DH Review: XFX 9800 GX2 and 790i Ultra Sli

Zardon · Mar 18, 2008, 01:50 PM

Read The Review Here
_____________________

Today we have the XFX Nforce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard in for review and we are pairing it with a 9800 GX2 video card, also from XFX.

Is this is the fastest hardware currently available? We aim to show you, in our 29 page indepth analysis.

slickric21 · Mar 18, 2008, 02:26 PM

Really good review, thanks.

Would have liked the Nvidia cards to have been tested on the same mobo though, i'm assuming that the 790i was used for the GX2 and the 780i for the Ultra ?
The 790i mobo is obviously faster.

However it wouldn't have affected the conclusion, 9800 GX2 looks like a fast card/s !!!

***Veridian3*** · Mar 18, 2008, 03:12 PM

All graphics testing was performed on the 790i.

BulletTheory · Mar 18, 2008, 03:13 PM

Really great review. Great job DH

humonous · Mar 18, 2008, 05:10 PM

Well i have just came from reading that utter mess of a hardocp article with a mere 3 games tested and after reading DH's review, you guys are miles ahead lately of anything ive read out there.

Can't believe hardocp are using a 1333fsb 3ghz cpu either. their tests were clearly CPU limited.

LukeK · Mar 18, 2008, 05:12 PM

absolute top job ! another top class review which showed me a lot of things I needed to know, especially when looking at some of the other reviews. that hexus article was a farce. Even disappointed with hardocps article too, although their groupies in the forums are doing some kiss assing I see.

Anyway enough of other substandard editorials. Top job from DH. ive ordered one.

Alex · Mar 18, 2008, 05:13 PM

Absolutely brilliant, took me a good 40 minutes to read and digest. By far the best one up again today. You guys deserve more credit tbh.

brutusmaximus · Mar 18, 2008, 05:14 PM

DUGG.

great looking card and the mobo is looking to be shaping up well too. Glad to see you are one of the few sites who properly patches games and uses the highest end hardware to eliminate cpu limiting. Some really big sites today have serious egg on their face due to both of these points.

With regards to the noise levels of the GX2, just how loud are they? and what about temperatures?

Shrink · Mar 18, 2008, 05:15 PM

Fantastic review! I regret that the performance is so good because I am now tempted to go for this card. Will the 790i accept DDR2? I've got $2000 to spend on a new system (not including monitor) and want 4 gigs of ram and the DDR3 pushes my budget in a bad way (not to mention the $600 card and $360 motherboard).

ChaosMinionX · Mar 18, 2008, 06:06 PM

Great reviews guys, looks like 2 solid products.

Have you guys ever thought to use Everest over Sandra? I dont find that sandra is very accurate when it comes to system performance, where as everest benchmarks are almost right on with what the computer is actually doing. Speaking of Memory bandwidth and such, Everest seems to be more accurate. Any thoughts on this?

Zardon · Mar 18, 2008, 06:10 PM

not really, its a very small part of the reviews and only really included as a curiousity. im not a big fan of synthetic testing generally which is why i made the DH photoshop benchmark system. Not sure if I agree with you on everest being significantly better - I included both in the recent skulltrail review and they have strengths and weaknesses depending on the specific tests.

Vikingod · Mar 18, 2008, 06:21 PM

Interesting to see the Assassins Creed figures, nice addition, IMO.

As always, great review, the most comprehensive I've read today by far.

Zardon · Mar 18, 2008, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrink

Will the 790i accept DDR2?

Unfortunately not, the 780 is DDR2.

ChaosMinionX · Mar 18, 2008, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

not really, its a very small part of the reviews and only really included as a curiousity. im not a big fan of synthetic testing generally which is why i made the DH photoshop benchmark system. Not sure if I agree with you on everest being significantly better - I included both in the recent skulltrail review and they have strengths and weaknesses depending on the specific tests.

