NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX already popping up in stores?

We got this photo in from reader Ryan, who found a small cache of NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX cards at Best Buy, each priced at $360 for 512MB versions. Can they just release these things already?

[Thanks, Ryan]

[someone @ Mar 31st 2008 10:31PM]

APRIL FOOLS!

[Flashpoint @ Mar 31st 2008 10:53PM]

I'll assume this can play Crysis... but, even if it can't I'd buy it just for the packaging.

[Bigsby @ Mar 31st 2008 10:36PM]

It's still not april fools for some of us. Can't you leave some fun for when we get here?

[KEROLiUKAS @ Mar 31st 2008 10:45PM]

LOL pushing them april fools ain't ya?

[KangMin @ Mar 31st 2008 10:47PM]

go to http://www.magic-micro.com/smoreinfo.asp?iid=2001
and on the PCI-Express Video cards section, scroll all the way down.

lawl.

[Peter @ Mar 31st 2008 10:57PM]

There's nothing there

[The Angry Intern @ Apr 1st 2008 12:56AM]

yeah, all I see is the 9800 GX2

[shawn.zenz @ Mar 31st 2008 10:48PM]

$360 is a steal

[Ubercharged @ Apr 1st 2008 12:01AM]

Yeah which makes me doubt it because best buy doesn't sell decent video cards for under 400

[Lance @ Apr 1st 2008 4:15AM]

Believe me, it will be a lot cheaper on newegg etc...
Here in Australia one I.T. store is selling 9800gtx's for $399 AUD, thats $363 USD so there's at least $20-30 to go down over there

[Jonny @ Mar 31st 2008 10:51PM]

I'm kinda doubting this.

Looking at the picture, it looks like they have it at their house.

And Best Buy wont let you take the security device home with you. o.o'

[mabang7 @ Mar 31st 2008 10:59PM]

Looks like an office to me

[Mike @ Mar 31st 2008 11:02PM]

If you look at the reflection in the package, the person who took the picture is wearing a blue shirt with a yellow logo on it. This when coupled with the posting which references BestBuy would lead one to assume the photo was taken on premisis, perhaps in the stock room, and not at the photographers home.

[Jonny @ Mar 31st 2008 11:06PM]

Good point sir.

Didnt see the reflection at first.

They have fancier stock rooms/offices/w/e then my old store did. D;

[tweak @ Apr 1st 2008 2:41AM]

Orange counter tops are usually by the geek squad desk...

[rhcpsfan @ Mar 31st 2008 10:53PM]

this product has slipped out so many times you'd think this were microsoft we were dealing with.

[Limp Man @ Mar 31st 2008 10:55PM]

here in hong kong they already released.
here is a online price tag.
http://www.jumbo-computer.com/pricelist.asp?ProductTypeCode=VGA

[Smacksmackums @ Mar 31st 2008 10:55PM]

Not as 'spensive as I thought it would be. Only 512mb ram though, where are the big 'uns?

[Benjamin @ Mar 31st 2008 11:03PM]

It only has a 256Mb memory bus, unlike the 8800 GTX which has a 384Mb bus. It makes anything more than 512mb useless. This is easy to see in the 1GB 8800 GT's that are available, they provide no performance increase over 512mb even at high resolutions do to the limitation of the bus speed.

[Abuzar @ Mar 31st 2008 11:12PM]

Benjamin, try playing even QUAKE 4 at the HIGHEST settings and turn up the textures all the way. That VRAM fills up pretty fast.

[Zeus.:God @ Apr 1st 2008 10:17AM]

More than 512MB of RAM is useless for these generation cards. Current GPUs can't process fast enough to make use of all that space, so even if it is filling up, thats what it is meant to do.

Also, Benjamin, the amount of video RAM is different from the memory bus- which you're talking about. The 9800GTX has a lower bit bus in comparison to the 8800GTX, but it doesn't really matter. 384 bits was overkill on the 8800GTX as it couldn't take full advantage in it. No matter what though, the end product- the 9800GTX- is faster than the 8800GTX, and can make full use of that 512MB of video RAM.

Going on, the main reason to have more RAM is for higher resolution games and such, where large textures and models have to be loaded at once. The higher the resolution, the more memory it will take, no matter what the bandwidth.

[CowboyGA @ Mar 31st 2008 10:59PM]

I don't see why there's any doubt about this. It's on the NVidia website, and they tend to follow products closely -- as in, the wonderful 9600GT is already out. Consumers FTW.

[bamboo @ Mar 31st 2008 11:56PM]

Um, you need to check your numbers man.
The 8800GTX has 768MB.

The stupidest thing of all is that they have already said the 9900GTX and X2 should be out around July or so.
http://en.expreview.com/2008/03/31/gt200-to-become-9900gtx-and-9900gx2-launch-date-set-to-july/

And that is not an amazing price. Reports are that the msrp is $350 or so. Newegg will have them cheaper than BestBuy as always.

