2 8800GTS not GT

zombieistired

@katorok: As an owner of two overclocked 8800gts in SLI mode, I can say the most my system will demand from the power supply is roughly 475 watts.

Crysis scales very well on my setup, albeit it does choke at certain points. It's much like Oblivion--outdoor levels strain the hardware, interior portions speed on through. The outdoor levels run about 25-40 fps, the cave level (and other interior segments) can reach 70 fps.

schwarzsturm

In other news, that is one sexy card. Too bad I'm a hand me down guy, I will be waiting awhile for this one.

ThatsMrOffDutyNinja

@sisedi: lols.................................(pause 1, 2, 3)...................................NOT

ThatsMrOffDutyNinja

@Scipher: Amen.

Allen750

@Bon5ai: It's obvious why this sort of hardware crap is posted on this blog - the primary use is for playing games.

I would not buy this card. It's big, slow, expensive, and outdated the moment it was announced 6 months ago.

Scipher

@cheesecake000:
But that's a lie! :(!

Anyway, seems to pricey. It's not that of a boost in performance for that price.

Jomi294

No one has mentioned but these guys are 5 Pounds each. 2 of these could turn your case into dual purpose workout machine.

Patient

If I can't run the intarwebs, then that video card is the sucketh.

Losbullitt

@daschupa: The framerate drops are probably driver issues.

Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!

@mva5580: Sorry.

Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!

This card mainly replaces the 8800 gtx Ultra and this time, it's worth the extra money. The Ultra was a joke. The benchmarks are strange though, it seems that it rocks in high res, but when you apply some filters it tanks even worse than the old cards.

daschupa

pass...as others have said, I too am still happy with my 8800GTS 640's.

But...that card is pretty sexy if you've got the money to throw at it. You know, like an attractive prostitute.

JerrD74: hates the media

if you guys want more information you should read this review:
[www.guru3d.com]
or other similar reviews. The conclusion at the end is very clarifying.

Waka in Japan

@kNZA: It takes 580watts, still less than a SLI setup of 9600s.. But still, the more expensive part would be motherboards supporting SLI.. Besides I never recommended the 9800GX2, I'm just telling people to watch out about SLI.. Though I do admit I think I may have came on a bit strong, arrogant, whatever you wanna call it..

Katorok

@Katorok:

This card is SLI.

It only uses one slot, granted, but it has all the driver problems and all the power wastage of an SLI setup because it it is two cards that attach to one slot.

It still requires an SLI driver.

kNZA

I feel like everything's gone dual these days. Dual core cpu's & gpus, dual channel ram, dual striped RAID... Is it just me, or are performance PC's just two normal PC's tied together?

DuctTape

@splines: Why would you even type that first sentence when I obviously share your opinion?

And if "hardly anyone" bought these things, they wouldn't be produced. They obviously sell enough for this trend to continue. And I agree with you that the devs usually don't make games that require this kind of power. So that begs the question why do these things continue to be produced in this fashion? NVIDIA and ATI may think they're encouraging growth and technological advancement with these cards but at the same time they're crippling the foundation upon which this tech is based. GAMES.

NVIDIA should stop whoring the "Fastest on the Planet" and start educating their consumers on the fact that you don't need a $600 video card to enjoy PC gaming.

It's like someone who owns a PC either has a $400+ video card, or they have integrated graphics. How many people TRULY understand what the middle ground has to offer, and that it's more than suitable?

The lack of education when it comes to PC gaming is astounding.

mva5580

@durrem: Do not mess with my kittens. You can't possibly comprehend the anger that builds within them when they encounter Venus' never ending rains.
They can't be stopped. They won't be stopped.
@ErskinPig, SmilingPolitely: Haha, genius.

Erwin

@shikaningen: SLI still will require a more powerful, expensive PSU.. SLI will still take two PCI-E 16x slots, which will require a pretty expensive motherboard that supports PCI-E 16x in SLI (some can only support 8x in SLI). SLI isn't always supported well by games, and actual applications either.. I never said buy a 9800GX2, I'm just not a fan of SLI. A better PSU and motherboard combination will run you $200+ more than a single card set-up..

Katorok

@Scazza: Wouldn't doubt it. Those clock speeds aren't amazing. I'd guess there's certain things it can't handle as well as the 8800GT or GTS, or won't handle as well until a few driver updates squeeze more out of it at least. Or perhaps they'll end up releasing the 9800GX3 or GXX or whatever with factory-OC'ed settings.

