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I just thought there wasn't enough b*tching going on about the upcoming 9800gx2 so why not add another rant to the collection. Now, I feel that all speculation, prior to hands-on with a shipping product is just that, speculation. That said, based on specs, some pretty good assumptions can be made. It sure looks like a two 8800gts sandwich. Hardly a "next gen" part.
I guess if you can run two of these together (9800gx2), you'll have surpassed what can be had by a tri-sli config. with (2) 8800gts'. That's a little validation. If it didn't require sli driver attention to acheive it's benefit it would be nice.
Ahh, I'm just a traditionalist, one "king of the hill" card that runs everything currently
offered well, for me thank you. Sli I view, as a nice way to extend an existing video card's capabilities by adding a now, older cheaper equivilent card to your system. I keep my system pretty up to date and I tweak it but, buying more than one of something as expensive as a gpu, that is on the fast track to obsolescence from day one, is just not something I'll do.
Assuming this jolopy of a card works well (and is not a repeat of the 7950 version), I still
have a gripe; "standardization". Of course, my Apogee waterblock that fits damn near every card made, will not work here. So, I can add $125 (at least) for a new waterblock to the expected $600 for the card and you see where I am going. Not watercooling isn't an option, I've worked too hard to obtain the cool ambient temps in my case at very good noise levels, to change now. This card looks like it exhausts into the case, not acceptable, watercooling is a must.
Of course, if this thing works and the configuration becomes the standard ok, I can change. But what if the next time (10800GX2) hotter cores require they be separated, as opposed to one on top of the other, to gain more individual heatsink area. Of course Nvidia could swallow it's pride and follow the 3870x2 layout which seems at least, more practicle, definately more elegant. Really, this time around, I don't feel like Nvidia are beginning a design standard. It seems more like an existing board design mated by bracket, likely to incur some refinement in the next iteration.
So what's a guy to do? The 9800gtx would be an option had it carried on the GTX line of
succession. Unfortunately, GTX went on a diet. I thought that a 512 bit memory interface was unlikely (I'm a pessimist) but, I had some hope that it would not move in the other direction. I suppose the 384/768 arrangement would have brought it too close in performance to the GX2. Ya know, when I finally decided to take the plunge on an 8800gtx I felt like it's replacement was probably nearing so I waited. The 8800gt/gts had very similar performance but was still just the son of 8800gtx. I held out a while longer for the certain gtx replacement. It appears as though my patience has given me roughly, a re-numbered 8800gts (the 9800gtx). I really need a replacement for my 7900gt!
I guess if you can run two of these together (9800gx2), you'll have surpassed what can be had by a tri-sli config. with (2) 8800gts'. That's a little validation. If it didn't require sli driver attention to acheive it's benefit it would be nice.
Ahh, I'm just a traditionalist, one "king of the hill" card that runs everything currently
offered well, for me thank you. Sli I view, as a nice way to extend an existing video card's capabilities by adding a now, older cheaper equivilent card to your system. I keep my system pretty up to date and I tweak it but, buying more than one of something as expensive as a gpu, that is on the fast track to obsolescence from day one, is just not something I'll do.
Assuming this jolopy of a card works well (and is not a repeat of the 7950 version), I still
have a gripe; "standardization". Of course, my Apogee waterblock that fits damn near every card made, will not work here. So, I can add $125 (at least) for a new waterblock to the expected $600 for the card and you see where I am going. Not watercooling isn't an option, I've worked too hard to obtain the cool ambient temps in my case at very good noise levels, to change now. This card looks like it exhausts into the case, not acceptable, watercooling is a must.
Of course, if this thing works and the configuration becomes the standard ok, I can change. But what if the next time (10800GX2) hotter cores require they be separated, as opposed to one on top of the other, to gain more individual heatsink area. Of course Nvidia could swallow it's pride and follow the 3870x2 layout which seems at least, more practicle, definately more elegant. Really, this time around, I don't feel like Nvidia are beginning a design standard. It seems more like an existing board design mated by bracket, likely to incur some refinement in the next iteration.
So what's a guy to do? The 9800gtx would be an option had it carried on the GTX line of
succession. Unfortunately, GTX went on a diet. I thought that a 512 bit memory interface was unlikely (I'm a pessimist) but, I had some hope that it would not move in the other direction. I suppose the 384/768 arrangement would have brought it too close in performance to the GX2. Ya know, when I finally decided to take the plunge on an 8800gtx I felt like it's replacement was probably nearing so I waited. The 8800gt/gts had very similar performance but was still just the son of 8800gtx. I held out a while longer for the certain gtx replacement. It appears as though my patience has given me roughly, a re-numbered 8800gts (the 9800gtx). I really need a replacement for my 7900gt!