bit-tech.net

Nvidia has 9800 GTX+ : 55nm G92

Published on 19th June 2008 by Richard Swinburne

G92 on 55nm - that G80 core has come a long way since its 90nm launch in November 2006

If you were thinking Nvidia had no answer to the AMD HD 4850 and was only launching the 260 GTX and 280 GTX, you might want to think again. Nvidia dropped into our offices today to give us a sneak peek at the new 55nm G92 part it has been working on - the 9800 GTX+ (plus). Older 9800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512 and 8800 GT parts were made using a 65nm G92 core, which was evolved from the original G80 part that launched in November 2006 - but this card doesn't have that weakness.

Again this core architecture goes from strength to strength and using TSMC's 55nm process - the same one AMD uses for the HD 3000 series graphics cards (and 700 series chipsets), Nvidia has made an even cooler GPU.

Well, it would be cooler, but the 9800 GTX+ is clocked even higher than the old GTX with a core speed of 738MHz, up from 675MHz - a 9.3 percent increase. Shader clocks have also been increased from 1,688MHz to 1,836MHz (an increase of 8.8 percent), and GDDR3 memory remains around the 1.0-1.2GHz (2.0-2.4GHz effective) speed.

The memory chips have changed from Samsung on the 9800 GTX to Hynix H5RS5223CFR-N2C in our 9800 GTX+ sample which is rated for 1.2GHz (2.4GHz).

It's $229 price will place the 9800 GTX+ directly between the "more expensive" (we'll see) HD 4870 (whenever that arrives - it completely depends on GDDR5 availability) and the HD 4850 at $199, although we expect AMD to drop the price of the HD 4850 in response to this.

The current 65nm 9800 GTX will also drop in price below the new 9800 GTX+ to $199, and so we expect the rest of the lower card SKUs like the 8800 GTS 512, 8800 GT and G94 based 9600 GT to also drop in price too! However, Nvidia wouldn't confirm this with us yet. Since the 8800 GTS 512, 8800 GT have already reached end-of-life, and even the 9800 GTX is reported to have followed recently this doesn't seem too far fetched as people already try to clear stock, just a short couple of months after it was launched.

We also asked if the 9600 GT will be ported to 55nm but Nvidia said it "hasn't decided yet".

The one problem we see is that that all you who've recently bought 9800 GTX or 9800 GX2s will be mightily annoyed at the fact this new card arrives without warning at a better performance but with a very, very attractive price indeed.

Are you one of the customers miffed at the sudden appearance of the 9800GTX+, or are you glad there are more options on the market? Let us know in the forums.

Nvidia has 9800 GTX+ : 55nm G92 Nvidia has 9800 GTX+ - 55nm G92

The Leadtek 9800GTX versus the new 9800GTX+ - yes, they are identical apart from the sticker

Can you tell which is which (actually we had to look hard!!) - the new Plus model is on the left. The 4+2 phase power design is identical on both.

On the back the new 9800GTX+ core components look slightly smaller and the new 55nm G92 is 17mm square versus 65nm G92 which is 18mm square! Whoooo!

44 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

M4RTIN 19th June 2008, 17:31

so this is below the 260 and 280 right? im just back to being confused again. and has the 9800gx2 been killed now too

Paradigm Shifter 19th June 2008, 17:35

nVidia are determined to win by sheer market product saturation. They've got so many overlapping models now that it's crazy. Not that price drops and technical improvements are a bad thing, though.

logan'srun 19th June 2008, 17:41

well, I think that kind of blows really. Especially since I just picked up the 9800GTX last week. So what, sell it to somebody who can't read? I mean, this doesn't seem smart towards their consumers if you ask me (wait, you are).

pistol_pete 19th June 2008, 17:45

I bought my 8800GT back in January for £180, and it seemed like an awesome deal at the time - now prices are dropping every week and there's a new high end card every month with something slightly different. Bit pissed off really, Nvidia are just flooding the market with nondescript products.