Agreed, synthetics only are relevant to a benchmarker really, and not the average user. Still excellent work with the review, just thought I would throw that out there about Sandra

Shrink · Mar 18, 2008, 06:32 PM

Too bad - well I just put in the order for my system. Here are the specs:

-
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box
-
ASUS Maximus Formula LGA775 X38 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI 2GBLAN SATA RAID 1394 Motherboard
-
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN Memory Kit
-
Scythe Ninja Plus REV.B Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S478 S754 S939 W/ 120MM Fan Adjuster
-
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio
-
Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX Triple 12V 50A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E
-
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
-
Samsung SH-S203N Black SATA DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL18X/12X Lightscribe DVD Writer OEM W/ SW
-
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 32BIT DVD OEM
-
EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GX2 600MHZ 1GB 2.0GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDMI HDCP HDTV Out Video Card

I guess i'll continue doing the beta testing when I give my old system to my son and on my work system <g>.

Any comments on this system? I don't plan to buy another GX2 to run in SLI (as I understand it is not possible with this mobo).

Zardon · Mar 18, 2008, 06:52 PM

looks like a good system to me Shrink. can't believe the bargain prices on those 6600 quads, absolute steal IMO.

Judas · Mar 18, 2008, 07:06 PM

shrink.. the only thing i'd suggest changing is the Vista 32bit to 64bit....

humonous · Mar 18, 2008, 07:06 PM

What about Quad Sli Zardon?

Shrink · Mar 18, 2008, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

looks like a good system to me Shrink. can't believe the bargain prices on those 6600 quads, absolute steal IMO.

Yeah - they overclock pretty well too from what I have seen. Was the GX2 stable on the Intel system you guys used?

Zardon · Mar 18, 2008, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humonous

What about Quad Sli Zardon?

Nvidia have placed a seperate NDA date on this, another week basically. We have been testing it, and it works, and it actually works well in the games we have tested (even with the current driver). This really is as much as I can say right now as we are under NDA with Nvidia and would be breaking our contract.

Check back next week for results from Quad testing.

Shrink · Mar 18, 2008, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

shrink.. the only thing i'd suggest changing is the Vista 32bit to 64bit....

Thanks! Performance-wise will there be a difference? I believe all my peripherals have 64-bit drivers. I wasn't planning on going over 4GB of ram but...

Judas · Mar 18, 2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrink

Thanks! Performance-wise will there be a difference? I believe all my peripherals have 64-bit drivers. I wasn't planning on going over 4GB of ram but...

performace improvements? Well maybe... really depends on a considerable number of things.... generally i'd say yes..

But more in point, the reason i suggest 64bit is due to the fact that if you don't do it now.. your going to have to later anyways..... It just solves a number of problems that you'd likely run into down the road anyways.....

If you could manage 4gb of ram.. i'd also suggest it over 2gb....and if you go 4gb.. you'd need 64bit anyways.... considering that if you weren't running 64bit, you'd only have about 3gb of it seeable by the os.

Shrink · Mar 18, 2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

performace improvements? Well maybe... really depends on a considerable number of things.... generally i'd say yes..

But more in point, the reason i suggest 64bit is due to the fact that if you don't do it now.. your going to have to later anyways..... It just solves a number of problems that you'd likely run into down the road anyways.....

If you could manage 4gb of ram.. i'd also suggest it over 2gb....and if you go 4gb.. you'd need 64bit anyways.... considering that if you weren't running 64bit, you'd only have about 3gb of it seeable by the os.

Thanks! I changed to order to 64-bit Vista.

BlueMak · Mar 18, 2008, 08:32 PM

Great REVIEW instead of "reviews" that some people post. The board looks good. The card is a winner. I don't have complains from my 1+ year old 8800gts 640, but if I could buy a new system I would definetely choose this 9800 GX2. Nvidia should change the name of the card to 9800 AWESOME.

