Considering how long it took to get our first high-end graphics card samples, it's interesting that they are now one of our most often reviewed pieces of hardware. Not to be the exception to the rule is our recently acquired GeForce 9800 GT from XFX. The smaller brother of the more well known GTX branding, the GT saw excellent sales during these GeForce 8 series for it's high-end performance, with lower end price tag. And this time it is back for another refresher on gaming performance, but also with a again a lower price but that is about it, as the clock settings have not changed since. If that will let it reign again is doubtful but it will certainly do well in most current games, but also upcoming titles. - XSReviews

XFX GeForce 9800 GT (G92) 512MB Cool Card Review

The box for the GeForce 9800 GT is pretty impressive looking. It's dominated by a large bullet clip in a nine shape, with several gun barrels protruding around it. There's also a small button showing off that the card comes with a free copy of Assassin's Creed, and that it's SLI compatible. The back of the box has a picture of the card, with a pair of images showing off the capabilities of the GeForce 9800 GT. There's also a feature and specification list on the right hand side. Interestingly this card has a fifteen age limit, as it contains a rated game. Along with the card itself, you also get a 6-pin to molex, converter and a door hanger.

The card itself is quite a concise looking card, in that it's all neat and tidy with a nice small shroud, and not some big hunk of plastic hanging on the front. The card still has a coaxial fan, but this one is much smaller than the ones you see on the top end cards. It's just matt black, with no branding stickers or anything. In the bottom right corner of the shroud, with the gun barrels sticking around it, is a GeForce 9800 GT logo text. At the front end you have the power regulator area which is often covered with a heatsink on top end cards, but interestingly this one isn't. At the far front end is the 6-pin power connector.

The GPU manufacturers really seem to have cottoned on with this generation of GPU's, that we don't like noisy cards, as each one we've checked recently has been impressively quiet. At idle it's almost silent, and even when you are really stressing it in a game environment, it doesn't extend much past audible. The XFX GeForce 9800 GT will set you back between $125 and $150, which sets it at the peak of the budget card range, and the introduction to the mid-range cards. To clarify, this makes it $65 or so cheaper than the GeForce 9800 GTX+ Black edition and less than a 3rd of the cost of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 version.

Once again XFX have produced an excellent entrant that fills another price point. There isn't anything particularly stand out about it, but it does what it says on the tin. You get a card that is only a few frame rates behind some far more expensive cards, it's quiet, looks good and has a reasonably good bundled game which even if you don't like is pretty as hell, so an excellent quick benchmark game for your new graphics setup. Bottom line, there's no real reason to rush out and buy this card, but if you are looking to upgrade and it fits your budget you could do much worse. And that is just a fact really.