It seems like it was just yesterday that we bought our first discrete graphics card to outfit an overclocked Cyrix based computer. Back in those Windows 98 days the term GeForce wasn't even in existence yet. This was nearly ten years ago and since that time NVIDIA has developed several successful GeForce product lines, including the newly launched 9th generation. On the 18th of March NVIDIA launched the GeForce 9800 GX2 to coincide with their nForce 790i motherboard chipset. And because gamers were teased by NVIDIA's first GeForce 9 series which barely satisfied the market with their GeForce 9600 GT, the discussion was all about what would become the new king of the hill. - Benchmark Reviews

Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB Video Card Review

The GeForce 9800 GX2 features a total of 256 processor cores each operating at 1500MHz. And when counting conservatively, this amounts to an unprecedented 768 gigaflops of raw shading horsepower. In texturing performance, it can filter 76.8 billion pixels per second, quite a lot more than the Radeon HD 3870 X2. In raw specifications across the board, it is vastly improved over its predecessor, the GeForce 8800 Ultra. But with a price of $599-649, it launches at the same price as the GeForce 8800 GTX. With more than twice the shading power and a vastly improved PureVideo HD engine, offers great value for money.

Powered by the NVIDIA G92 graphics processor originally introduced in the new GeForce 8800 GT series, the newly released Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GX2 video card takes gaming performance to an unbelievable level by packaging two GPU's into the same enclosure. By utilizing an integrated SLI configuration to combine the two independent GPU's, NVIDIA has made it possible to fit the equivalent of two GeForce 8800 GT's into the same form factor footprint as the GeForce 8800 GTX and Ultra. The reference core clock speed amounts to a modest 600MHz on both GPU's, and the GDDR3 memory is clocked to 2000MHz effective.

First, let's state the most obvious the 9800 GX2 looks like a brick. NVIDIA holds a wealth of knowledge in areas of both product design and industry marketing, yet for some reason their newest products are beginning to look increasingly less exciting. Similar to the NVIDIA reference design, Gigabyte has sculpted their version of the GeForce 9800 GX2 with the same overall appearance. Utilizing a metal shell to encase the double card slot sized GX2, the delicate electronics inside are kept safe from impact damage. In the past, accidental snags have removed critical electronic components from the PCB of older GeForce products.

Gigabyte has convinced me that all products should be as colorful as theirs. The retail box offers an inviting design and attractive layout, along with some product data on the back. Like the other Gigabyte products we have checked, there is an underlying sense that they are in tune with the visual attraction a consumer has with products. It's responsible of them to add important consumer details on the packaging to help make informed purchases. And with the GeForce 9800 GX2 though, we think that the NVIDIA reference design had more influence over Gigabyte's product appearance which didn't differ that much.

In regards to performance and functionality, high praise is due to the GeForce 9800 GX2 video card. It has been over one year since NVIDIA last crowned a new performance king, and now the GX2 can replace the GeForce 8800 Ultra on the throne. With a combined total of 1GB video frame buffer and two high power G92 GPU's operating at 600MHz, it doesn't really come as a huge surprise that the GeForce 9800 GX2 easily outperforms every other individual video cards. Even though the GeForce 9800 GX2 product launch is only a few days old, there is plenty of inventory available to retailers.