Asus 9800 GTX 512MB EN9800GTX

Introduction, Packaging, Package and Specification

Published: 2nd April 2008 | Source: Asus | Price: £223 | Author: Matthew Kemp

Introduction

Nvidia have been piling the pressure on ATI recently with a swathe of high spec, high speed cards. Today sees the launch of yet another speedster, the 9800 GTX. With a super-clocked GPU running at 675MHz and the 128 stream processors clocked at 1688MHz, the GTX really is cranked up a notch. Nvidia also saw fit to grab some GDDR3 that weighs in at 2200MHz, not bad.

Asus sent us a 9800 GTX to put through its paces in the labs so we grabbed the usual benching suspects off of the shelf and started to bench it.

Read on to see how it gets on.

Packaging

Asus are returning to the CGI character style packaging with the box of this stock clocked GTX. Its bright lime green should stand out from the crowd but for the sake of the environment: please Asus: make the packaging smaller!

The inside is the usual Asus affair with a lot of room and a decent amount of packaging to ensure that the GTX stays safe.

Now onto the bundle...

Package

The package with this particular Asus 9800 GTX is pretty sparse and doesn't seem to come with much out of the box at all.

We have:

* 1 x Leather CD wallet

* 1 x Quick start guide

* 1 x Driver CD

* 1 x CD-based instruction manual

* 1 x DVI to VGA connector

* 1 x Dual molex to PCI-e 6PIN power

* 1 x S-Video to component out

The Asus 9800 GTX is a stock clocked example of the 9800 GTX, so perhaps you can forgive Asus for a slightly sparse bundle. I'm sure a "Top" Edition will be out there with a game bundle and an armful of hardware floating around inside that capacious box.

Specifications

The specs on the 9800 GTX are as follows:

	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 3870	GeForce 9600 GT	GeForce 8800 GTS	GeForce 8800 GT	GeForce 8800 GTS	Radeon HD 2900 XT	GeForce 8800 GTX	GeForce 9800 GTX	GeForce 8800 Ultra
Shader units	32	320	320	64	96	112	128	320	128	128	128
ROPs	8	16	16	16	20	16	16	16 x2	24	16	24
GPU	G84	RV670	RV670	G94	G80	G92	G92	R600	G80	G92	G80
Transistors	289M	666M	666M	505M	681M	754M	754M	700M	681M	754M	681M
Memory Size	256 MB	256 MB	512 MB	512 MB	320 MB 640 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	768 MB	512 MB	768 MB
Memory Bus Width	128 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	320 bit	256 bit	256 bit	512 bit	384 bit	256 bit	384 bit
Core Clock	675 MHz	670 MHz	777 MHz	650 MHz	500 MHz	600 MHz	650 MHz	742 MHz	575 MHz	675 MHz	612 MHz
Memory Clock	1000 MHz	828 MHz	1126 MHz	900 MHz	800 MHz	900 MHz	970 MHz	825 MHz	900 MHz	1100 MHz	1080 MHz

The 9800 is basically an 8800 GTS with a bit more horsepower. Nvidia keeps the 256bit bus which many feel hinders the G92 chips, but we'll see how it goes.

Most Recent Comments

02-04-2008, 17:33:25

ali_james

Nice to see nvidia have decided to use decent stock coolers again, after the crappy 8800GT..
Shame it's nothing new though :mad:
Good review as always, Cheers!

02-04-2008, 17:53:23

nepas

nice review as always

somehow I dont think I will get rid of my 88gt yet though as that does not seem to be worth it

02-04-2008, 18:43:43

Toxcity

Fantastic review as usual Kemp. ;)
Not that good a card though.

02-04-2008, 23:36:23

Mr. Smith

Something very weird is going on... Just been on crysis DX10 as in 'Very High' 1650x1050 with the 8800gt, 700/1750/975. FRAPS floated between 10-22fps, excluding cut scenes 15-22fps, WHICH WAS TOTALLY SMOOTH!? WTF

The x2 the other night gave me ~20fps, looked better but wasn't as smooth...

Looking at these review figures I'm at a loss... I don't know what to buy anymore! gts/gtx/gx2... So confused.

Edit: nepas - oops, forgot to say, this gt WAS mine, it's now my house mates but he's not using it atm, but will need it back in the next week or so!

02-04-2008, 23:46:52

nepas

I would stick with your 8800gt back up card for now,the next gen cards are due in june-ish

03-04-2008, 03:52:53

Deshman

Hmm I'm still within my 120 day trade in with EVGA, do I swap my 8800GTS directly for the 9800GTX or pay the extra for the GX2?

03-04-2008, 03:58:00

nepas

if you really wanna upgrade I would say gx2,because so far that looks as worthwhile as a 96gt......imo

03-04-2008, 15:50:22

Deshman