Eyes on NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GX2

At this point, the only thing that could make NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GX2 any more real is an actual street release. Nevertheless, here it is, displayed with glory and gusto at the Innovision booth here at CeBIT. They wouldn't take it out of the case by order of NVIDIA but we did get confirmation that the anticipated graphics king will launch before March is done for an undisclosed price. Plenty of pics of the card and box for your GPU sleuthing in the gallery below.

Gallery: NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GX2

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[nxtiak @ Mar 5th 2008 8:31AM]

These cards get bigger and bigger. Next thing you know, the video card will be like a power supply. 1 big box that connects to the motherboard via one big cable.

[rock99rock @ Mar 5th 2008 9:57AM]

So what you're really saying is, i need a new case?

[Yubastard @ Mar 5th 2008 10:05AM]

true. I second. :)

[theohner @ Mar 5th 2008 11:01AM]

To the best of my knowledge the PCB is the same size as the 8800 Ultra, it's just much thicker. So much so that I think I wouldn't be able to use any of my SATA ports on my Asus p35 mobo (p5k premium). You already lose 2 if you have an 8800 Ultra, I wonder how many get caught out by this.

[BradStar @ Mar 5th 2008 12:09PM]

Actually, that's not a bad idea.. then I could just plug it into my laptop as a secondary video boost and have awesome graphics, essentially just using my onboard processor, keyboard and screen and letting the external box do the rest. That way graphics become portable and more affordable.

[Sam Winter @ Mar 6th 2008 3:39AM]

@Bradstar

Someone already made something similar. It was basically a box with a PCIexpress slot that then plugged into your laptop via an expresscard I believe. The problem I think was that you could only use mid level cards because of the expresscard slot on laptops being a PCIe x1 bus so the bandwidth was pretty low. However maybe they will make a new one when laptops come out that support expresscard 2.0 which is way faster than 1.0.. in fact expresscard 2.0 details came out this week...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/1#c10861196

[E71 @ Mar 11th 2008 3:10PM]

It's called laziness.

In a rush to advance technology, we seem to throw more RAM at our machines instead of designing something efficient to work smoothly at lower specs.

We throw more fancy cpu/gpu-demanding 3D graphics at our games instead of working on the gameplay/storylines.

But not I... Not I...

[John Johnson @ Mar 5th 2008 8:38AM]

Can you show it next to, say, a cat for size comparison purposes? Cause I know a cat will *just barely* fit inside my case.

[Isaac @ Mar 5th 2008 8:42AM]

Hahahahaahaha, nice, thanks for the visual.

[DSeaver @ Mar 5th 2008 8:41AM]

...now how do you know a cat will fit in your case? I'm not sure I want to hear the story behind this.....

[EpicWinrar @ Mar 5th 2008 11:21AM]

I was just thinking how exactly I could cram that into an mATX lanbox. Maybe I'll try stuffing my x-box in there first to get a good idea. =)

[ScooterDe @ Mar 5th 2008 4:12PM]

maybe a dog, or perhaps a frog. Either would be much easier to drag along to an electronics trade show for size comparison purposes...

[Mobius_1 @ Mar 6th 2008 5:01AM]

Try a tiger or lion, for that matter

[Isaac @ Mar 5th 2008 8:39AM]

Sounds like a sweet card... but there is one little thing that kinda nags at me. I hate marketing gimmicks aimed at twisting things around to make products look better than they really are, and this one gets me: The back of the box states, "Up to a 90% performance increase over the GeForce 8600 GTS GPU". Erm... why are they comparing it to the 8600? Wouldn't it be more realistic to compare it to the 8800 GTS? I was under the impression that the 9600 was the replacement for the 8600... Why not just say, "Up to 40,000% faster than a GeForce2 MX!!" Woo!

