I built my current rig in December, specs are in my sig, and i am proud of it. But now with the possibility of stepping up to a 9800GX2 i wonder if such a move would be smart. I read the entire 18 page review of the card and it went on and on about just how powerful it is and my eyes just watered up seeing that Nvidia took it's crown once again. I currently have a EVGA super clocked 8800GTX. I love my card but then i look at the 9800GTX2 and it's "supposedly" way faster than anything on the market. I realize that the card, even with 1GB of memory, it's actually 512MB on each core and i wonder if going this route in some way is a downgrad of some kind. Right now i my head i have that article I read where Nvidia's president said that the single GPU card solution will always be the best and that statement is  one that i so agreed with even back when SLI first started as a gimic and made it to mainstream. Right now i need some honest brutal advice on weather trading up to a 9800GX2 is worth giving up my 8800GTX.

depends on how much you could sell your 8800gtx for, but in general i wouldnt upgrade. Its a nice little performance boost, but not worth the price imo when you already have such an awesome card

I see your point Helo. The trade would be via EVGA's Step Up Program. You basically send in your card and they send you  the card your trading it in for. Right now my only cost really would be the difference of what i paid and what the 9800GTX is worth and shipping. Basically $40 bucks. Cost isn't the issue actually i'm just wondering if I should keep my current one or would i find a better performer within the 9800GX2.

 
 
if cost isn't an issue, then what are you waiting for?

 
Have you actually calculated the difference on there site? They usually wont give you the exact amount that you paid on your purchase.
 
But if you have done it and $40 is the difference... It's still hard for me to justify getting an GX2. It's not new technology and having quad sli issues. Also depending on what resolution your playing at the difference may appear, inconceivable. Usually after 60fps its pretty hard to tell a difference (at least I can't).

The question is what res do you play at?
 
I have seen charts for how much memory Crysis uses at different resolutions and AA levels and it does use over 512 megs of video ram sometimes. In that scenario I believe the GTX would do better.
 
Personally I would step up anyway  

How much time do you have left on the trade up?  There were still some disturbing "glitches" with the GX2 test that may be fixed by drivers, or not.  You could wait (if you have time) to see if it improves.  If it really is just $40, though, go for it.  It should improve FPS a little and you will be able to say you have the best card (again).

I play at 1600 x 1200 on a 20.1 inch monitor. I turn AA on or off depending how it affects the game but with my 8800GTX i have had no issues with AA being on. In the TH review it says when going into higher reso's with AA on the 9800GX2 begins to decline performance wise, i think that is a lil troubling to me.

I wouldnt, turn the aa on and its only 13% increase over what you have now, thats not even visible

While the 9800GX2 is generally faster than the 8800GTX, there are cases where it falls behind due to the smaller memory pool. I have an 8800GTX, but I'm an entire year past my step-up period and have no intention of upgrading until Nvidia creates a real upgrade.

Totally agree with you there Heyyou27, lets see a real upgrade, then ill start to pull some cash together for a new video card.

I just evaulated it all and decided to sli my current 8800 GTX, an evga, with a bfg oc2 from ebay. At $350, including the koolance waterblock, I consider it a steal. Everything else I have is watered as well.
 
Now, nvidia says all like cards play nice in sli with version 80+ drivers, but bfg says they must be same brand.  Thoughts?

I was in the same spot as you i built my rig dec.11 and i HAD got a 8800gtx BUTTTT  EVGA had the 120days step up and i did it .. i thought of it this wayu i paid 80$ more for the gx2 and i got WAY better performence then my OLD 8800gtx and i got newer TECHNOLGY!!!! when i say technolgy meaning not just quad SLI BUT also the fact when you sli them and you have the right MOBO you nvida has this thing were it well actually use all the JUICE in bouth of the cards SLIed reather then useing juice from one card and geting more from the 2nd when it would need it ... watch the video TO UNDESTAND WHAT I MEAN ... and watch my youtube video about my computer  
 
 
http://video.google.com/videoplay? [...] &plindex=8
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQTOCv9HE1M

I'd read up on this first. http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/0 [...] age16.html

After that make your decision, it should be pretty clear to you after you read it and weigh the pros and cons of getting it. Hope that helps.

Very interesting replys and Indigo,  that page 16 is what really made me consider if this was a good step or not when i first read the TH review. I know i won't be quading anytime soon so that's not an option for me right now. And also i do agree that the 9800GX2 isn't new technology in the sence it's the next gen Nvidia card. We won't see that till the summer/fall or so when the newer true next gen Nvidia cards get released (the GT200).  
 

 
I thought of that and maybe someone can answer this question. Since my current card has 768 memory and the GX2 has 1GB (i know 512mb per core), would i get bottlenecked with the 256mb difference on the one core? I know when AA is on, as another poster posted, the card goes over 512MB on the core. So what part those the second 512mb on the second core play?  
 

In sli or cf each card uses its own memory, and its like using it to display everyother line, so each 512mb used by each chip displaying each line, so really your only getting 512mb, unlike the 8800GTX which gives 768

Exactly, even thought you have 2 512 cards, it doesnt count as 1 gig of memory, still just 512, now it would be nice if that was the case, i think we would see a greater benefit out of sli, but nvidia chooses not to do that right now.

I wouldn't even consider it if I were you. This card is as half-assed as it gets. They didn't even bother going to 10.1 with this card line, they cut down the rops and the memory interface, and this card in particular has a rather large issue with any AA. Don't waste such a large amount of money on place holder cards, wait till the summer.

hmm, think after hearing alot of replies and confirmation of my own fears of getting that card i think i'll stick with my 8800GTX.

I think there has to be pros and cons to upgrading.  I dont really think there will be much difference that you will see in performance if you do upgrade in most circumstances.  If it really only costs 40.00 that would be the only thing that would make me consider it.
 
I have the 8800GTX ANS3 card and I have had it almost a year.  I am very satisfied with it and to be honest I believe what some of the other guys here say about upgrading your CPU, "wait and skip every other generation of CPU before upgrading".  I think in most cases this is true and most likely is a good rule of thumb for other hardware upgrades as well, including video cards.
 
I don't think many, if anyone knows enough about this new card to answer your question to upgrade.  If you only have to spend 40.00 and dont mind the inconvenience of the process, maybe its not such a bad idea but I wouldn't expect leaps and bounds in performance gains in most cases.
 
Since I have had my card for so long I am waiting.  I just got the EVGA 780i mobo and might round up 1 or 2 more of my cards (if I can find them) and stick with that for a couple or more years...