Karlott

@mva5580: So, because Nvidia releases an ultra-expensive supercard, that means the 8800GT which is fine for 99% of everything ever is now useless?

Hardly anyone buys these things, and by and large developers do not make games that require them.

splines

I bought an 8800GTX not long ago for $550 and then the GT came out, less than half the price and almost as powerful, and a killer value in an SLI setup. I think I'll wait and see what they have up their sleeve next.

unmarkedone

@Fyren: yes. yes i did.

Crawl to China

I'm glad Nvidia has incorporated technology to turn off the GPU when not running games, to conserve power.

slickchris7777

@Katorok: Thanks for the straw-man fallacy and the condescension. I know that SLI doesn't double performance.

I have seen and compared benchmarks for the various graphics card setups. Two 9600's in SLI provides the best value by far, at only $360 (total. $180 for each card). The 9800GX2 is only marginally superior in performance to two 9600's, but has a significantly higher price.

By the way, you are a douche. Maybe you could consider keeping your trap closed more often.

shikaningen

i got an 8800gtx by bfg.

cherrybomb

@TemplaerDude: With current games and OS the ATI cards in CROSSFIRE X (4gb in video ram¡¡¡) it wasnt a great improvement over a starndar 2 SLI or CROSSFIRE interface...

@ph15h: Nvidia said that SLI IGP will be available next year, but they are way to expensive...

TOCATL

@Fyren: damnit beat me too it.

Troyd

Something that huge won't come to mobile... =/ My laptop will be missing you 9800GX2

ph15h

"saving power and therefore the environment" YES! >_>;

Troyd

"Not all applications require a high end... GeForce GPU can run these applications perfectly while saving power and therefore the ENVIRONMENT".

Did anyone else smirk?

Fyren

wa hoshii!

GrimaceXL

Must...buy...

ShirtGuyDom

@mva5580: Its a matter of the cosumer itself, ive been playing gh3 in my pc and its looks as good as the 360, and im using an old single core processor and a very cheap GPU, of course im playing at 800x600 but its playable, i find best to buy middle range GPUs that dont need a expensive special power source, if you play at 800x600 or 1024x768 it will look great and you dont invest loads of cash...

TOCATL

Oh and this supports Quad SLI apparently.

*droools*

TemplaerDude

Take that PS3 and 360, this i real powa¡¡¡ , XD just kidding

TOCATL

@shikaningen: 9600s in SLI is never a good idea, it's a waste of money.. Keep in mind sli does not mean, "zomg double the powah".. It means a 10-30% increase in performance, and that's for games/applications that ACTUALLY support SLI well enough.. SLI also consumes more energy than one single card... I'm not exactly saying go out and buy a 9800 right now, I myself don't plan to upgrade till games actually slow down for me, but look at both sides.. If you're looking to SLI 8800's, etc.. You will probably need a more powerful, expensive PSU, two open PCI-E 16x slots.. And, games that can take advantage of SLI.. My recommendation for building a computer right now is get one 8800, because that is all you will really need..

Katorok

@drweazel:

$600. $200 more than 2 8800GT's (which will perform around the same as the 9800GX2).

shiwasu

I really wish the rich PC Gamers would stop forking over RIDICULOUS amounts of money for video cards so all of this crap could get under control.

You do not, I repeat DO NOT need to spend over $200 for a video card. EVER. With the current landscape of video cards, any card in that price range will get you acceptable frame rates/resolutions/effects for any game on the market. And YES, I'm including Crysis in that. 1920 x 1200 @ 60fps w/ 4x AA/8x AF? No. But the damn game will run, and it'll do a serviceable job.

The ridiculous landscape of hardware in the PC industry is hurting it almost as much as piracy. And all you need to do is go online and read the ENDLESS amounts of people who believe you need to spend over 2 grand to be able to play games on the PC. It's way, way out of hand and something needs to change.

mva5580

@drweazel:
The 9800 GX2 is $600.
The 8800 GT is $200.
The 9800 GX2 has the same performance as 2 x 8800 GTs ($400).
Thus, Luke is saying that the 9800 GX2 is an utter waste of $200.