Oh well, not like everyone doesn't do it... still doesn't make it right. :)

Kinda silly to be showing off a box and card without some in-use demo, pricing, and performance stats. Ooooo, shiny box! :-P

[rv @ Mar 5th 2008 10:01AM]

"It renders wall images nearly 3 trillion times better than the average caveman!!!"

[V3LOCIP3D3 @ Mar 5th 2008 11:06AM]

Each board on the GX2 is actually worse than the 8800 Ultra in every specification . . these are basically stock GTXs sandwiched together. Absolutely no improvement at all, except for the HDMI port. So basically nVidia tried to make a come back with a 2-for-one sale . .

[Ted @ Mar 5th 2008 1:46PM]

That caught my attention for a different reason - it makes the card sound pretty pathetic to be honest. The 8600 GTS was completely and utterly rubbish from the point of view of the people the 9800 GX2 will be aimed at (ie high end users and gamers). The fact that they have nothing better to say than that it's only 90% faster than a sluggish mid-range card has worried me.

[Jonathan Worrel @ Mar 5th 2008 2:04PM]

Agreed. They could at least compare it to an 8800Ultra by claiming "Over 30% faster than the 8800Ultra!" - after all, it IS a high-end enthusiast replacement. And since it's built on G92-450 architecture (256-bit bus and 8 ROPs less than the 8800Ultra), I'm assuming that it'll have negligible performance benefits over the Ultra in non-SLi supported games.

[Timmy @ Mar 5th 2008 2:36PM]

Isnt this meant to be a Duo SLi card replacement so you dont have to buy 2 8600s, Just buy this "one" card?

[mike @ Mar 10th 2008 10:14AM]

@V3LOCIP3D3: spec arent from the gtx, its 2xgts. gtx has 384mbit memoryinterface, gx2 like the gtx 256mbit

[DSeaver @ Mar 5th 2008 8:39AM]

That thing is a beast! (and I mean that in a good way) I'm just curious of what the price will be... I plan to build a new rig this summer, this may be dropped into it!

[Aeo @ Mar 5th 2008 9:36PM]

But will it blend?

[ByronGman @ Mar 6th 2008 12:59AM]

@ Aeo

SACRILEDGED!!!!!

You may blend an IPOD, you may blend a ZUNE, you may blend freaken Chuck Noris for all I care....

But you will NEVER, EVER BLEND A GEFORCE!!!

[nathan @ Mar 6th 2008 4:04PM]

True that Bryon. Sure PS3, 360, and Wii fanbois are loud and mouth of when you insult or threaten them. But us PC gamers esp NVIDIA fans? We just cut your throat while your sleeping.

[Jason Rhyne @ Mar 5th 2008 8:49AM]

To start the tour take a look at the next Sony Playstation 3 SKU. Oh, I'm sorry it's the new PSP.

Wait a minute what the heck is it? A graphics card.

Well back in my day they made graphic cards smaller. Oh well how time flies.

[Ruben @ Mar 5th 2008 10:26AM]

Your going senile, old man.

Seriously, graphics card makers are expanding the size of the cores (shaders, etc.) while the manufacturing process remains constant, or changing more slowly than the expanding of the cores. Thats why these cards are getting so damn big. They really need these cards at 32nm to make them small and energy efficient. That isnt going to happen for quite a few years. And by then, you will have 512 shaders on the 32nm process, and the core size will still be huge requiring a massive heatsink.

[Backlin @ Mar 5th 2008 8:54AM]

This thing doesn't even look like it belongs in a computer!

[Boostjunkie @ Mar 5th 2008 9:00AM]

Come on, that thing is just ridiculous. How come I want it so much.

[Maestro @ Mar 5th 2008 9:05AM]

Seems to me that CPU's have gotten more power efficient and run cooler while GPU's are getting hotter and more power hungry...

[asphixiated @ Mar 5th 2008 9:17AM]

Anyone else notice how it says "The console within" on the front of the card in green letters?

[yoz @ Mar 5th 2008 11:09AM]

yeah, nice baby! :D

[ev01 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:18AM]

Pretty soon graphics cards are going to be their own seperate tower. One tower for the PC, and the other tower just to house the graphic card.

