9800 GX2 or GTX 260?

[ryan29121]

I'm in the market for a new card and I have noticed that today on Newegg they have a 9800 GX2 for $270. Before I saw this I was considering the GTX 260 and possibly the new 216 version of the 260. After looking at quite a bit of benchmarks, including the site listed below, it appears that the 9800 GX2 is a much better card for the same amount of money. Besides the fact that it consumes much more power than the 260 it out performs the 260 by a substantial margin. Would you say that the 9800 GX2 is the best card for under $300 at the moment? I do thank you in advance for your help. I apologize if a similar thread was posted earlier, since I do not post here much, I am unaware of what topics have already been brought up. Thanks for your help.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=1

[jcrox]

If you want to risk dealing with the headaches of a dual chip card it's great. Of the 5 or so people that I personally know that have had the 9800GX2 none have had good things to say about it.

[mailman2]

Originally Posted by ryan29121

I'm in the market for a new card and I have noticed that today on Newegg they have a 9800 GX2 for $270. Before I saw this I was considering the GTX 260 and possibly the new 216 version of the 260. After looking at quite a bit of benchmarks, including the site listed below, it appears that the 9800 GX2 is a much better card for the same amount of money. Besides the fact that it consumes much more power than the 260 it out performs the 260 by a substantial margin. Would you say that the 9800 GX2 is the best card for under $300 at the moment? I do thank you in advance for your help. I apologize if a similar thread was posted earlier, since I do not post here much, I am unaware of what topics have already been brought up. Thanks for your help.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=1

GX2 has microstutter. GTX 260 FTW easily.

[ryan29121]

What kind of problems are associated with dual chips cards like the gx2?

[LovingSticky]

9800 GX2, that is easy. It has bigger power consumption, but is significantly faster (20-40% for most games). No problems at all even in Vista x64, as NVIDIA SLI is mature technology (unlike much younger ATI Crossfire).

GTX 260 is no competition for 9800GX2. Even GTX 280 comes hardly close for most games.

[trivium nate]

omg i want that GX2 so bad!!!
(Must work more hours at work!!!!)

[Tr1cK]

The consensus is that multi-GPU is still crap and single GPU is still preferred. I don't see myself going multi-GPU anytime in the near future.

GTX260 for the win.

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

GTX 260 is no competition for 9800GX2. Even GTX 280 comes hardly close for most games.

Wrong wrong wrong. First of all bench marks do not tell the whole story, they dont show you that your min FPS will be much worse with the 9800GX2 and they also dont show you the clear benefits that the GTX 260 has over the stutter fest 9800GX2 due to the GTX 260's 448bit bus with 896mb of ram versus the 256bit bus with only 512mb of effective ram on the 9800GX2.


There are plenty of games today such as Example: Crysis and Oblivion with Quarls texture pack mod that will need more Vram than only 512mb if you game at a minimum of 1680X1050 and like to use AA with AF.



Peak FPS might be better at times with the 9800GX2 but your average FPS with the 260 will be much better and offer a much smoother gaming experience. Those times that you hit the ram limit with the 9800GX2 will make games run like crap compared to that of the GTX 260.

The only people that would tell you to take the 9800GX2 over the 260 are the ones who dont know any better.

[LovingSticky]

Well, I am SLI user from 2x6800ULTRA times (through 2x7800, 2x7900, 1x8800), and current 9800GX2 is absolutely problem-free. Argument about memory si true, but I have not found any game (except Crysis) that I could not run maxed-out at 2560x1600 (I usually do not use FSAA at this insane resolution, not needed). GTX 260 could NOT do that...

9800GX2 is still the king (there is absolutely no reason to exchange it for single GTX 280, not to mention GTX 260). Only 2x GTX 260 in SLI would be better.

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

Well, I am SLI user from 2x6800ULTRA times (through 2x7800, 2x7900, 1x8800), and current 9800GX2 is absolutely problem-free. Argument about memory si true, but I have not found any game (except Crysis) that I could not run maxed-out at 2560x1600. GTX 260 could NOT do that...

If your happy with your GX2 card then keep it, im not trying to talk you out of it as my replies are directed to the OP about which card he should get. Now for you to say that the 9800GX2 card is absolutely problem-free is absolutely absurd because the majority who have gone from the GX2 card to a 260 or 280 would beg to differ.

And again, you can post benchmarks showing that peak fps are better but it doesnt prove that the GX2 card is a better solution over a 260 or 280 because that simply isnt so, bench marks like the ones you posted do not show microstutter or the fact that the average and min FPS on that of a GX2 card is not as good as a 260 or 280.

And Im sorry but Crysis is not the only game that will cause memory issues for your card, go ahead and Install Quarls Texture pack mod for Oblivion and run it with 4XAA and 16XAF at 1680X1050 and tell me you still have enough Vram. Go ahead and run any UE3 engine based game with forced 4XAA 16XAF and tell me that you still have enough Vram.

My last card was a 512mb HD 4870 and all of those scenarios I just listed for you brought the card to its knees due to the Vram limit under the settings that I like to use. Hence why I purchased a GTX 260.


There are so many different post on different forums such as guru3d.com from users who got fed up with the GX2 due to inconsistency and stutter who upgraded to a 260 or 280 and have nothing but praises for how much smoother the gaming experience is with those cards vs the GX2.

[LovingSticky]

Originally Posted by parasiteeve

And again, you can post benchmarks showing that peak fps are better but it doesnt prove that the GX2 card is a better solution over a 260 or 280 because that simply isnt so, bench marks like the ones you posted do not show microstutter or the fact that the average and min FPS on that of a GX2 card is not as good as a 260 or 280.

You are wrong again. Those benchmarks show average FPS.

GTX 260 is a fine card, but no way competition to 9800GX2. GTX 280 is a direct competitor to 9800GX2, but no way GTX 260.

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

You are wrong again. Those benchmarks show average FPS.

Im not sure if those benchmarks are based on average or peak but either way the benchmarks still dont tell the whole story as it neglects to show min fps and microstutter both of which are issues that are much worse on a GX2 card vs a single 260 or 280 hence the smoother more consistent gaming experience.

Like I said, if your happy with your card then thats fine, but the OP did ask which card he should choose and based on the fact that he is purchasing a new GPU I would say he should get the card with the bigger bus and larger amounts of Vram if he does not want to have to upgrade again for a good while not to mention he will not have the headaches associated with the GX2 card.