BTW, anyone with the card also happens to have Two Worlds installed? It is a very demanding game and I am curious how it performs with this one.

geraldmango · Mar 18, 2008, 09:06 PM

Most detailed, thorough analysis of this hardware on the net today, by a looooonggggggg shot.

first one I read was hardocp's and I thought it was really lacking in content and as if they were just going through the motions. anandtechs wasn't bad, firingsquads was decent. guru3ds was hilarious, my 12 year old sister could write better.

I have this site bookmarked as my home page this year (from anandtech). the CPU and GFX reviews are brilliant.

Not sure if I would pay this for a graphics card though, bit much, but nvidia surely are on form. ATI, lets get a reply to this, please........

Blue Devil · Mar 18, 2008, 10:58 PM

Great review!!Your guys were really fast, cmon, it was released today

.

Anyway, I really don't think someone would actually buy a 9800GX2.Of course it has a really great performance, but c'mon, it costs U$600.A 9600GT SLI is a much cheaper solution, of course its worse, but the 9800GX2 is twice its price!!!Idk if in USA and EU it's not that different, but here in Brazil, a 9600GT SLI is around $1100, and a 9800GX2(when it gets here) will be like at least $2500!

BTW, are the review results of the GPUs running timedemos or real gaming?If it's timedemos, would it make any difference in gaming?

IvanV · Mar 18, 2008, 11:08 PM

Now that was a quality read

, even though both 780i and 9800GX2 reviews will only be complete after some SLI tests are added next week (yeah, I know, I'm hard to please

).

I was quite impressed with the performance of the card as I didn't expect it to be so much better than the X2. I still consider the price a little high, as (if I'm not mistaking) it costs more than an Xbox360 and a Wii combined. I suppose it will go down a little in a couple of months (probably when the new Radeons appear).

The chipset also seems good, although it's main advantages over 780i are DDR3 and 1600MHz FSB support. The rest (including the performance) is pretty much the same as with 780i and, with the exception of three-way SLI, 680i. So it's "only" a very competitive solution in the high end market segment. There is one thing bothering me, though: you said that 790i doesn't support .5 multipliers, does that mean that it does not support E8500, Q9300 and Q9550, which have multipliers of 9.5, 7.5 and 8.5, respectively?

Necrosis · Mar 19, 2008, 02:22 AM

Great review, makes me very tempted to pick one up. However, just done some major upgrading to the HT...plus just purchased a X3350 instead of a Q9450 so it'll have to wait a bit.

***Veridian3*** · Mar 19, 2008, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Devil

BTW, are the review results of the GPUs running timedemos or real gaming?If it's timedemos, would it make any difference in gaming?

Every one of the gaming tests was real world gameplay, no timedemo's were used.

***Veridian3*** · Mar 19, 2008, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IvanV

does that mean that it does not support E8500, Q9300 and Q9550, which have multipliers of 9.5, 7.5 and 8.5, respectively?

We will have a look into that asap, it certainly wont let me enter them manually but thats not to say the board wont use them automatically i guess.

Mar 18, 2008, 01:50 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	DH Review: XFX 9800 GX2 and 790i Ultra Sli Read The Review Here _____________________ Today we have the XFX Nforce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard in for review and we are pairing it with a 9800 GX2 video card, also from XFX. Is this is the fastest hardware currently available? We aim to show you, in our 29 page indepth analysis.

Mar 18, 2008, 02:26 PM	#2
slickric21 HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Norwich, Uk Posts: 84 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Really good review, thanks. Would have liked the Nvidia cards to have been tested on the same mobo though, i'm assuming that the 790i was used for the GX2 and the 780i for the Ultra ? The 790i mobo is obviously faster. However it wouldn't have affected the conclusion, 9800 GX2 looks like a fast card/s !!! __________________

Mar 18, 2008, 03:13 PM	#4
BulletTheory Forgiveness is a Six Gun Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Quebec City Posts: 1,329 Rep Power: 55 System Specs	Really great review. Great job DH __________________ Asus P8Z68-Pro \| Intel i7 2600K @ 4.4Ghz \| Asus GTX580 Matrix @ 940/4630 \| 8GB Corsair Vengence \| Intel 510 120GB SSD WD Black 1TB \| Corsair AX750W PSU \| Corsair Obsidian 650D Case \| Samsung 245bw 24inch LCD Razer Lycosa \| Razer Imperator \| Razer Goliathus Extended Edition \| Razer Megalodon Headset

