XFX 9800gtx+ Graphics Card

[SharkFin]

Well here is a short review on this card, unfortunately i cant supply pictures (camera is broken )

Packaging
I received the card in an attractive box which in typical xfx style consisted of a thin (think cereal box) card slip with various designs and specifications on it. Inside was a thicker single-layer corrugated cardboard box with a small window to allow you to see the product- pretty pointless given the outer box has no window and is sealed with small adhesive clear film "disks". The card comes well packaged in a foam cocoon, which should keep it well protected against all but the most dab-handed of couriers.

Inside the box
Included inside the box is:

An xfx 9800gtx+ graphics card
A driver cd (i used the latest Nvidia 1.78 drivers from the internet)
A full copy of Assassins Creed
A "DO NOT DISTURB- I'm gaming" door card
A DVI-VGA dongle
A tv lead (not sure what it is called)

The card, being of the 9800gtx series, and being only a die-shrink of the original uses the same cooler, which is effective and relatively quiet. The coolers are identical, right down to the xfx sticker saying "9800GTX" on the cooler. At 100% fan speed (using rivatuner) the noise is bearable once inside a case, but obviously peoples thresholds vary.

Benchmarking (3dmark06)
During a loop of 3dmark06 with this hardware:

Q6600 @ stock
2gb ddr2 800mhz 5-5-5-15 ram
DFI lanparty dk p35-t2rs
250gb hard drive
9800gtx+
OCZ stealthXstream 600w

At the end of the Benchmarks I recieved a rather dissapointing score of 9,800 or thereabouts. I think this is caused by a cpu bottleneck. When i get a new cooler, get my cpu lapped and a bit of an overclock I will re-run the benchmarks and post my results in this thread.

Overclocking and Temperatures
The stock cooler on the 9800gtx+ is effective at keeping the 55nm GPU cool. In 24'C ambient temperature, while under stress from 3dmark06 at 100% fanspeed the gpu reached a maximum temperature of 62'C, or a 38'C delta from ambient. Idle temperatures with the fanspeed at 60% (silent over exisitng fan noise) I get a temperature of 47'C.

I have only mildy overclocked my card, I am sure it can go further:

Using Rivatuner from the stock speeds of 765/1100 (core/mem) I have easily reached 780/1170 which has not perceptably raised my temperatures any. I am sure I can easily hit 800/1200, but the above overclock reprensents roughly 20 mins of playing around.

Conclusion
Ultimately, though the 9800gtx+ is slightly more expensive than the HD4850 it runs alot cooler and alot quieter, while overclocking alot more aswell. I am happy with my purchase.

scan.co.uk sell the 9800gtx+ by XFX for about £140

Regards and I hope you liked this short text-only review.

[l33t-krew]

sweet dude, thanks alot.

[humanalii]

Hi Dude .. thats a great post by you

Dude .. i just got the same card .. xfx 9800 gtx+ .. its IDLE temp is 62c .. and while testing it reached at 91c

whats the death temperature of this card ?

is it ok if i play game while the temp is 91c

Plz do Reply .. soon

[Disturbedguy]

Dude dude dude..really if your going to spam, make it usefull tbh