GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy?

Maverickman · 06-17-08, 06:09 PM

This is the question I'm pondering now. The GTX 280 has 1GB of dedicated memory as well as the new architecture. It will probably be better for future games. The only obvious drawback is the price. I can get a 9800 GX2 for well under $500, and it offers similar, if not better performance. The 9800 GX2 is limited to 512MB of memory for each card though, and that can be a drawback in higher resolutions and in future games. Money is not a huge issue for me, but I'm torn between the two. I respect the opinions of the people on this board. Which would you pick up?

BTW. I'll be selling my 8800 GTs very soon to upgrade.

spajdr · 06-17-08, 06:15 PM

GTX 280 have mostly better min.fps in games, thats why i bought it and not GX2.
And also lesser fps hit with AA applied at 1920x1200 and higher resolution.

G-Man · 06-17-08, 06:15 PM

wait for the 300 series, its suppose to be double the performance of the GTX 280, GTX 380 FALL 2009!

Maverickman · 06-17-08, 06:26 PM

I don't know if any of us can wait that long!!!

spajdr · 06-17-08, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverickman

I don't know if any of us can wait that long!!!

Sure not, since then you could wait forever

Buy GTX 280 and later second piece, for lower price, just look how this beautie scales in SLI
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews....=579&pageid=17

Blacklash · 06-17-08, 06:28 PM

You have GT SLi? If so I would OC those to 660-700|2000 and call it even. The GTX 280 will be better in some cases @ 1920x and up with AA active. Here's one glaring example-

Personally, I would not move from overclocked 8800GT SLi to a 9800GX2 unless you planned on going Quad SLi. I'd get a GTX 260 or 280 now, and SLi later if that is what you want to do.

Red_Shift · 06-17-08, 07:20 PM

GTX280 is overpriced period.
If I had a lot of money I'd buy it, but if I had a limited budget I'd rather buy a 9800GX2, which is selling close to 400$ now. There are no relevant differences (for the average user, gamer I mean) between the two GPUs when it comes to non-performance issues.
I understand it is an expensive chip to manufacture, but I bet sales will be poor in the first months, so nVidia will build up a nice stock and the price will fall down considerably. I'm hoping for a Xmas GTX280+Nehalem buy.

Maverickman · 06-17-08, 07:41 PM

I'm not so optimistic that the GTX 280 will fall in price anytime soon. It just costs too much to make that GPU and yields are just too poor. I agree that the card is overpriced, but we all know that the best performance comes with a premium price tag. I'm just looking for a card that will last me for a while. I'm leaning toward the GTX 280 for that reason. While the 9800 GX2 might be the better buy now, it may not look as good 6 months from now. Also, that 1GB of dedicated memory looks sweet for AA and aF in high resolutions.

DeusGear · 06-17-08, 07:59 PM

Wait. The 9800gx2 256 bit bus is terrible and sli doesn't really help much. The 512 bit bus bandwidth is where it's at.

DSC · 06-17-08, 08:07 PM

I'd wait for the 55nm shrink GT200b. I know SLI has micro-stuttering and framebuffer limitations because of the 512MB per card(8800GT/GTS 512/9800GTX/9800GX2) but the GTX 280 isn't very compelling atm unless you are running single card atm or something less than a SLI solution or Nvidia releases some magic drivers to increase performance and GTX 280 trounces the GX2 in every benchmark, which it should have done in the first place.

Pennyboy · 06-18-08, 02:21 AM

I am going for the 260 only because I can't afford the 280. From the reviews, benchmarks I think you are generally better off with a 280 over the X2.

06-17-08, 06:09 PM	#1
Maverickman Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: South Florida Posts: 524	GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? This is the question I'm pondering now. The GTX 280 has 1GB of dedicated memory as well as the new architecture. It will probably be better for future games. The only obvious drawback is the price. I can get a 9800 GX2 for well under $500, and it offers similar, if not better performance. The 9800 GX2 is limited to 512MB of memory for each card though, and that can be a drawback in higher resolutions and in future games. Money is not a huge issue for me, but I'm torn between the two. I respect the opinions of the people on this board. Which would you pick up? BTW. I'll be selling my 8800 GTs very soon to upgrade. __________________ Core i7 3770 @ 3.4GHz EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked 1TB Seagate HDD 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 16X DVD-RW drive Gateway 24-inch 108p monitor Gateway speakers

06-17-08, 06:15 PM	#2
spajdr Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 347	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? GTX 280 have mostly better min.fps in games, thats why i bought it and not GX2. And also lesser fps hit with AA applied at 1920x1200 and higher resolution. __________________ ASUS Rampage II GENE + Intel i7-920 @ 3.8 GHz + Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 6GB RAM OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 1600MHz / Gainward Geforce GTX470 SLI 1x30GB SSD OCZ Vertex Turbo (system) / 2x30GB SSD OCZ Vertex RAID 0 (games) 23.6" Acer GD245HQBID + 3D Vision / PSU Nexus RX-8500 850W / Asus OC STATION

