So, I did some reading on benchmarks and comparisons between GeForce 9 and GeForce 8 cards. Basically, whoever I read that said GeForce 9 was weaker? Was wrong. A single GeForce 9800 GX2 clearly out-performs  a single GeForce 8800 GTX. In most cases. According to these benchmarks by Tomshardware, one major issue with the 9800 GX2, when you start pushing it to the absolute limits, is the amount of RAM... Or, rather, the lack thereof. Antialiasing takes a colossal amount of RAM, and while the GX2 advertises 1024MB of RAM, since the card has two graphics processors, each processor has a measly 512MB at its disposal. I still remember when someone who will not be named (from the Myst community, surprise-surprise) was a major proponent of NOT paying extra for video RAM on the card and I was completely opposed. Especially now, I think it's quite clear who was right (again). Me! However! Putting the 9800 GX2 into SLI seems to help dramatically with the frame rate and RAM, as you can see in these benchmarks from Rage3D.

I like how Rage3D decided to test Oblivion at an Oblivion Gate... With all the heat waves and refraction and general distortion of the environment when you're up close to one, it is easily the single hardest thing to render in the game. But, so far, it looks like the 9800 GTX is on par with the 8800 GTX, both in single and SLI modes. However, this is running at a resolution significantly lower than where it pushed the RAM. But, seeing as how I don't want a uber giant monitor, I'm only going to run 1920x1200 anyway. (Possibly 1920x1080, just for HD compatibility, hmm.) Either way, though, I'm not sure which one I want... They're both priced the exact same, so I guess it really doesn't matter, except for amounts of RAM, but the 9800 is reported to have better shader technology, and thus runs games like Bioshock and Crysis a little better.

I would totally be willing to pay the extra money for two 9800 GX2s that would run in quad SLI (each card has two processors, put into SLI makes four cards show up), but, as far as I know, that would require a motherboard upgrade that would require DDR3 RAM, which is really expensive. But... If I can find nVidia certified 1066MHz DDR3 RAM? I could still use the slower quad-core Q6600 processor and not bust my wallet (more than I am already) on ultra bleeding edge tech. Hmm... This will take more research.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm and is filed under General.