Nvidia should put as much work into product naming as they do into releasing new cards.

Bindibadgi 19th June 2008, 17:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan'srun
well, I think that kind of blows really. Especially since I just picked up the 9800GTX last week. So what, sell it to somebody who can't read? I mean, this doesn't seem smart towards their consumers if you ask me (wait, you are).

Sell it NOW, to someone who hasn't read the internet yet. I'm sorry, but you must be well pissed :o I know I would be.

The 9800 GX2 is end of line, as is the 9800 GTX - this 55nm product will replace it :) but it still performs less than a single GX2 mind.

mclean007 19th June 2008, 18:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan'srun
well, I think that kind of blows really. Especially since I just picked up the 9800GTX last week. So what, sell it to somebody who can't read? I mean, this doesn't seem smart towards their consumers if you ask me (wait, you are).

It's bad luck when you buy something a week before it gets superseded, but that's the way it rolls in this industry - products never hold their value because the next big thing is always just a few months (at most) away. Ultimately, you must have thought the performance of the 9800 GTX was worth whatever you paid last week, and that isn't changed because something new is announced that happens to offer even better value. You must have known at the time that the 280 and 260 would hit within days and the current generation would drop in price, right?

Or just pack it back up, send it back and pay the restocking fee (if any), then buy yourself a 9800 GTX+ or whatever.

DXR_13KE 19th June 2008, 18:07

this is severely pissing me off.... they are saturating the market with overlapping models with stupid nomenclatures and killing of good graphic cards (at the same time every pc part seller around here has entered the race to sell s*** old hardware at stupid high prices).... at the same time none of their graphic cards support DX10.1.... i hope they don't do the BS move that they did with the FX series.....

Lepermessiah 19th June 2008, 18:24

lol, people are pissed because cheaper, faster products continue to be released? How long you been into the PC industry? It has always been like this.

C-Sniper 19th June 2008, 18:39

but leper, Nvidia is saturating the market at a rate that is about 4-5 times as fast as AMD and pretty much any other electronic manufactuer. Basically they are using sheer brute force and consumer stupidity to take the market. And to me it seems that the 9xxx series was just a filler for the normal big jump that is seen from graphics cards manufactuers

atanum141 19th June 2008, 18:42

Either way, ATi wins on price, looks like im gonna sell my HD3850 for a 4850.
i only got it a few months ago....sheesh.

Goty 19th June 2008, 18:42

So, let's say a 7%-10% increase in performance (I'm being optimistic here) over the old 9800GTX, Where does that put it terms of competition with the 4850, now?

staples 19th June 2008, 18:58

I agree, Nvidia has completely saturated the market. Hopefully to their detriment.

Will be interesting to see how real world scores score pan out and how to architecture works as a whole package and not just a gamers paradise.
Recently bought a 8800GT for £130, think I am still happy, originally I was going to upgrade teh whole system but now I can hope for 8800GT price spirals and go sli.

Still, am looking for the final benchmarks and what NVIDIA is going to do next.
Business wise they are definitely covering their @sses, hopefully the performance margin will drop and bang for buck becomes insignificant as NVIDIA stumble for a generation (2months haha), but meh, is that really going to happen?!...

johnnyboy700 19th June 2008, 19:13

Bloody hell, it was hard enough to pick which card to go for before now it getting downright confusing. I'm in the market for a good card with about £400 tops to spend and with so many versions of the 9800 GTX flying aound at the moment and even more just about to arrive I think I'll hang fire for now.
The numbers for the GTX 280 look interesting but I haven't seen much on the 260 so I think I'll let the field settle down a bit before I jump in. I feel sorry for the folks that just bought themselves a 9800GTX (or even a GX2), I was nearly one of them. Plus we still don't know what ATI will bring to the table, I hope its good becuase the market is so one sided at the moment that N-Videa are now competing with themselves.

chrisb2e9 19th June 2008, 19:56

I was going to buy a 9800gtx today. going to wait and see what happens now.
maybe this is why some sellers had some good sales on.