;)

SmilingPolitely

@SimpleLife: Why would you think that? That would just increase the price. No one's looking at the thing the majority of the time, anyways. It's sitting inside your computer ideally. Besides, I find it to be rather attractive (at least it's more attractive that most other graphics cards).

shikaningen

@Delano_J: No, you should get two 9600's in SLI. Most bang for your buck. Barely beaten out by the 9800GX2, but hundreds of dollars cheaper.

If I am not mistaken, the 9800GX2 is equivalent to two 8800GTS's with 512mb in SLI, these selling for approximately $300. Two 8800GT's with 512MBs have a slightly attenuated performance compared to either of the two prenominate setups. The price difference, however, is not commensurate to the performance difference; you'd have to be colossally stupid to buy either the 9800GX2 or 2 GTS's over 2 GT's.

shikaningen

It's really just like you duct taped 3000 gamecube gpus together and shrunk them down.

DimensionWarped

So, is this what people should be spending the whole of their tax cuts on?

Neo_Deus

@Ejvid04: Oh please, I built my computer in May of 2007 for $1154.. It still maxes out every single game I throw at it to this day, except Crysis.. But, Crysis doesn't count.. Sure, you can upgrade every month to be on top, but you don't have to. Contrary to popular belief, you still can max games without the newest stuff for a decent amount of time..

In terms of defending buying the 9800, there are some good reasons. One, it has HDMI ports (shouldn't be a big reason), takes up one PCI-E 16x slot, and less consumption of power.. 2 8800GTs sli would probably need a 800watt PSU, which may cost a decent amount more than a 500-600watt required for a 9800...

Katorok

Man, $600 for a graphics card. I don't understand how people are willing to fork that over. Bioshock and other games will run on a 7600Gt, for under $100. And while there's a difference in HD, it's not significant enough in my mind to warrant a purchase like that.

Polywhirl

you want seven sides?

Losbullitt

@Fyren: Real men tap right into the power grid!

chronubis

You'd think that something which can calculate millions of polygons could be made to look a little more attractive than a six sided rectangular block.

SimpleLife

Wait am I reading this wrong? It's the fastest card and only 200 dollars??

drweazel

Proceed to have a FBI agent knocking on your door asking why your electric bill just skyrocketed.

Pretty beastly.

Fyren

Does it really matter? You get what you pay for.. and it is only another 2 months before it will get outdated... not to mention.. WAIT FOR THE BENCHMARKS FOR THE REAL FACTS!

Ejvid04

BLING BLING!

The 9950 wil ownz everything! Equipped with a built-in Cell C/GPU, this thing will run and play WoW for you!

Losbullitt

So what happens if you dont run it in a PCI Express 2.0 slot? You can probably still use it but will its performance be effected?

JustinS

There is always something to be said for one package, but is it worth $200?

For some people, it may be.

Callidux

@B33: Maybe if you have 2 of them setup w/SLI.

Spartan1308

Actually its two underclocked 8800GTS's slapped together. Totally not worth it.

ConfuciusMax

YEAH BUT WILL IT PLAY CRYSIS!?!?!? BLAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA IM SOO ORIGINAL AND FUNNYZORZ!

sisedi

@Erwin: War Kittens!?! O_o

durrem

@MrSoursop: Depends on the game.

chronubis

i thought 1 fast card will always be faster than 2 half as fast cards in SLI/ati crossfire. and the early benchmarks were gimped by using drivers meant for older cards, as all the reviews stated.

MrSoursop

Read the review on Hard OCP, no idea why hardware crap gets posted on this blog.

Bon5ai

Probably less power hungry & runs cooler than two 8800s though. There is something to be said for that.

ErskinPig

Well, most games will be happy with a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT OC...

Voteforme2020

Hey Kotaku team! X-reference this with the post on gizmodo! The Giz team stated something to the effect of "not any better than a dual 8800 setup".

00000000

I'm happy with my 8800 GTS 512's.

chronubis

From the reviews I have seen, my 8800GTS 512's in SLI still have it beat by a smidge.

homernoy

Orly.

KirbySS

lol. Dont get why anyone would buy one of these over SLIing 2 8800s. I have 2 Palit 8800 1 gigs, they run beautifully for less than this thing costs and twice the video ram, grated the ram doesnt do too much, still.
(won the cards, didnt buy em >.> jsut before people ask...)

Sine

@ErskinPig: ...it's a space station.

SmilingPolitely

Didn't early benchmarks show it to be all over the board vs other cards? [www.tweaktown.com]

Scazza

Sexy

okenny :)

That's no card...

