The latest GeForce 9800 GX2 incarnation to make its way into the labs comes from Gigabyte and carries with it all the standard goodies that we expect out of the GeForce 9800 GX2. The latest GeForce 9 series of NVIDIA cards have impressed us, but like we've said all along they haven't offered the revolutionary jump that we thought the GeForce 9 series would offer. With the standard clocks and cooler there isn't going to be a whole lot out of the ordinary, and it is frankly just following the reference design which has been applied by all brands, but we will check out the bundle and box to see if there is anything that gets our tails wagging. As there has to be something setting it apart. - TweakTown

Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GX2 Graphics Edition Review

The front of the box carries that typical high-end box design with the brand up the top corner and the majority of the box taken up by a female character. Just below the half way mark we see the standard line-up of NVIDIA logos along with the HDMI logo. Below the logos we have the model name, in this case the GeForce 9800 GX2. Also mentioned are some of the main specifications of the graphics card. Turning the box over and we get some more details of the card along with some of the features the GeForce 9 series offers. We also have a bit of a blurb about SLI and what exactly is needed to get it up and running.

The main thing to look at with the reference based GX2's is the sticker that they choose to use on the card. In this case Gigabyte has opted for the same design used on the front of their box which looks very cool. What's cool about the Gigabyte card is that they've also placed a sticker on the other side of the card so you can actually see what brand it is when installed in your case. The rear of the card has a number of vents where the air is pulled in via the fan to help keep the two cores at a reasonable temperature. Across the top of the card we have with us two PCI Express power connectors, to provide the extra power.

For users looking to get some SLI action, the GeForce 9800 GX2 continues to be the card of choice. With a lot of companies still using the reference design for the GeForce 9800 GX2, Gigabyte hasn't been able to do a lot, and the problem with the GX2 is that the cooler in the middle design is quite full on, so if you wanted to go down the aftermarket route there would be a whole lot of messing around needed. It would have been nice to see Gigabyte include a full version game with the bundle as it's something that we quite often see with higher end models from Gigabyte. Still without any game titles included, it still is a very nice bundle.

The good thing is that quite often you would see a price premium on a product from Gigabyte even though it had less on offer than some of the other brands, but pricing in this case is very competitive. The other thing that is worth noting over some of the cheaper brands is that you get a 3 year warranty with Gigabyte. You may find yourself with some peace of mind when laying down this much money for a single graphics card. The Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GX2, while from a looks perspective might not offer much more than the other GeForce 9800 GX2's, it's probably more the after sales support that you get which make it a better option.