Kipman725 19th June 2008, 20:08

wow for the first time since the geforce 2 i'm confused over the graphics card market.. what is the fastest card atm?

wuyanxu 19th June 2008, 20:11

oh boy. glad i picked up a £190 8800GTX when they still retail for £300.

if nVidia can shrink G92 within 4month, i think gtx280 (this is the fastest card ATM) is not a good buy even if it's at £300. wait until it gets a die shrink then buy gtx280+

HourBeforeDawn 19th June 2008, 20:48

^^^ well when it gets a die shrink its rumored that it will be called the GTX 290

DXR_13KE 19th June 2008, 20:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
lol, people are pissed because cheaper, faster products continue to be released? How long you been into the PC industry? It has always been like this.

how much time did the 9xxx family of cards last? does the new nvidia cards have directX10.1?

this is the saturation game + lack of evolution, a 1.5 year old card (8800GTX) is on par with current ones... and what the hell is it with the change of name with the new graphic cards? its more confusing then ever!

logan'srun 19th June 2008, 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
lol, people are pissed because cheaper, faster products continue to be released? How long you been into the PC industry? It has always been like this.

dude, the only thing I'm pissed off about is that this card has ONLY been on the market for 3 months. Even given Moore's law, I should have been clear for a couple moore month's (realistically longer than that, but I can play ball at 6-8mos). better yet, none of this architecture is on nvidia's 1H08 roadmap. Good luck finding 2H08 from them either.
Looks to me like they're flooding the market now to tighten the lines between AMD/Intel's war with integrated graphics.
how do you make up market share? Well, you produce more products at a faster rate thus disqualifying previous releases. If these are all released one after the other like they've just done, why bother buying anything? All they'll do is piss of their existing customer base by outdating a 3 month old product. Please. At this rate, we all might as well wait for another release from them 4Q that will be 45nm. . .and just ignore the 3-4 more release that they'll do in between.

Redbeaver 19th June 2008, 21:17

holy freakin SH1T!

$199 for 9800GTX and $229 for the plus??

gawd, my 8800GTS 640mb was like $350 lol

i might pick up the $229 just for the heck of it. i can prolly sell my 8800 to $100 or sth then pop this baby in.

Jojii 19th June 2008, 21:58

gts 640 what a runt of the family.

GoodBytes 19th June 2008, 22:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan'srun
well, I think that kind of blows really. Especially since I just picked up the 9800GTX last week. So what, sell it to somebody who can't read? I mean, this doesn't seem smart towards their consumers if you ask me (wait, you are).

You can return the card.. you have 15days by law. In here in Quebec you have 90days with the manufacture. Sure you maybe have to pay shipping, but its a small loss and allows you to get the better model.

Shielder 19th June 2008, 22:04

The new cards don't (according to Anandtech) do DX 10.1. Neither are they faster than two 4850s in Crossfire, despite costing more.

When are BT going to do a review of the 260 and 280?

Andy

GoodBytes 19th June 2008, 22:18

Everything that DX10.1 can already be done just as good, even better without a DX10.1 card. Also, the DX10.1 feature targets more CAD or 3D programs than games. Games REALLY doesn't and will NEVER use the new features of DX10.1.

Timmy_the_tortoise 19th June 2008, 22:51

Too... Many...

There's so many Variants of of each too..

There's loads of different 9600GTs... Overclocked? Silent cooling? Supercooling? about 20+ different manufacturers...

Jesus christ.. Just release a basic line (Top of the range, High range, Mid range, Low Range)

salesman 19th June 2008, 23:20

HELP!!! I'm stranded on a desert island filled with video cards all hungry and ready to eat me unless i buy one of them. What should i do? Oww the one with the dual slot cooler looks nice it has the hot chick on the box.