Mar 18, 2008, 05:14 PM	#8
brutusmaximus DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 520 Rep Power: 76	DUGG. great looking card and the mobo is looking to be shaping up well too. Glad to see you are one of the few sites who properly patches games and uses the highest end hardware to eliminate cpu limiting. Some really big sites today have serious egg on their face due to both of these points. With regards to the noise levels of the GX2, just how loud are they? and what about temperatures? __________________

Mar 18, 2008, 05:15 PM	#9
Shrink Recovering Beta Tester Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Bracebridge, Ontario Posts: 130 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Fantastic review! I regret that the performance is so good because I am now tempted to go for this card. Will the 790i accept DDR2? I've got $2000 to spend on a new system (not including monitor) and want 4 gigs of ram and the DDR3 pushes my budget in a bad way (not to mention the $600 card and $360 motherboard). __________________ Shrink "How come things that happen to stupid people keep happening to me?" Homer J. Simpson

Mar 18, 2008, 03:12 PM	#3
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 5,027 Rep Power: 181	All graphics testing was performed on the 790i.

Mar 18, 2008, 05:10 PM	#5
humonous DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 164 Rep Power: 0	Well i have just came from reading that utter mess of a hardocp article with a mere 3 games tested and after reading DH's review, you guys are miles ahead lately of anything ive read out there. Can't believe hardocp are using a 1333fsb 3ghz cpu either. their tests were clearly CPU limited.

Mar 18, 2008, 05:12 PM	#6
LukeK DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 158 Rep Power: 61	absolute top job ! another top class review which showed me a lot of things I needed to know, especially when looking at some of the other reviews. that hexus article was a farce. Even disappointed with hardocps article too, although their groupies in the forums are doing some kiss assing I see. Anyway enough of other substandard editorials. Top job from DH. ive ordered one.

Mar 18, 2008, 05:13 PM	#7
Alex Driverheaven Lover Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 260 Rep Power: 45	Absolutely brilliant, took me a good 40 minutes to read and digest. By far the best one up again today. You guys deserve more credit tbh.

Mar 18, 2008, 06:06 PM	#10
ChaosMinionX USB 3 dot oh Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,911 Rep Power: 47 System Specs	Great reviews guys, looks like 2 solid products. Have you guys ever thought to use Everest over Sandra? I dont find that sandra is very accurate when it comes to system performance, where as everest benchmarks are almost right on with what the computer is actually doing. Speaking of Memory bandwidth and such, Everest seems to be more accurate. Any thoughts on this? __________________ ::Heatware:: How you can help DriverHeaven by using Digg!

Mar 18, 2008, 06:10 PM	Thread Starter #11
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	not really, its a very small part of the reviews and only really included as a curiousity. im not a big fan of synthetic testing generally which is why i made the DH photoshop benchmark system. Not sure if I agree with you on everest being significantly better - I included both in the recent skulltrail review and they have strengths and weaknesses depending on the specific tests.

Mar 18, 2008, 06:21 PM	#12
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	Interesting to see the Assassins Creed figures, nice addition, IMO. As always, great review, the most comprehensive I've read today by far.

