It seems like NVIDIA graphics card releases run as clock work with the Catalyst drivers from AMD. With the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce 9800 GTX+ released not all that long ago, it comes as no real surprise that NVIDIA has gotten up once again and released not only one new card today, but two. The first card is the GeForce 9800 GT which is what we have here with us now. The other is a GeForce 9500 GT which of course sits at the lower end of the scale when it comes to performance. Unlike some of the more recent releases, it seems that companies are already prepared to attack the GeForce 9800 GT graphics card with new cooling methods and overclocks straight from the start. - TweakTown

Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GT Zalman Edition Review

We see here that Gigabyte has already strapped a Zalman cooler onto the newly released card and Palit are ready to go with an overclocked model carrying the Sonic naming scheme, too. Gigabyte has started using a new package on their cards, which we have to say looks pretty good. The box is slim and filled with light calming colours. The majority of the box is taken up by a picture of a girl holding a gun, but across the top we can see the Gigabyte logo along with the NVIDIA one. Across the bottom of the box we can clearly see the model along with the fact that it comes with 512MB of GDDR3 memory.

Towards the middle of the box we see mention of NVIDIA's HybridPower and the fact that the video card also uses a Zalman fan to help keep both noise and temperatures down. Turning the box over, we go into detail on some of the main features here along with some of the exclusive software that Gigabyte includes in the package. We also have note of what you need to get SLI up and running. Out of the box, the first thing that you notice is of course the Zalman cooler sitting straight in the middle of the card. As far as other features go, there isn't too much out of the ordinary with it looking like most mid-range NVIDIA cards.

Looking around the graphics card, we find the characteristics of most mid-range cards. Towards the back of the video card we have a single PCI Express power connector. Moving across the top of the card, we find a single SLI connector. Next to that we also have the port for the loop back cable so that you can get sound through the HDMI adapter. Out of the box, the GeForce 9800 GT comes with 512MB of GDDR3 clocked at 1800MHz effective on a 256-bit bus. The core comes clocked in at 600MHz while the shader clock comes in at 1500MHz. We have a PCI Express 2.0 interface with DirectX 10 support and 112 shaders.

After testing the card we found ourselves feeling nothing over the GeForce 9800 GT card. It wasn't till we actually really sat down and looked at the results and compared them to the Radeon HD 4850 that we were becoming more impressed with what the cheaper GeForce 9800 GT had to offer over the Radeon HD 4850. Sure, the card is ultimately just a GeForce 8800 GT, but the GeForce 9600 GSO is nothing more than a GeForce 8800 GS and it doesn't stop us from being impressed with the performance it offers for the price. Deciding which card to buy is going to come down to a few things and more specifically the price tag.

While we think the major one will be brand loyalty, other things that may sway people are if their budget can't go over the price of a GeForce 9800 GT or if they want to go SLI or CrossFire mode. It doesn't come as any real surprise that the GeForce 9800 GT isn't a revolutionary piece of kit and no one really expected it to be. What it does well is what NVIDIA have become pretty good at in the mid-range department, offer a card for a competitive price that puts out some decent frame rates. If you want to game higher than that with some decent detail, we would probably recommend that you save your dollars for another few weeks.

And after that think about an upgrade to something like the GeForce 9800 GTX or the Radeon HD 4870 card. The only gripe we have with the card is that it's going to confuse some people. If you are a user of a GeForce 8800 GT and you think the GeForce 9800 GT graphics card might be a bit of an upgrade, you will be severely disappointed. The card is probably best reserved for upgraders who have a GeForce 8600 GTS or below.