Rage3D nVIDIA 9800 GTX and SLI / 3-Way SLI Performance Preview Rage3D nVIDIA 9800 GTX and SLI / 3-Way SLI Performance Preview nVidia 9800 GTX |
Today Nvidia unveals its newest single GPU high end video card sporting the G92 core: the GeForce 9800 GTX. In addition to higher clocks, the 9800 GTX joins the 9800 GX2 in supporting several features that separate it from its the 8800 GT and 8800 GTS brothers, including Hybrid Power and Tri SLI. The GeForce 9800 GTX comes with an attractive MSRP of $299 to $349. Join Rage3D as we examine Nvidia's new offering as we discover how well the 9800 GTX positions itself as a new contender in the price/performance arena.
The 9800 GTX sports a sleek new black shroud which covers the entire top of the card, protecting the capacitors and other segments of the card. The black covering isn't for aesthetics alone, creating a wind tunnel as the fan pushes air out to the back of the case. Two gold SLI fingers sit at the edge of the PCB, flaunting the card's 3-Way SLI capability. The length of the board remains identical to that of an 8800 GTX, and sports the same dual 6-pin power connectors.
 nVidia 9800 GTX Shroud |  nVidia 9800 GTX Exposed |
With a single 9800 GTX installed, Nvidia recommends a 480 Watt PSU, for SLI operation a 750 Watt PSU, and for 3-Way SLI a 1000 Watt PSU is recommended. These recommendations are somewhat conservative, but Nvidia tends to make these estimates based on worse case scenerios along with the simple fact that all power supplies are not created equal. Remember that these are only guideline, and Nvidia keeps an current SLI compatible PSU list at SLIZONE.
Okay, we see the new shroud and are familiar with the G92 core, so how hot
do these cards run? To answer this question, we tested the hardware in a
3-Way SLI configuration with an app well known for its ability to increase GPU temperatures.
 nVidia 9800 GTX 3-Way SLI Temps |
No additional cooling or case modifications were used for this testing because, frankly, we did not feel they were needed for operating in a standard 70 degree room environment. The results were impressive: with our 8800 GTX 3-Way SLI configuration, we were forced to install additional case cooling to keep the cards from overheating. Even with these modification's the 8800GTX would hit 85-90C tempatures while the 9800 GTX Tri SLI setup hovered in the mid 70s without any additional cooling modification. so 9800 GTX SLI and 3-Way SLI temperatures should be much easier to manage for the average user.Single 9800 GTX and 9800 GTX SLI users will probably never be concerned about their temperature of their card.
Drivers and Software
To maintain consistency, this preview will use the same drivers and software seen in our recent 9800 GX2 and 9800 GX2 Quad SLI.
Performance Thoughts: The 9800 GTX pulls out a slight lead against the older 8800 GTX setup, also pulling ahead of the 8800 GTX SLI setup and a single 9800 GX2. The 3-Way and Quad SLI systems are completely CPU bound when we enable 16xCSAA and, by turning on 16xQ, you can see that 9800 GTX 3-Way SLI pulls ahead of the 8800 GTX Tri-SLI setup by a small margin, but still falls behind the mighty 9800 GX2 Quad SLI configuration. Still, every configuration tested was able to deliver an enjoyable experience.
Performance Thoughts: A single 9800 GTX pulls ahead of the 8800 GTX in this game, also managing to hold a consistent lead in both SLI and 3-Way SLI configurations. At these resolutions the performance advantage is roughly 10%. The 9800GTX SLI configuration is also able to pull ahead of the 9800 GX2 by a slight margin due to its superior bandwidth and shader performance, but the 3-Way SLI configuration comes up short of 9800 GX2 Quad SLI with its superior raw rendering power.
Performance Thoughts: As seen in our previous investigations, SS2 is mostly CPU bound in SLI configurations @ 16xCSAA. A single 9800 GTX pulls slightly ahead of the 8800 GTX and, when enabling 16xQ, the 9800 GTX sees the same performance deficit as the 9800 GX2 when compared to the 8800 GTX. This is likely a result of the of the memory deficit and reduced bandwidth available on the 9800 GTX card. Both the 9800GX2 Quad setup and the 9800 GTX 3-Way configuration must yield the performance crown to the 3-Way 8800GTX SLI with 16xQ enabled in this game. Ironically ,the 9800 GTX 3-Way SLI configuration is the best performer for 16xCSAA. However, to put things into perspective a single 9800 GTX is able to play this game @ 1920x1080 with 16xAA enabled with zero difficulty.
