The first pictures of what seems to be the GeForce 9800GX2 have just popped up on the web and we've got them.
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/0 [...] e_9800gx2/

I would be interested in stepping up to this. However I do have one question that is plaguing me. That is, Is it going to need more bandwidth that Pci-e.  
 
I know no card out there yet has ever come close to needing more bandwidth than Pcie but will the 9800GX2 be the one that makes Pcie2 worth having?
 
Somebody help clear this up for me please.
 
Thanks

What's interesting is to see 2 DVI, and HDMI, and looks like a digital (optical) TOSLINK connection on the sound card.  Is this equivalent to ATi's 5.1 AC3 out over HDMI (but TOSLINK in this case)?

I wonder what kind of requirement this card needs in terms of power?
 
gwolfman - I would think so, with TOSLINK having the advantage of not being affected by EMI.
 

I doubt it would need more bandwidth than PCi-E since the info goes into one card then is given to the other by the onboard SLI bridge.

$450 for this giant?  I've noticed at bottom of the article it says 7950GX2 quad SLI setup LOL!

Engadget had some specs up last week:  http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04 [...] cs-leaked/
 
1GB frame buffer  
Two PCBs  
Two 65nm GPUs  
256 Stream Processors

whats the specs on the sound card?
 
given that hdmi has the sound in it, i'm not surprised this is happening.

I read it has a slot in which you plug in your sound to it, im guessing from a soundcard or mobo or something.

$450 would be an absolute BARGAIN

While I am excited about this, AND I think $450 would be a bargin...
 
I willl wait to see the benchmarks, and for stable drivers to come out.
 
The sad part is, I doubt many games will see a boost from this.
 
I hope I am wrong.  However, games don't even know how to take advantage of a quad core CPU...
 

EchoTech tell me what you base your comment upon lol... I doubt you can think of anything.
 
All newer games noe benefit from SLI in some way, this is just SLI it has been done before with 7950GX2, which on its own performed extremely well. SLI is SLI.

Is that an HDMI out and Optical out I see on the back? How would I go about connecting my 5.1 analog headphones to those kind of outputs? They use 3 analog jacks for the 5.1 and a 4th for the mic.
 
I would really like to use that audio so if anyone knows let me know.

Hatman,
 
Truth be told, I am not a "gamer".  My kids are more than me.
 
However, I do like MS FlightSimX.
 
I am currently using a Dual-Core Extreme, 2 GB of memory clocked at 1.2Ghz, dual raptors raid-0, an Nvidia 8800 with 768mb memory to a 30inch flat panel.
 
With all settings on high, I am luck to get high 20 frame rates.
 
I would be THRILLED, if MS FlightSimX would take advantage of this, but I doubt it.
 
The benchmarks will tell.  Can you show me where MS FlightSimX benefits from the 7050X2?

From the looks of it, Flight simulator doesn't support dual card setups (according to the TH VGA charts that is). So you would see no benefit. Although, other games are becoming very scalable with SLI...so a LOT of games will benefit from this solution....but for Flight simulator...not worth it...unless they plan to add support in the future.

If some of you are confused, the GX2 cards don't require the game to support SLI.  I've asked EVGA this about the 7950GX2 cards and they assured me that both cards will be used 100% even in games that don't support SLI.  I'm guessing SLI support is for two cards being split on the PCI-E bus.
 
But I've been wrong before

You're wrong about that one leo. They will indeed work fine...But if a game doesn't support SLI..you could see performance of a single card gpu or maybe even a bit less. SLI isn't necessarily two graphics cards. The 9800 GX2 would still be run as if it's an SLI two card solution. Therefore drivers are VERY important. If a game doesn't support SLI or doesn't run it well..you won't see much of a boost in performance.

Who cares about pics, lets get some benchmarks! lol

I think of fudzilla as a pretty reliable hardware news source and I just read this article http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php? [...] 0&Itemid=1 I'm wondering if they have misprinted the so called 9800 or if this is it's true name. Nvidia needs to get the names right of some of the cards that they have been releasing... for example the new 8800 gt and 8800 gts (G92) ought to have been named the 8900 GT and 8900 GTS and then name the new so called 9800 GX2 the 8950 GX2 just like the 7 series cards. Makes more sense to me.  
 
Overall I think it will be a good buy for around the $450 price range. Any more it's too close to 2 8800GTs. It would have been a smarter move for Nvidia to not release the 8800GT and just release the 8800GTS with a 8900 GT/GTS designation and then release this card. No need for the 8800GT... doesnt help profits!

Nvidia can whip out as many G80 and G92 products as they desire....until ATI can answer the bell.

Every pic i've seen of these cards looks like 100% bogus photoshop material to me.  Also, the specs I've seen could easily be extrapolated by comparing the 7 series to the 7950GX2 and then applying the same logic to the 8 series.
 
I'd like a photoshop guru to post and tell me otherwise.  If not, I'll believe it when I see an official launch.