Specifications

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Our sample was made by Point of View. It is identical to the reference design except for a sticker. Bundles will vary. Point of View will provide a DVI to VGA adapter and a PCI Express 6 pin to 2 Molex adapter, which is quite obsolete for such a card.

Outputs include two DVI-I ports and an HDMI port. Like the 9600 GT, the 9800 GX2 has an HDMI-in, located next to the additional power connectors for linking with the motherboard’s PCB or a sound card.

Main Cards Specifications
GPU HD 3870 X2 9800 GX2 8800 Ultra
GPU clock 825 MHz 600 MHz 612 MHz
Shaders clock 825 MHz 1500 MHz 1512 MHz
Memory Clock 900 MHz 1000 MHz 1080 MHz
Width of the memory bus 2x256 bits 2x256 bits 384 bits
Memory Type GDDR3 GDDR3 GDDR3
Amount of Memory 2 x 512 MB 2x512 MB 768 MB
Number of Pixels/Vertex Pipelines (160) (64) (32)
Number of Texturing Units 32 128 32
ROP 32 32 24
Throughput  1 TFlops 768 GFlops 387 GFlops
Memory Bandwidth 115.2 GB/s 128 GB/s 103.7 GB/s
Number of transistors 1334 millions 1010 millions 754 millions
Process 0.055µ 0.065µ 0.065µ
Die surface 2 x 196 mm² 2 x 324 mm² 484 mm²
Generation 2008 2008 2007
Shader Model supported 4.1 4.0 4.0

When it comes to specifications, we would like to see more memory (512 MB really usable compared to other cards) and more memory bus (256 bits, although we can multiply this by two). NVIDIA has the upper hand on most of the other specs. Memory bandwidth, but mostly texturing units weigh in favor of the chameleon (with a filtrate three times superior). AMD has better raw throughput, but we know its actual architecture is less efficient. The mammoth has also the upper hand when it comes to die surface, which means cheaper production costs.


Talkback
darthpoik 19/03/2008 01:32
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darthpoik

Doesn't inspire much. I might stay with my 8800 gtx and just overclock it.

dobby 19/03/2008 02:26
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dobby

some nice footage comparing the 3870X2 and the 9800GX2

i like the nvidia chip here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

two bit hit 19/03/2008 05:01
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two bit hit

Wow, Rick Rolling Dobby, nice and mature. The card looks great, I'm tempted to shell out for a good 24" monitor now.

kye3k1 19/03/2008 11:56
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kye3k1

I dont know whether I should blow all my money on this card or buy a 360

Tough choice

blazer666_uk 20/03/2008 02:45
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blazer666_uk

Ill keep my 8800GTX and wait a bit longer

bobwya 20/03/2008 01:58
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bobwya

I don't like the design of the 9800 GX2. Aircooling for it is a disaster.. How can you watercool this beast?? The performance is rubbish given the amount of room it takes up!!

I think most people were expecting the 9800GTX to be a 1Gb card with similar architecture to the 8800GTS but with a 512bit memory bus like AMD/ATI. A big disappointment about the memory architecture. Nvidia need a die shrink ASAP and a move to wider buses like ATI...

The problem of course is AMD/ATI not delivering in the processing power department with the 3870 (X2). Therefore there is no incentive for Nvidia to leap-frog a really powerful ATI GPU (like the X1900XTX situation).

Bob

Mugz 20/03/2008 04:50
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Mugz

It's cute. I was wondering when nVidia was going to do a DX10 dual-chip card.

*checks wallet*

*has wallet shot*

leexgx 25/03/2008 05:38
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leexgx

its realy 2x 8800gt cards in there not sure why thay called it an 9800 GX2 when it should realy be 8800 GX2 as its not useing the 9600 tech

1 9800 GTX card should be Close to this card perfoamce wise (seen what the 9600gt does and it only has 64 SP the 8800 gts has 128 SP)

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