[bamboo @ Apr 1st 2008 12:00AM]

Edit:
Its late, missed the part about the mem bus, thought were talking strait up ram.
Still just an overclocked 8800GTS G92 regardless.

Save your money till this summer when teh 9900s come out and ATI shows the 4000 series. Looking forward to what the 4870 X2 can do

[shawn.zenz @ Apr 1st 2008 12:54AM]

if you are always waiting for the next version before you buy (i.e 9900), stop following technology.

if you don't own it, you can't enjoy it.

[kal326 @ Apr 1st 2008 12:54AM]

@bamboo
Online is not always cheaper right when new product comes out. If you can find them in a store the products almost will always at MSRP. The same can not be said for e-tailers, newegg included, when the latest graphics card rolls on through. I picked up a BFG 8800GT 512MB from Best Buy software after launch for just under $200 because of a 20% of sale on ALL BFG cards right when those cards came out and $40 in Best Buy reward points. At the same time newegg was selling almost all of the 8800GTs at or above MSRP, but you had a better chance of catching one in stock. Short story long, it still pays to shop around regular retailers as well as online.

[tweak @ Mar 31st 2008 11:03PM]

Someone's got a silver name tag...

[Dook_In_The_Urinal @ Mar 31st 2008 11:35PM]

Figure that out all by yourself, didja?

[tweak @ Apr 1st 2008 2:40AM]

I used to work there and the silver name tag people always acted a bit...superior.

[bluSOUL @ Mar 31st 2008 11:11PM]

I think its just an empoyee showing that they got it in, and it will be out tomorrow more likely than not... looks to be in a break room/ office of some sort..

[Abuzar @ Mar 31st 2008 11:24PM]

Considering it's a brand new card, that's a pretty reasonable price.

[Ryan @ Mar 31st 2008 11:34PM]

Its not in the stock room, just at a desk. Still in the store, and i am an employee. I was pretty surprised when i saw it, but we had 4 hangin out.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Mar 31st 2008 11:37PM]

That's weird, shouldn't they be like in the back and not for sale yet?

[majortom @ Mar 31st 2008 11:49PM]

wonder if the same guys that put the nav system in the Civic will be doing the install?

[Ryan @ Apr 1st 2008 12:51AM]

that was CC

[The Angry Intern @ Apr 1st 2008 1:07AM]

LOL! good one!

[tuaamin13 @ Mar 31st 2008 11:49PM]

That'd be pretty sweet if it did come out tomorrow. I've been wanting to build a PC and I thought to myself "eh, should hold out for the 9800 since it's supposed to be right around the corner."

Then I saw today that the 9900 is rumored to come out in July (TweakTown) and then this post crops up.

If Bestbuy is any indication of prices (assuming this isn't an April Fool's joke), couldn't you snag this online for under $300? I mean they still have 8800GTXs on their site that run for $500+ and $940.

Now all we need are more comprehensive benchmarks. If this really does drop tomorrow, I bet they'll be out by the end of the week.

[Scruge @ Apr 1st 2008 12:28AM]

you mean tomorrow afternoon haha

[tomhennessey @ Apr 1st 2008 12:17AM]

Well they're supposed to come out April 1st...

[sejad @ Apr 1st 2008 12:30AM]

You are right about the employee at work because when you look around him lots of hardware for pc's, this means it's a tech room where they install/fix/customize customer Pc's.

[FTY @ Apr 1st 2008 12:35AM]

They are already in stock over here in Europe, was also quite surprised to see them go for ~270EUR, the GX2s are around 550EUR. Well if you want them, go for it :), never saw a GTX card this cheap tbh, but some say they are just OCed 8800GTS, which would explain a lot hehe :).

[The Angry Intern @ Apr 1st 2008 12:50AM]

what bloody Best Buy carries high end stuff like this? the ones by my house all have the crappy low to mid range video card.

[Ryan @ Apr 1st 2008 12:53AM]

The best part, its in iowa, we have essentially no gaming customers.

[Hooterman @ Apr 1st 2008 1:19PM]

@ Ryan

What store in Iowa do you work at?

[Ryan @ Apr 1st 2008 12:51AM]

You'd think so, but i dunno, ive stopped asking questions.

[Rienholt @ Apr 1st 2008 1:41AM]

Never ask question about what Best Buy does. My store sold several 9600s over a week before the release date.

[Booyah @ Apr 1st 2008 4:31AM]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143129

Newegg.com now has this card in stock... $329.00

[Armoured @ Apr 1st 2008 4:52AM]

This isn't an April Fools joke. They are actually out now in Australia...you can get it for $400AU which is cheap...that's how much I bought my 8800GT for.

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=9800gtx

[psychosnake @ Apr 1st 2008 6:55AM]

http://www.videopro.com.sg/products/index.php?cPath=57&osCsid=grktb05qfnv5mofvgag0qqrsr4

[Alexander @ Apr 1st 2008 9:31AM]

The rumors are true. I was at Microcenter yeaterday, and they were in stock and ready for purchase.