XFX GeForce 9800GT – in new attire

Perhaps, never before has NVIDIA been so enthusiastic about giving new names to the already existing and actively sold video cards. The most what this eminent developer and manufacturer dared before was to add a new index to one of the existing models of video cards, change its clock speeds and sell at a lower or, rarely, higher price. One of the examples of such policies is the video card GeForce 7900GTO which is in fact a GeForce 7900GTX with reduced clock speeds and which was sold at a lower price. But after the release of the legendary GeForce 8800GTX based on the GPU G80, NVIDIA has got fewer ideas on that. The next successful products were GeForce 8800GT and GeForce 8800GTS 512. Due to the graphic processor G92 which proved to be a cheap analog to G80 made following the finer process technology and running at higher clock speeds, these video cards acquired popularity. But it is not quite clear - either NVIDIA did not expect new smart solutions from competitors, or the lion's share of funds has gone to the development of the costly GPU GT200 and video cards on its base. To cut it short, the G92 chip became the end point in the history of inexpensive and high-performance graphic chips by NVIDIA. But life does not stand still, and new products are simply vital for running a successful business. From that moment, there started a wave of renaming the existing models of video cards to new. The firstling was GeForce 9800GTX which was referred to the 9th family of GeForce video cards but in fact became a modernized GeForce 8800GTS 512 with support for the 3-way SLI and higher clock speeds. Then renamed was the younger model based on the G92 chip - the GeForce 8800GS, which became GeForce 9600GSO. Finally, GeForce 8800GT turned into GeForce 9800GT. The only novelty in the new model as compared to the predecessor was the Hybrid Power technology which can be made use of only in combination with motherboards based on modern NVIDIA chipsets with the integrated graphic core. No other changes were noticed. In fact, just see for yourselves:

As we can see, GeForce 9800GT = GeForce 8800GT + Hybrid Power. We only got to try the above said in our own experience. Meet the XFX GeForce 9800GT.

The package for XFX GeForce 9800GT is made in a martial style. On the front side, the manufacturer reports that the video card is factory-overclocked and comes bundled with the game Assassin’s Creed. On the rear side, there is the slogan "superb performance at a superb price". Indeed, the price in this case will be a decisive factor.

XFX GeForce 9800GT comes bundled with the following items:

• 6-pin power supply adapter for PCI-Express video cards;
• DVI -> D-Sub adapter;
• CD with the game Assassin’s Creed;
• drivers CD;
• user's guide;

This time, the manufacturer has provided the video card with an annotation on the right power supply. It says that XFX video cards are incompatible to power adapters. However, nothing more is said why the power adapter was put into the bundle.

XFX GeForce 9800GT is made following the manufacturer's own design. In fact, more remarkable is the black matte color of the board and the stiffening rib on top of the video card. Definitely, designers at XFX wanted to attract attention to this video card.

The rear side of XFX GeForce 9800GT has nothing remarkable. The only thing is that those who wish to avoid the bends of the motherboard should mind the method for attaching the cooling system. It is easy to guess that the board is bent since all the pressing and holding load lies upon it. We also add that it is bent quite immensely, but that did not affect its operation at all.

Under the cooling system, there is the well-known graphic chip G92 and 8 video memory chips that make up 512 MB.

The marking of the GPU has not changed since the times of the first GeForce 8800GT video cards and it is still called as “G92-270”. As before, the chip is of revision A2.

The GPU-Z utility reports 2007 as the year of announcement. That is true, because GeForce 9800GT is in fact a replica of GeForce 8800GT.

The GDDR-3 video memory chips are made by Samsung and offer 1 ns access time, which is equivalent to the effective clock speed 2000 MHz. The nominal operating frequency of the memory installed on XFX GeForce 9800GT is a bit lower.

The cooling system for XFX GeForce 9800GT is made of copper is quite heavy. No heat pipes were found in its structure.