[asphixiated @ Mar 5th 2008 9:20AM]

YES IT CAN PLAY CRYSIS AT MAX SETTINGS
YES IT CAN BLEND PROVIDED YOU GIVE IT A BIG ENOUGH BLENDER
YES IT CAN PLAY DOOM
YOU, FOR ONE, CAN SHUT THE HELL UP.

[Zeus.:God @ Mar 5th 2008 10:01AM]

Really?! IT PLAYS CRYSIS AT MAX SETTINGS?!

You know there is the possibility that it does not play Crysis at max settings, right? You know- because it's only 30% faster than an Ultra, and 2 Ultras can't handle it very well...

The real question is, can it play Crysis well at max settings?

Oh, you're right about the rest.

P.S. I realize you might not have been serious.

[Nick @ Mar 5th 2008 9:20AM]

I bet it plays Doom.

[raging_hamsterx @ Mar 9th 2008 1:49PM]

Can you blend "Doom?"

[Sporkinum @ Mar 5th 2008 9:46AM]

ATI wins! I just retired my 9800 card. It is AGP even!

[juliojo @ Mar 5th 2008 3:45PM]

i am running a 8800gts on my machine and i can wait to get my hands on this new card.

[Loban @ Mar 5th 2008 9:49AM]

This thing will suck power like a hoover, and cost an arm and a leg. That is why I gave up on the PC gaming industry and just bought a 360. Best decision I've made for my gaming hobby and my wallet.

[Zachary Williamson @ Mar 7th 2008 1:41PM]

judging by the rate at the these cards are growing, soon you'll have to start plugging your computer into your video card. I'm surprised it doesn't come with it's own case and psu!

[Zeus.:God @ Mar 5th 2008 10:03AM]

Different strokes for different folks, ya' know?

Both are good and both can have excellent value or can be expensive as Hell depending on if you know what to look for and where to look, and what set up you're going for.

I'm primarily a PC gamer, but I can see where you're coming from.

[Organic_Shadow @ Mar 5th 2008 10:04AM]

"They wouldn't take it out of the case by order of NVIDIA but we did get confirmation that the anticipated graphics king will launch before March is done for an undisclosed price."

How does that sentence make any sense? Also, is it not March yet in Germany? Because it is here in the states...

[makishima @ Mar 5th 2008 10:16AM]

Umm...."before March is DONE" see what I did there? I put in bold the word you should be paying attention too. Please drink more coffee before commenting.

[Zeus.:God @ Mar 5th 2008 10:33AM]

"I put in bold the word you should be paying attention too. Please drink more coffee before commenting."

Capitals. I believe those are capital letters, good sir.

[Rainier @ Mar 5th 2008 10:33AM]

Oh c'mon, that ain't nothing but a VHS tape rewinder!

[VampireHunter Z @ Mar 5th 2008 10:38AM]

Will this finally be the card that finally plays Crysis without a hitch? Since it's so big I guess the next obvious move is make 45nm chips.

[cat @ Mar 5th 2008 11:12AM]

do you think this beast will fit into the antec 900 casing?

[Jon @ Mar 5th 2008 11:15AM]

Does anyone know if the HDMI will also send out Audio ? basicly looking to use my XPS420 as a extreme media PC .. i have the 8800GT now , but if i can get audio with this card might as well

[Zeus.:God @ Mar 5th 2008 11:18AM]

I'm not quite sure- I don't think so. They might, but even if you would be using more cables, a separate sound card would be better unless you're using an HDTV.

[Matt @ Mar 5th 2008 5:31PM]

Well I think you can, I saw some picks of this card and it looks like a 2-pin S/PDIF
You can't actually see the port i am talking about in the Gallery but it is next to the power ports (a 6-pin and an 8-pin)
http://www.firingsquad.com/images/pr/9800gx2side.jpg