06-17-08, 06:15 PM	#3
G-Man i can hit the g spot Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 274	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? wait for the 300 series, its suppose to be double the performance of the GTX 280, GTX 380 FALL 2009! __________________ Core i9 "Engineering Sample"

06-17-08, 06:26 PM	#4
Maverickman Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: South Florida Posts: 524	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? I don't know if any of us can wait that long!!! __________________ Core i7 3770 @ 3.4GHz EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked 1TB Seagate HDD 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 16X DVD-RW drive Gateway 24-inch 108p monitor Gateway speakers

06-17-08, 06:28 PM	#6
Blacklash 8^9^3 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Old Vizima Posts: 3,679	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? You have GT SLi? If so I would OC those to 660-700\|2000 and call it even. The GTX 280 will be better in some cases @ 1920x and up with AA active. Here's one glaring example- Personally, I would not move from overclocked 8800GT SLi to a 9800GX2 unless you planned on going Quad SLi. I'd get a GTX 260 or 280 now, and SLi later if that is what you want to do. __________________ Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.96GHz (1.36v)\|Mushkin 998681 XP3-12800 (3x2GB) ASUS TUF Sabertooth (X58)\|ASUS GTX 580 DirectCU II (980\|4604)\|ASUS PA246Q WD VelociRaptor 150GB HD (x2)\|Pioneer DVR-2920Q\|LG GH22LS30\|Klipsch PM20 2.0 SilverStone OP1000-E\|SilverStone TJ10-B\|Thermalright U-120 Extreme\|Win 7 HP x64

06-17-08, 07:20 PM	#7
Red_Shift MESA Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Leiria, Portugal Posts: 210	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? GTX280 is overpriced period. If I had a lot of money I'd buy it, but if I had a limited budget I'd rather buy a 9800GX2, which is selling close to 400$ now. There are no relevant differences (for the average user, gamer I mean) between the two GPUs when it comes to non-performance issues. I understand it is an expensive chip to manufacture, but I bet sales will be poor in the first months, so nVidia will build up a nice stock and the price will fall down considerably. I'm hoping for a Xmas GTX280+Nehalem buy. __________________ Asus P4P800 (socket 865PE) \|\| P4 2,6C @ 3,25Ghz\|\| 1Gb PC3200 Twinmos CL2.5-3-3-8 Asus V9999GT 128Mb DDR @ 400/850 Seagate 80Gb ATA 7200rpm 2mb cache \|\| DVD-RW TDK 16x +/-R, 4xDL \|\| CD-RW Samsung 48x24x48x Enermax Noisetaker 375W

06-17-08, 07:41 PM	#8
Maverickman Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: South Florida Posts: 524	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? I'm not so optimistic that the GTX 280 will fall in price anytime soon. It just costs too much to make that GPU and yields are just too poor. I agree that the card is overpriced, but we all know that the best performance comes with a premium price tag. I'm just looking for a card that will last me for a while. I'm leaning toward the GTX 280 for that reason. While the 9800 GX2 might be the better buy now, it may not look as good 6 months from now. Also, that 1GB of dedicated memory looks sweet for AA and aF in high resolutions. __________________ Core i7 3770 @ 3.4GHz EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked 1TB Seagate HDD 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 16X DVD-RW drive Gateway 24-inch 108p monitor Gateway speakers

06-17-08, 07:59 PM	#9
DeusGear Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 575	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? Wait. The 9800gx2 256 bit bus is terrible and sli doesn't really help much. The 512 bit bus bandwidth is where it's at. __________________ Abit ip35 pro q6600 3.6 MSI N480GTX 8gb G.Skill Win7

06-17-08, 08:07 PM	#10
DSC Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 881	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? I'd wait for the 55nm shrink GT200b. I know SLI has micro-stuttering and framebuffer limitations because of the 512MB per card(8800GT/GTS 512/9800GTX/9800GX2) but the GTX 280 isn't very compelling atm unless you are running single card atm or something less than a SLI solution or Nvidia releases some magic drivers to increase performance and GTX 280 trounces the GX2 in every benchmark, which it should have done in the first place.

06-18-08, 02:21 AM	#11
Pennyboy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand Posts: 642	Re: GeForce GTX 280 or 9800 X2? Which one would you buy? I am going for the 260 only because I can't afford the 280. From the reviews, benchmarks I think you are generally better off with a 280 over the X2. __________________ RIG Intel Core i7 2600k ASUS P8P67 Deluxe (B3 Revision) EVGA GeForce GTX 680 x2 SLI Corsair Vengeance 16GB CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B Corsair HX1000 PSU Intel 520 480GB SATA3 SSD Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black Edition Corsair Obsidian 650D Case Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD PCIe Logitech Z-680 5.1 Speakers Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard Razer Imperator BF3 Edition Mouse ASUS VG236H 23.6" 120hz LCD with nVidia 3D Vision Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

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