9800GX2 vs 3870X2

the 9800GX2 is not out yet, we will have to wait and see how it performs. The 9800GX2 is different though since it uses dual PCB's. No words on quad sli, but it will likely be a reality. But we all know that nvidia is really crappy with drivers.

In terms of performance, an 8800 GT is superior to a 3870, but crossfire scales better than SLI. So don't expect the gap to be too big. It will indeed be better than Crossfire, but if you take a look at the benchies in games that can handle crossfire/SLI effectively, the 3870x2 would pretty much have nearly double the frames, a 100% increase of a single 3870..Meanwhile, under sli, you'd see the frames sitting around 75% higher than a single 8800 GT.

Yeah... most artcles including toms were speculating a $450 price range. Thats the only way it will be competitive with the 3870

exactly!!!

If it is just two 8800GT's it will perform about the same as the 3870X2. The 3870 Cf can really hold it's own against the 8800GT. It's also going to be on a dual PCB and probably a smoking hot. If they price it around the 3870X2, it'll be pretty competitive, but if they go higher, I don't think it'll be worthwhile. Sort of like the 1950XTX vs the 7950GX2.

The 1950XTX was a single card and it performed pretty close to the 7950GX2 for a lot less money/heat and driver issues. The 3870X2 on the other hand is a dual GPU card but it performs as good as the 8800Ultra but for a lot less. That's why I can't understand people comparing the 3870X2 to the 7950GX2

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=11552

Hopefully we will see some benchies.

$450 is a complete dream price for the 8800/9800GX2 (whatever they call it and IMO).
Nvidia always price strongly (although over the past year, they've had the justification to...) so I can't see the new dual PCB coming in at anything less than $550/600.
The 3870X2 is priced more competitively than the 8800GTX (let alone the Ultra) over here in the UK, so I can't imagine the new card coming in below Ultra prices.
Personally I think ATi have really pulled something out of the hat with the 3870X2 and I reckon they gave Nvidia a little bit of a shock. I am getting tempted to change my GTX for either a 3870X2 or 2 and cant really see any chance of me bothering with the next nvidia card.

Every review Ive read comparing the 38070X2 to 8800GT in SLI shows the 3870X2 getting smoked in most games at most resolutions. Now Im not saying the 3870X2 isnt a good card, it is the fastest single card available right now, but I dont see how you can say that "If it is just two 8800GT's it will perform about the same as the 3870X2." Thats jut a flat out lie. Please provide some proof to back up your claim.

As an example, heres a review I read just this morning showing the 3870X2 getting smoked by 2 8800GTs in SLI.
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/i [...] &Itemid=27

CF Scales better than SLI, but the 8800 GT just has more horsepower to begin with.

All I want to know, is what the hell is up with Call of Duty 4 in the benchmark? Seriously, wtf?

No worries man. The point that I meant to make the first time I posted, that I apparently forgot to make, was simply that if the power is truly equal to 2 8800GTs in SLI, than the GX2 will be a serious contender and most likely take back the crown ATI is currently holding for the fastest single card available. And if they can keep it in the suggested retail price range, it will be a definite winner in the market.

Im trying to remember off the top of my head from previous posts, but if I remember correctly, the GX2 wont actually be 2 8800GTs. I think they were using the g92 core, but it would be underclocked and maybe missing some SP units? If that is indeed the case then I think it would be too close to call until the card is actually released and benched.
Either way though, as long as each company is innovating and releasing cards with more and more power for less and less money, then Im happy. I thought my AGP 6800GT was a good deal at $399 when it was released(Man, I miss living with the rents), but my 8800GT just over $250 the day after it came out, was the real deal.

and thats the reason it is being delayed, and the poor scaling...
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php? [...] &Itemid=34

yeah, its fudzilla

Eww FX series.

I don't know why you guys are all excited, obviously in the battle of the unreleased hardware, the intel GMA X4500HD is going to kick both of their A$$es !!

Oh yeah, And it'll support time travel too, which is why I can tell you this about unreleased hardware!

First, as has been said no 9800gx2 yet.

Second, the 3870X2 is clocked higher than the HD3870, while from what we know the 9800GX2 has heat/power issues and will be underclocked 8800GTS (G92 128sp) cores.


And yeah, GMA X4500HD is the one to really keep your eyes out for. With that feature set, nothing else will matter.

With watercooling and volt mods it should hit in the 900-950 Mhz Range.

I don't thinik it's an issue of speed, I think it's an issue of heat and stability from the sounds of things.

which isn't surprising with the tight confines of the card and a wearm VPU pressed up against the backplate of anohter warm VPU, not a great design for heat.

I think the GF9800GX2 will be faster in many cases (they do have the luxury of picking their clocks after seeing the competition) but just like the R600, nothing's guaranteed.

You seem to think that it's going to be clocked as fast as a normal GTS....

After using my GMA X4500HD to head to CeBIT I noticed that there was smoke coming out of Albatron's 9800 show rigs, and a bad smell. Their crazy screensaver looked awesome though, all those weird colours on the screen is bound to un-stick any pixels you may be having problems with.

yeah. how many people really give a ..either way about sli? just us.

Id also like to point out that ATI has the driver lead for once, as the 38 came first. From what I heard, the 98X2 is going to suck up some juice as well. The 98 will win, but cost/performance wise...???

I have a voodoo 5 5500 in my bedside table draw, I don't think i'll be downgrading to the 9800GX2 any time soon thanks.

well .. i'm new here .. but i've been cheching on THG for a while now .. from all i can see the multi-gpu solutions are still far from perfect .. put aside the drivers and compatibility issues .. it needs stronger psu's which isn't owned by every body .. single cards (and i talk about the single chip cards) are more reliable ..
the only good thing i c about the hd3870 x2 is that it brings the performance of an 8800ultra wwith much lower price point .. so if the 9800gx2 didn't do the same ... so why would anybody bother buying it over the ulta ??
finally .. we don't really need all this performance but for certain tittles (Crysis is a good example) .. and ironically multi-gpu's don't scale very perfect in this tittles .. so why bother .. I'd say wait for a real 8800gtx killer ( a single card that outperforms the gtx by at least 30-40%)

Which really makes you appreciate the GTX if you were smart enough to take our advice and buy one over a year ago.

It's truly a statement to the uniqueness of a product when even the company that made it can't really exceed it (Ultra doesn't count).

Either it was an overly expensive (but worth it at the time) feat of engineering or they got lucky, personally I think it's the former, where they weren't focused on trying to compete for the value. I think the change is in part due to the shifted response by ATi/AMD to pushing the HD2900's value, which obviously affected the marketplace.

Actually the G100/T200 is supposed to be a huge 1.x billion transistor single core, likely the last such thing, and it should pretty much beat the GTX at least as much as the HD2900 beat the X1800 or even as much as the 8800GTX beat the GF7800.

Dunno, the format seems to change everytime they push a patch or fix to the forum software. Should return to normal shortly.

I didn't have enough money a year ago, and I still don't

Forgot about that one. All this talk about the GX2 and RV770...