HEXUS.bang4buck, conclusions and awards
Here's the HEXUS.bang4buck graph at 1,920x1,200. The graph divides the normalised score by the price.
The ZOTAC GeForce 9800 GX2 scores well enough in the HEXUS.bang4buck analysis, and that's pleasantly surprising given its estimated £400 price-tag.
Performance is such that NVIDIA partners' pricing can be justified at that level; there is nothing else to touch it with respect to single-card performance.
What the graph also shows is that one will receive more-than linear increases in normalised performance when spending the extra £130 over and above a Radeon HD 3870 X2's.
Conclusions
The GeForce 9800 GX2 1,024MiB graphics card is absolutely, undeniably
the fastest single-card solution available today, if our limited games'
selection is, as we believe, a decent indicator of gaming performance
at large.
It doesn't just squeak by the post, barely eclipsing the GeForce 8800
Ultra and ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 - it batters them into submission in
each and every benchmark. Indeed, the other SKUs do well to get to
two-thirds of the GeForce 9800 GX2's performance.
NVIDIA will shortly release a further driver that optimises two-card
GX2 performance, for Quad-SLI rendering, to provide the fastest
graphics sub-system around.
Now, all this speed has been harnessed by shoehorning what amounts to
two GeForce 8800 GTS 512 cards into a single package that's pre-SLI'd,
but that also means it's not going to be cheap.
The GeForce 9800 GX2 arrives at
roughly the same price-point as the GeForce 8800 Ultra – rendering the Ultra, for all intents and purposes,
useless.Tentatively priced at £399, the GeForce 9800 GX2 arrives at
roughly the same price-point as the incumbent, but hard-to-find,
GeForce 8800 Ultra - rendering it, for all intents and purposes,
useless.
Performance is the most important criterion at this portion of the
pricing spectrum, really, and the GeForce 9800 GX2 delivers it in
SLI-encrusted spades, as our benchmarks in the full review show.
The card is aimed at high-resolution, high-image-quality gaming and
users will need 24in WUXGA (1,920x1,200px) displays to get the most out
of it.
We cannot see the performance crown slipping from NVIDIA's shoulders
until ATI unveils its next iteration of GPUs and then runs them in a
dual-GPU configuration.
For most readers, though, there's no new technology here, and it's just
a matter of doubling-up on what NVIDIA already has, pricing it high,
and basking in the refulgent glory of having the fastest card around.
£399 is a lot of money
Trouble is, £399 is a lot of money to spend on a single
graphics card, no matter how fast it is. If you can justify the outlay,
there is nothing - and we mean nothing - that touches it in single-card
performance. Add a second card and, pocket allowing, there seems little
point in looking at a three-way SLI or two-board 3870 X2 setup for
ultimate performance.
ZOTAC's card is based entirely on the reference design and, as such,
everything written above applies to it too. We really like the fact
that the company now offers a five-year warranty on its range, and
should it be priced favourably compared to other default-clocked
models, it's certainly one to put on the short-list.
Bottom line: the fastest (desktop) single-card graphics solution ever
released. Its appeal is to a niche market, but if you happen to be in
that market, look no further. Everyone else, buy a GeForce 8800 GT 512
for £140 or a Radeon HD 3870 for £129 and spend
the rest on a holiday.
HEXUS Awards
ZOTAC GeForce 9800 GX2 1,024MiB
HEXUS Where2Buy
TBC.HEXUS Right2Reply
HEXUS invites manufacturers to comment on our review's findings. If any of ZOTAC or NVIDIA's representatives wish to do so, their HEXUS Right2Reply will be printed here, verbatim.HEXUS related reading
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: ATI
Radeon HD 3870 X2
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: MSI
vs. ZOTAC: shootout at the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Corral
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: Inno3D
iChiLL GeForce 8800 GT Accelero X1
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: AMD
Radeon HD 3870
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: AMD
Radeon HD 2900 XT
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: ASUS
vs ASUS: GeForce 8800 Ultra vs Radeon HD 2900 XT
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: Sapphire
X1950 Pro Dual 1GiB
HEXUS.net - HEXUS.reviews
:: NVIDIA
GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MiB
Read the full-length review here.