Mar 18, 2008, 06:32 PM	#15
Shrink Recovering Beta Tester Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Bracebridge, Ontario Posts: 130 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Too bad - well I just put in the order for my system. Here are the specs: - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box - ASUS Maximus Formula LGA775 X38 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI 2GBLAN SATA RAID 1394 Motherboard - Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN Memory Kit - Scythe Ninja Plus REV.B Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S478 S754 S939 W/ 120MM Fan Adjuster - Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio - Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX Triple 12V 50A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive - Samsung SH-S203N Black SATA DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL18X/12X Lightscribe DVD Writer OEM W/ SW - Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 32BIT DVD OEM - EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GX2 600MHZ 1GB 2.0GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDMI HDCP HDTV Out Video Card I guess i'll continue doing the beta testing when I give my old system to my son and on my work system <g>. Any comments on this system? I don't plan to buy another GX2 to run in SLI (as I understand it is not possible with this mobo). __________________ Shrink "How come things that happen to stupid people keep happening to me?" Homer J. Simpson Last edited by Shrink; Mar 18, 2008 at 06:47 PM.

Mar 18, 2008, 06:52 PM	Thread Starter #16
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	looks like a good system to me Shrink. can't believe the bargain prices on those 6600 quads, absolute steal IMO.

Mar 18, 2008, 07:06 PM	#18
humonous DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 164 Rep Power: 0	What about Quad Sli Zardon?

Mar 18, 2008, 08:32 PM	#24
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,465 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Great REVIEW instead of "reviews" that some people post. The board looks good. The card is a winner. I don't have complains from my 1+ year old 8800gts 640, but if I could buy a new system I would definetely choose this 9800 GX2. Nvidia should change the name of the card to 9800 AWESOME. BTW, anyone with the card also happens to have Two Worlds installed? It is a very demanding game and I am curious how it performs with this one. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Mar 18, 2008, 09:06 PM	#25
geraldmango DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 85 Rep Power: 0	Most detailed, thorough analysis of this hardware on the net today, by a looooonggggggg shot. first one I read was hardocp's and I thought it was really lacking in content and as if they were just going through the motions. anandtechs wasn't bad, firingsquads was decent. guru3ds was hilarious, my 12 year old sister could write better. I have this site bookmarked as my home page this year (from anandtech). the CPU and GFX reviews are brilliant. Not sure if I would pay this for a graphics card though, bit much, but nvidia surely are on form. ATI, lets get a reply to this, please........ Last edited by geraldmango; Mar 18, 2008 at 09:17 PM.

Mar 18, 2008, 10:58 PM	#26
Blue Devil HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Brazil Posts: 89 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Great review!!Your guys were really fast, cmon, it was released today . Anyway, I really don't think someone would actually buy a 9800GX2.Of course it has a really great performance, but c'mon, it costs U$600.A 9600GT SLI is a much cheaper solution, of course its worse, but the 9800GX2 is twice its price!!!Idk if in USA and EU it's not that different, but here in Brazil, a 9600GT SLI is around $1100, and a 9800GX2(when it gets here) will be like at least $2500! BTW, are the review results of the GPUs running timedemos or real gaming?If it's timedemos, would it make any difference in gaming? Last edited by Blue Devil; Mar 18, 2008 at 11:06 PM.

Mar 18, 2008, 11:08 PM	#27
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,912 Rep Power: 333 System Specs	Now that was a quality read , even though both 780i and 9800GX2 reviews will only be complete after some SLI tests are added next week (yeah, I know, I'm hard to please ). I was quite impressed with the performance of the card as I didn't expect it to be so much better than the X2. I still consider the price a little high, as (if I'm not mistaking) it costs more than an Xbox360 and a Wii combined. I suppose it will go down a little in a couple of months (probably when the new Radeons appear). The chipset also seems good, although it's main advantages over 780i are DDR3 and 1600MHz FSB support. The rest (including the performance) is pretty much the same as with 780i and, with the exception of three-way SLI, 680i. So it's "only" a very competitive solution in the high end market segment. There is one thing bothering me, though: you said that 790i doesn't support .5 multipliers, does that mean that it does not support E8500, Q9300 and Q9550, which have multipliers of 9.5, 7.5 and 8.5, respectively? __________________ If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Mar 19, 2008, 02:22 AM	#28
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Great review, makes me very tempted to pick one up. However, just done some major upgrading to the HT...plus just purchased a X3350 instead of a Q9450 so it'll have to wait a bit.