ErskinPig

Just on the planet?
Damn. Those Venusians just don't know when to quit, do they? That's it.
Prepare my jet. And don't forget the games and kittens this time.

Erwin

@Delano_J: But if you buy two 9800 GX2s it'd be twice as fast as two 8800GTs!

cheesecake000

I'll take 8! Who is going to SLI 2 of these now?

Hand_O_Death

since i paid 200 dollars for 1 8800gt last month all i can say now is that it will be fun to wait this 9800gx2 out until the end of the year when i will be able to buy it. i bet it will go nice with the diy lcd projector im going to make.

Crazy_Buffet_Happens

Bet it still can't handle Crysis at it's full potential...

B33

So I ould just buy two 8800GT cards?

Delano_J

Wait, this beast is SLI? That means it's more like a $1200 price tag...

excaleranth

Kind of lame that it only supports the 2 video out on the card. Plenty of real estate to advertise it to gamers who want quad monitors!

Justcrim

Didn't Nvidia say they wanted to start making these types of cards very cheap to help people create better machines? What the hell happened to that? 600 dollars!? I mean it's normal for that type of power, but I'm pretty sure they said they were gona make it cheaper.

Athest

@B33: Hahah, i wouldn't be surprised...

JohnnytheFuture

@Gwydeon: The 6 month product cycle was to alternate minor and major revs every other 6 months. The 8000 series was the last major rev, this is the next minor rev (die shrink). It's not that they've hit a glass wall, it's that this is exactly what we'd expect, a minor rev.

guspaz

I was pretty sure the 9800GX2 consisted of two 8800GTS-512 (G92) chips & boards.

Candlejack

@mva5580: Nvidia shattered that perception with the 8800gt, and I'm willing to bet that it was their best selling card last year, despite coming out in October. For sub $300, you got a card that performed at the $400-500 range. No other "GT" card has done that in the past, for as cheap.

Now the card can be had for as little as $160 after rebates, and basically perform as well as the $260 GTS, and $350 GTX, assuming you aren't using crazy resolutions like 1900x1200 and want +8x AF (Heck, I do that anyway with most games aside from Crysis, as my monitor is native 1900x1080).

The 9600GT is out there for people at $165 or less with rebate, and will rip up any game they play. The 9800GT still has yet to be officially announced, but I'm willing to bet it will follow the trend. The GTX, and GX2 will be the expensive toys for the folks with extra money, just as the 6,7 and 8 series. The different in the 8 series, is that the mid-range cards are actually very good, for mid-range prices, opposed to there being a huge gap, for above mid prices.

jynxycat

The 9800GX2 is equivilant to two 8800*GTS* cards, not GT.

Which still run about $260 or more.

jynxycat

@sisedi: lol - I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought the same thing on a previous comment.

@ThatsMrOffDutyNinja: Thanks for that early 90's flashback of extreme hilarity.

amazinglarry

Normally, a single fast card is worth more due to avoidance of SLI scaling issues, and the possibility of putting a second in via SLI at a later time.

However, the 9800 GX2 is itself an SLI setup, as it is really two graphics cards in one package. This means that there are negligible benefits to putting two of them (Quad SLI) in a system, as SLI doesn't scale nearly as well above two cards.

This is only a minor revision over the 8800 anyhow. We'll have to wait for the next generation (another 6 months, probably) before we can get a new card that really screams.

guspaz

Calling that a graphics "card" is a stretch. We new a new term, something like "graphics box".

greyhoundbus

@STHD: 3SLI only works with high-end cards, so GTs are out of question.

And it's 2 x 8800GTS, which are $300 each (makes sense, doesn't it?). PLease check the facts, Luke.

If anyone is really wondering, 9800GX2 is NVidia's answer to ATI's 3870X2, which is kinda the same type of beast. It's got more to do with marketing than actual product sales.

MaxS

It's kind of obvious, they've run into some glass wall on their card architecture or technology so this is coming out to meet their old "New card every 6 months" bit.

Gwydeon

Didn't Nvidia partner with Ageia? Where is the Video card with the added Physx processer that we were promised?

fawrh

Go 3 way SLI
Buy 3 GTs
For the same price & better performance:P

STHD

Yes, but will it blend?

sansname

[www.tweaktown.com]
Still only gets 60 FPS at medium setting on 1280x1024 with Crysis. Damn, that game is almost comical.

uranutan