But seriously if you don't need a video card don't buy one, and don't make an excuse to buy one by buying a crappy game that needs a better video card to run. I bought a 7300 gs for $50 and it runs all my favorite games like fallout and fallout 2 and system shock 2 and C&C and games like that. Plus if you get that fancy video card to play those amazing looking games on you're going to have to buy a "BIG" fancy monitor to play those games on to get your moneys worth. I had an old dell monitor given to me it works its free 1024 x 768 real estate makes me happy for the moment.

Cool news though bit-tech thanks.

Mentai 19th June 2008, 23:45

@Salesman
Somehow I don't think you're representative of most of the community here... but thanks for the advice :D

LordPyrinc 20th June 2008, 00:15

Now I think I know why I stuck with ATI branded cards so long, I don't remember their model numbering being nearly as confusing... but then again, I only bought a new video card every two years or so. It just really irks me that a card model begining with the number 9 may or may not be as fast as a card model starting with a number 8... no that all depends on the second number of the model... or even worst still, the combination of letters following all 4 model numbers.

woodshop 20th June 2008, 00:48

With AMD/ATI new Linux pledge and Linux drivers shipping on the Disk. i think that Bit-tech should visit the current ATI vs. Nvidia Linux crown battle in the form of a performance review. (Since we all know Nvidia is god of linux)

C-Sniper 20th June 2008, 01:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodshop
With AMD/ATI new Linux pledge and Linux drivers shipping on the Disk. i think that Bit-tech should visit the current ATI vs. Nvidia Linux crown battle in the form of a performance review. (Since we all know Nvidia is god of linux)

And unfortunately they still are kinda :(

I have an Radeon Xpress 200M in my laptop running Slackware 12.1 and i had to do a custom package without the modules to get mine to work (i'm use to it so it is no big deal) but still, they have some nuances to work out.

Journeyer 20th June 2008, 07:28

I must say I'm a little more tempted by this than the much more expensive GTX200s - don't get me wrong, they're nice and shiny, but value for money enters the play here. Then again, I might as well get another 8800GTS 640, clock it up to the same levels as the one I've got, and voila - no performance issues for months to come. And then hold off buying into the GTX200s until around x-mas. For me, this sounded like a good plan - obviously now Nvidia has to ruin it by making yet another tempting, and oh-so-shiny new product, at quite an attractive price.

I'll have to think about this... (I'm also wanting a new MB and a quad-core - it's a fascinating and at times frustrating hobby) :D

ParaHelix.org 20th June 2008, 08:19

What in hell, sometimes I feel that I am actually scared to buy an Nvidia card since they seem to "start again" every day. Was gonna get the 9800 GX2, nope, gone, was gonna get the 9800 GTX, nope, obsolete (nearly).

How about just making for example, one fully decent card per year an in the time it takes until next year atleast they will know exactly what and how to improve on the last model.

Mo_ 20th June 2008, 08:59

i brought BFG 9800GTX just 3 weeks ago for £180; F***ing nvidia. Might have to think of a lye to return it, any suggestions? or does anyone want to buy it, its an OC version too!! :D

yakyb 20th June 2008, 09:05

i may just get one of these to replace my dead 3850!

tuteja1986 20th June 2008, 09:25

http://www.computerbase.de/art...tt_unreal_tournament_3

Unreal Tournament 3 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 145
HD4850 : 65
9800GTX : 81

Unreal Tournament 3 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 72
HD4850 : 63
9800GTX : 34

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.computerbase.de/art..._clive_barkers_jericho

Clive Barker's Jericho 1600x12004xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 53
HD4850 : 29
9800GTX : 25

Clive Barker's Jericho 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 26
HD4850 : 28
9800GTX : 7

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.computerbase.de/art...v770/8/#abschnitt_fear

FEAR 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 147
HD4850 : 92
9800GTX : 83

FEAR 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 93
HD4850 : 60
9800GTX : 49

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.computerbase.de/art...schnitt_call_of_juarez

Call of Juarez 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF
GTX 280 : 30
HD4850 : 21
9800GTX : 20

Call of Juarez 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF
GTX 280 : 24
HD4850 : 17
9800GTX : 6