Performance Thoughts: Like Unreal Tournament 3, Bioshock's performance is strongly tied to shader performance. The 9800 GTX's superior shader performance allows it to pull ahead of the 8800 GTX in nearly every situation; even with 16xQ enabled the 9800 GTX solution is superior to aging Geforce 8800 GTX card. The 9800 GTX SLI configuration is also able to pull ahead of the 9800GX2 solution, but 3-Way 9800 GTX setup can't keep up with 9800 GX2 Quad SLI.
Performance Thoughts: Crysis is a very shader bound title, allowing the 9800 GTX's stronger shader performance shine through here. A single 9800 GTX is able to pull ahead of the 8800 GTX while, once again, the 9800 GTX SLI setup is able to outperform a single 9800 GX2. Crysis has yet to show itself to be the strongest SLI scaling software and, due to this weakness, the 9800 GTX's superior single GPU performance allows it to pull slightly ahead of the 9800 GX2 Quad SLI setup. A strong showing for the 9800 GTX shader performance in any case.
Notes: With soft shadows set to high the 9800 GX2 and 9800 GTX configurations all fall down to 5 FPS range and the 8800 GTX Tri SLI Configuration is able to hold a 22 FPS advantage. Even with that advantage the 8800 GTX 3-Way SLI configuration has unbearable mouse lag due to the low performance of the single GPU. However it should be noted that this is one spot where the 8800 GTX's extra memory gives it an advantage.
nVidia 9800 GTX |
With a focus on high-end gaming and SLI performance, the test suite we used wasn't entirely fair to the 9800 GTX. Many games are able to run 1920x1080 at completely playable FPS such as Serious Sam 2 and and Oblivion. Other games like Unreal Tournament 3, Bioshock, and Crysis will probably need to lower the resolution to 1680x1050. But considering the starting price of admission, with an MSRP between $299 and $349, the ability to play most of today's games on a 22 inch monitor with moderate levels of anti-aliasing enabled begins to look pretty tempting indeed.
With an entry price of $299 each, 9800GTX SLI becomes one of the more interesting configurations offered by the 9800 GTX. At that price, you can obtain performance greater than a single 9800 GX2 for about the same price. Of course, this configuration would require SLI capable motherboard, but a single dedicated board/cooler per card might be preferable to overclockers as it should allow the 9800 GTX SLI configuration to hit higher clocks than a 9800 GX2. The 9800 GTX also only requires two 6-pin connectors verses the 8-pin requirements of the 9800 GX2, allowing the end user a wider variety of power supply choices than is currently available for the 9800 GX2. The 9800 GTX SLI system was also consistently faster than the 8800 GTX with the bare exception of specific cases where the extra 256 megs of memory allow it to pull ahead of the 9800 GTX.
9800 GTX 3-Way SLI is in a unique position right now. Three of these cards will run you $900 and $1000 and, in some cases such as Crysis, it is able to keep pace with even the 9800 GX2 Quad SLI setup. In other titles, however, 9800 GTX 3-Way simply isn't quite able to keep up. The 9800 GTX is also the easiest 3-Way SLI configuration there is to setup. It doesn't require the same level of exotic cooling or thermal management required by its G80 cousins and, with the low temperature of the G92 core and excellent cooling, you can pretty much plug them in and forget about it them.
Unfortunately, while it performed impressively compared to the 8800 GTX 3-Way configuration, it still wasn't as easy to use as the 9800 GX2 SLI configuration. Many opting to build a high end system will likely go for dual 9800 GX2 cards in a Quad SLI configuration rather than three 9800 GTX cards in a 3-Way configuration. However, if your running 9800 GTX SLI cards to start, 3rd 9800 GTX card may make sense for an intermediate performance upgrade in the future to give current and future games a little more "oomph". The final consideration between 9800 GX2 Quad SLI and 9800 GTX 3-Way SLI is the 6-pin connector requirement, allowing far greater PSU compatibility verson the 9800 GX2 Quad SLI's 8-pin requirement.
Those looking for a card that destroys the 8800 GTX need not apply. The 9800 GTX should not be looked as a successor to the 8800 GTX cards, but as a more economical replacement. Those with 8800 GTX systems won't likely be tempted to rush out to buy this card, but those in the market for a current DX 10 card should find the 9800 GTX a more sensible purchase than its aging cousin.
While the G92 architecture is extremely impressive, we're not pleased with Nvidia's naming choice for the 9800 GTX. With some G92 cards now being labeled as both 8800 and 9800, the end user faces unnecessary confusion when looking at Nvidia's G92 range of products. You cannot help but wonder why some of the cards are named as they are; G92 cores should share a similar but separate name from the G80 series to reduce confusion about exactly what you are getting.