Test Rig Configuration

That's it about the card itself, from a hardware and design point of view. Leaving you with all with this impression on the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 with dual GPU processing we are going to move to the performance you can expect from this graphics accelerator. The system used to compile and analyze the gaming performance figures is build around the high-end Intel Core 2 Duo technology, which will provide extensive central processing power supporting the G92 visual and processing capabilities. We are using our new and high performing system based around the Intel 975X Express chipset powering our mainboard. So, let's go through the system specifications...

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 3.00GHz Dual Core Processor
• ASUS P5W Digital Home Deluxe (i975X) Mainboard
• G.Skill Extreme 2GB PC2-6400 Dual Channel Memory
• Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 1GB Version Graphics Card
• Point of View GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB Graphics Card
• Western Digital 320GB Caviar SE 8MB Cache Hard Disk
• PC Power & Cooling 610W (SLI Ready) Power Supply
• Cooler Master Stacker 832 (RC-832) Tower Case
• Arctic Cooling MX-2 Performance Thermal Compound
• Dell UltraSharp 30" 3007WFP (Black) LCD Flat Display
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional incl. SP2 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit Ultimate incl. SP1 Edition

As you can see we have used some high performance components, and we would like to express our thanks to Point of View, PC Power & Cooling and most of all Gainward for their utmost generosity on supplying us with some excellent hardware. The ASUS mainboard is based around the great Intel 975X chipset supporting the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and DDR2 memory. We will be using our modest Core 2 Duo E6700 but running at 3.00GHz to support the high-end graphics cards. So both the mainboard and CPU are fine tuned to support this overclocking, to provide the maximum compatible and stable clock speeds. Currently the Core 2 Duo processors are the top of the market, with AMD trailing behind. Although the new triple and quad core CPU's have brought a bit more competition on the central processors market, but are still running behind.

Additional Specifications

First we will grab some information from Everest Ultimate Edition and get some feedback on the video card sub system. Lavalys was nice enough to allow us to evaluate their software for our reviews. We really like the wealth of information this utility gives us and we thank Lavalys for their support. Everest Ultimate Edition 2007 is the cutting-edge benchmarking and diagnostics tool to maximize security, performance, and troubleshooting capabilities for home and office PC environments, PC professionals and consulting firms as well as OEM partners and configuration centers worldwide. We ran some analyzing tests using Everest and this is what we got.

Well, the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card is not at all so different as to what we have seen previously with the GeForce 8 series cards from NVIDIA. In fact since the GeForce 8 series all the processing logic is based around the unified shader technology. The GeForce 9800 GX2 is based upon the same technology and architecture to redefine the shader technology as the previously introduced first G80 based GeForce 8800 series. So these stream processors are capable of being dynamically allocated to the vertex, pixel, geometry or physics operations. The Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 edition comes clocked at 600/2000MHz with a shader clock of 1500MHz. The GeForce 9800 GX2 edition is powered by two G92 cores, each featuring 128 stream processors and 16 raster operations units. This means you just have to combine those figures and you will end up with 256 shaders and 32 raster operation units that will bring us to the next level of high definition gaming.

One thing we didn't mention yet is what is included in the Gainward bundle, so just to briefly mention that you get a driver CD, Gainward quick start manual, DVI to VGA converter and Tomb Raider Anniversary game. So a very decent bundle with all items included, with on top one game title included. Yes, we must admit it is an older game, but still it is present and the bundle as such is coming at an okay price tag. The only thing what we found somehow missing is a PCI Express power cable that would feature the 8-pin connection. We only mention this as most power supplies that are fine to run the GeForce 9800 GX2 only have two 6-pin power connections, and that won't work to power the GX2 edition. Before going further, we would like to show of the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 graphics card being placed in our system. Let's do that and see how this GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card fills up our free PCI Express expansion slot.

Yeah installed and ready to power our system. But before we go on, this card looks good in our system, what are we saying it looks awesome! We can already notice that the cooling does not interfere with any surrounding motherboard components. Now, due to the fact that the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 edition is a dual slot design it takes up a bit more space, but that is just normal as you actually are installed two cards at once. And to that extend the space that the GeForce 9800 GX2 will take in your case it still okay and is the same as any dual slot high-end single GPU graphics card. That's it folks, time to hit up some synthetic benchmarks. We used the ForceWare 175.63 drivers from NVIDIA and will be using Futuremark and AquaMark benchmark utilities and stack up some popular game titles. Let's hit the road...