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.computerbase.de/art...nitt_company_of_heroes

Company of heroes 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
GTX 280 : 84
HD4850 : 46
9800GTX : 47

Company of heroes 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF
GTX 280 : 66
HD4850 : 42
9800GTX : 35

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.computerbase.de/art...#abschnitt_lost_planet

Lost planet 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 58
HD4850 : 31
9800GTX : 34

Lost planet 1600x1200 8xAA/16xAF:
GTX 280 : 45
HD4850 : 29
9800GTX : 24

Shielder 20th June 2008, 09:36

Tute, they're comparing apples to oranges there. The 4850 is the mainstream card, not the uber high card that the 4870 is going to be. If they were going to perform a meaningful comparison, they'd compare the GTX280 against the 4870 (not released yet) or the GTX260 against the 4850.

Andy

wuyanxu 20th June 2008, 09:49

from benchmarks tuteja1986 posted, seems like ATI have sorted out their AA problems. (im comparison to 9800gtx, its rival)

nVIdia did make amazing card that lasted for a whooping 2 years: 8800GTX before any other offering from both company came even close to beating it.
and i think gtx280 will be the same.

mclean007 20th June 2008, 10:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shielder
Tute, they're comparing apples to oranges there. The 4850 is the mainstream card, not the uber high card that the 4870 is going to be. If they were going to perform a meaningful comparison, they'd compare the GTX280 against the 4870 (not released yet) or the GTX260 against the 4850.

Andy

Nevertheless, impressive numbers from NVidia's new flagship part!

kenco_uk 20th June 2008, 12:42

Agree with the comments regarding saturation. The fact I can easily oc my 9800GTX to 760core/1300mem means the GTX+ has been made available for all the wrong reasons - it's simply not required.

13eightyfour 20th June 2008, 17:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shielder
Tute, they're comparing apples to oranges there. The 4850 is the mainstream card, not the uber high card that the 4870 is going to be. If they were going to perform a meaningful comparison, they'd compare the GTX280 against the 4870 (not released yet) or the GTX260 against the 4850.

Andy

Price has to be taken into account though, all the 4850's ive seen for sale are at least £100 cheaper than the gtx260 and in some cases 2 4850's come to less than 1 gtx260.

I want to see a proper review with price taken into account aswell

slugbug 21st June 2008, 17:25

The XFX 9800GTX is down to $185.99 after rebate at one Canadian e-tailer

rls669 21st June 2008, 22:14

Link?

Magic Missile! 19th July 2008, 00:10

Any one know when Newegg.com is going to have some 9800gtx+ in stock? I was going to tri-sli 9800's but now I am going to get the Plus editions...Ill be watching for a reply, thanks.

-MM

$SOLID$ Necro 19th July 2008, 03:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by titanium angel
Price has to be taken into account though, all the 4850's ive seen for sale are at least £100 cheaper than the gtx260 and in some cases 2 4850's come to less than 1 gtx260.

I want to see a proper review with price taken into account aswell

Anadtech has a review with all the "Usual suspects" your looking for :D

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

Nvidia had to drop prices ASAP (And it was a BIG drop!) on there new "Flagship" cards to compete with ATI once the 4800 series prices and benches were released, or they would be eaten alive!

Here is a preview using a "Engineering test sample" that is not final in terms of bios or drivers..though it is doing pretty well, it will improve some before retail release I'm sure, some games still don't scale well with the current drivers.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354

As far as an "Apples to Apples" video card matchup goes, it ends up looking like this, no matter what there intended market was supposed to be:

GTX 280 will be competing against the upcoming 4870X2 (400~450$ Range)

GTX 260 is on par with the 4870 (300~350$)

9800GTX and 9800GTX+ is going head to head with the 4850 (200~230$)

Anything less then 200$ is pretty much obsolete for most gamers looking for a new card, unless your on a super tight budget. The 8800GT/3870 are in the 140~160$ range, and the 9600GT/3850 is around 120-140$