NVIDIA has just launched the new GeForce 9800 GT which is basically the old GeForce 8800 GT. So, they haven't really launched a new product, rather a new name. The renaming of cards is becoming a bit of a pain in the ass, but really there isn't a whole lot we can do about it. The best thing we can do is help keep people educated so they don't upgrade from a GeForce 8800 GT to a GeForce 9800 GT or for that matter as well from a GeForce 8800 GS to a GeForce 9600 GSO. The thing is, these new cards come with new pricing which tends to be lower than their original counterpart, meaning that they become more competitive and that's something we're not going to complain about. - TweakTown

Palit GeForce 9800 GT 512MB Sonic Graphics Review

Palit have today decided to mix it up a bit by adding their own cooler to the card along with overclocking the core, shader and memory clock. Straight away we don't see anything too out of the ordinary with the same box we've been seeing for a while now. Across the top we see the brand along with NVIDIA, Windows Vista and HDCP logos. Towards the middle of the box in front of FroBot we see mention that the card is of course an NVIDIA based card. To the right we have another sticker that gives us some of the main specs including the overclocked core and memory speed along with the mention of 512MB of GDDR3 memory.

Opening the box up and pulling the card out, we notice that the card looks very similar to most mid-range Palit cards with the big gold and orange cooler taking up most of the card. Around the heatsink we can see another plate that goes over the memory and another heatsink towards the back of the card that keeps some of the other warmer components cooler. Like the Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GT, we have a single PCI Express power connector and across the top a single PCI Express connector. While it was rumored that the GeForce 9800 GT would support 3-way SLI, we can see the fact that we only have a single SLI connector.

We can also see that while this video card does take up two slots, it uses a larger bracket to help exhaust some of the hot air out of the case instead of letting it float around inside. As we've already mentioned a few times, the Sonic model is of course overclocked. The core has gone from 600MHz to 650MHz, shader from 1500MHz to 1625MHz and the 512MB of GDDR3 memory goes from 1800MHz to 1900MHz effective. Palits decision to come straight out of the gate with an overclocked model is good news as it helps compete against the Radeon HD 4850 graphics card version at stock clocks a bit better.

And it is very often that we see it just right on the tail of the Radeon HD 4850 graphics card, or even passing it. While the cooler Palit are using these days is probably becoming a bit dated, it still does an excellent job of keeping the card at a reasonable temperature, be it a bit louder than a lot of other aftermarket coolers. It's also nice to see that Palit have chosen to include one game in the package, which is good news for people who want to install the video card and get into something that doesn't look too bad straight off the bat. And this also gives the overall bundle a little extra as long as the price remains in check.

Like we've already said, while the GeForce 9800 GT might be nothing more than a GeForce 8800 GT board, the aggressive pricing of the card, the overclocking capability and the availability of the product make it a very strong competitor against the Radeon HD 4850. Then you add in the fact that out of the box the card is able to pass the performance of the Radeon HD 4850 in a lot of situations and it does become quite appealing. Palit have done a good job with the GeForce 9800 GT and there's no doubt it's going to quickly become a popular card thanks to the aforementioned pros.