Efficiency of the cooling system and overclocking

We'll be testing the cooling system of XFX GeForce 9800GT for "strength" with FUR Renderer Benchmark 1.4.0 in the mode of testing for stability at 1600x1200 and 8X FSAA enabled. The program was not stopped until the GPU temperature ceased to go up. In the end, the heating amounted to 80 C. During the test, it became clear that the cooling system of the video card being tested was rather noisy, although this factor is individual for the user. We know that the noise may be even higher, and the tested XFX GeForce 9800GT was not making a noise like that of a vacuum cleaner. We simply wished it were quieter.

As regards overclocking, XFX GeForce 9800GT demonstrated results about the same as those for many GeForce 8800GT. Starting from its nominal clock speeds 669/1620 MHz for the GPU and 1944 MHz for the video memory, XFX GeForce 9800GT was able to cope with 750/1890 and 2100 MHz for the GPU and the video memory, respectively. We once again recall that XFX GeForce 9800GT offers clock speeds originally overstated.

The Tests

We'll be running the tests with the following configuration:

We overclocked the CPU to 3.67 GHz.

As rivals to XFX GeForce 9800GT, we chose the following video cards:

• GeForce 9800GT with the nominal frequencies, produced from XFX GeForce 9800GT through lowering the clock speeds;
• GeForce 8800GT 512 MB;
• Radeon HD 4850;
• GeForce 9800GTX;

I think it is understandable why we took GeForce 8800GT for tests. But the latter two were selected on the grounds of price. For approximate retail prices in the Russian retail, see the table at the end of the article.

We used the following drivers for the tests:

• ForceWare 177.79 - for GeForce 9800GT;
• for GeForce 8800GT and GeForce 9800GTX - ForceWare 175.19;
• Catalyst 8.8 - for Radeon HD 4850;

If we assume GeForce 9800GT and GeForce 8800GT as identical video cards, the difference in produced results can be attributed to different versions of the drivers. Unfortunately, the ForceWare driver that supports all the GeForce cards being tested was still at the Beta stage on the moment of writing the article.

Traditionally, we are examining the test results starting with 3DMark tests.

As was expected, at this test the video cards GeForce 9800GT and GeForce 8800GT showed almost identical results. The overclocked XFX GeForce 9800GT showed a result close to Radeon HD 4850. However, 3DMark tests do not always display a real situation.

At 3DMark Vantage tests, XFX GeForce 9800GT almost caught up with GeForce 9800GTX. But Radeon HD 4850 left all well behind and stayed beyond reach.

At Call of Duty 4, XFX GeForce 9800GT showed a not bad result but anyway failed to beat GeForce 9800GTX and Radeon HD 4850. Of course, it is not supposed to, but…

At Call of Juarez, XFX GeForce 9800GT showed results better than those for GeForce 9800GT and GeForce 8800GT, but Radeon HD 4850 remained beyond reach.

At Crysis, with the rise of resolution the results for GeForce 9800GT become almost equal to those for GeForce 9800GTX, and not because they are close at speed but because they both lack 512 MB video memory. Radeon HD 4850, despite the same video memory capacity, does it better. In the end, it became the undisputable leader in this battle.

At Need for Speed Pro Street Racing, XFX GeForce 9800GT demonstrates a result close to that for GeForce 9800GTX. In this game, NVIDIA's video cards feel really comfortable, perhaps it is the first test where Radeon HD 4850 failed to grab the leadership crown.

At Race Driver: GRID, the leadership comes back to Radeon HD 4850. But, due to its overclocking, XFX GeForce 9800GT took the third place at that.

Final Words

The conclusion regarding the tested XFX GeForce 9800GT goes without saying: a nice-looking video card, faster than others in its class, bit in fact is a GeForce 8800GT. Needless to say, if you've got a motherboard based on NVIDIA's modern chipset with integrated graphic core, e.g. nForce 780A, then in choosing between GeForce 9800GT and GeForce 8800GT we should give our preference to the former. In that case, you'll be able to use the Hybrid Power technology which during the times of low activity of the video card completely disables it and switches to using the graphic core integrated into the chipset. If you use a motherboard built on an NVIDIA's chipset without integrated graphic core made by another manufacturer, then you won't be able using the Hybrid Power technology. In that case, there won't be any difference between GeForce 9800GT and GeForce 8800GT. Lastly, we bring in the promised table of approximate prices in the Russian retail for the tested video cards: