 24.8 21.5

Crysis (DX10) (fps) 31.9 30.0

Unreal Tournament 3 (fps) 70.7 70.4

http://www.maximumpc.com | JUL 08 | MAXIMUMPC | 77