BFG 8800 GTS 512MB will out perform a 9800 GX2 1GB

[SYBINX]

OK,

We have been disusing this all day until we are blue in the face and I think we need to put this to the vote. My buddy thinks I should get a BFG 9800 GX2 1BG BFG and my argument here is the fact that 2 BFG 9800 512MB GTX cards in SLI mode will out perform this card, and to make my case even stronger I found an article somewhere even a tech support guy from BFG states that 2 9800 GTX 512MB in SLI mode will out perform 1 GX2 1GB card? I believe I'm right and Tom's Hardware did not give the 9800 GX2 a good article, now did HEXUS. So the jury is out on this one I think the 9800 GTX 512 in SLI mode is better, cheaper and will perform better than one solid chunk of at least ?365.00 for one card when I can pay... what just over this for two cards making 1GB.

So what is your view GX2 or GTS 8800 512 in SLI mode?

What are your views please I would like to know, and I might of fudged up the poll. so apologise in advance if it does not turn out right.

[James123]

I'm no expert in hardware so I may be wrong but I believe at higher resolutions where some games start seeing a GPU Memory bottleneck the 1GB 9800 GX2 would get better FPS because SLI only takes the GPU memory from one card, so 2x 512MB 9800 GTX would still only be 512MB of GPU Memory whereas the GX2 has the full 1GB.

Edit: actually... I think I might be wrong :p

Edited May 11, 2008 by James123

[xendrome]

Just by looking at the Toms Hardware Benchmarks... with the 8800 GTS 640MB SLI

Flight Sim X and 1920x1200 = 22.40 FPS

on the 9800GX2 it's 27.7FPS

I'd take the GX2 just for the power consumption and case space....

[McSmiggins]

You REALLY need to decide if you're asking about the 9800 GTX or the 8800 GTX, I'm assuming you mean the 9800 (from the clock speeds you've posted, which are the stock speeds for the 9800GTX), in which case, you need to fix the title, and the poll to reference that it's SLI

In terms of performance, yes, SLI 9800GTXs will beat a 9800GX2, most importantly because they'll have a bit higher throughput due to higher clocks (both essentially become SLI G92s at different clock speeds, of which the higher will win in GPU bound activities)

There's also an issue of whether two cards sharing a PCI-E 2.0 slot will impact the performance, which it might, but not by a lot.

[SYBINX]

You REALLY need to decide if you're asking about the 9800 GTX or the 8800 GTX, I'm assuming you mean the 9800 (from the clock speeds you've posted, which are the stock speeds for the 9800GTX), in which case, you need to fix the title, and the poll to reference that it's SLI

In terms of performance, yes, SLI 9800GTXs will beat a 9800GX2, most importantly because they'll have a bit higher throughput due to higher clocks (both essentially become SLI G92s at different clock speeds, of which the higher will win in GPU bound activities)

There's also an issue of whether two cards sharing a PCI-E 2.0 slot will impact the performance, which it might, but not by a lot.

Yeah I heard about this and I do believe this the case.

I just found this warning message for the BFG 9800 GX2 1GB card, which I found amusing, because there are people out there who you have to draw a picture for and explain to them in Layman's Terms. I would imagine there are people out there who have done this and blown their card andtheir money down the drain. It's common sense.

* Please note that you must have 6pin AND 8pin PCI Express graphics card connectors on your PSU and both of these connected to the Graphics card.*

** Please DO NOT plug in your 8-pin motherboard (CPU) connector from the PSU to the graphics card as this will blow the card and invalidate your warranty. Please refer to document enclosed with your card for further instructions.**

Edited May 11, 2008 by Meacham

[+PeterUK MVC]

So the jury is out on this one I think the 9800 GTX 512 in SLI mode is better, cheaper and will perform better than one solid chunk of at least ?365.00 for one card when I can pay... what just over this for two cards making 1GB.

One 9800 GX2 should cost less then two 9800 GTX in SLI?

[chconline Veteran]

It's possible because both cards are based on the G92 core, and the 9800GX2 could be clocked below an overclocked 8800GTS 512. Some games may not take advantage of the dual GPU config with the 9800GX2 either, and especially at low(er) resolution -- like, not 1920x1200 -- there are chances in a given scenario that the 8800GTS 512 that can outperform a 9800GX2. The 9800GX2 is not clocked very high at factory specs anyways.