Does a 2GB 9800 gx2 make sense?

[indshark]

Seeing that nVidia is getting pwnd by ATI with the release of the 4870x2, I was thinking of possible ways for nVidia to get back into the race. From all the benchmarks I saw, the 9800gx2 falls behind at high res with AA. I think this has mostly to do with the 512M of memory it has. Would a 1 GB per core 9800gx2 be a sensible move for nVidia? I say this coz I don't see nvidia putting anythign more on the gtx280. With the prices on the gx2 going as low as $260 a higher memory edition won't really break the bank would it?

 

[iicsus]

The 4870x2 also has GDDR5, not just more memory. A 9800GX2 with 2GB would probably be on par with the 4850x2 (which, i think, will have 2GB GDDR3). Besides, a card with 1GB of GDDR3 and a 256-bit bus-width isn't really useful. The new GTX 280(+), besides the die shrink, will also get GDDR5, putting it closer to 4870x2, but might not be enough to beat it. At least that's what i've read.

 

[B-Unit]

iicsus is right, the pipe between memory and core on the 9800 just inst big enugh to take advantage of more than 512MB

 

[dagger]

There are 1gb versions of 8800gts, which use the same g92 core with 128 stream processors as 9800gx2. Performance wise, 2 of those in sli seems to scale much better at higher resolutions, although there's no improvment on lower ones. I couldn't find any direct benchmark comparasions of them to 4850/70 though.

 

[L1qu1d]

The GX2 alone will loose against the 4870 X2, but when Crossfired/SLied then the GX2 win at some games, while the X2 win at others. But the 4870 X2s can have increases from new drivers, while the GX2s have pretty much reached their end life.

for aroudn 600$ now, you can have 2 GX2s, which will kill 1 4870 X2 and at 1920x1200 and lower, you have enough power. Only at resoultions over will the GX2 suffer with AA on.