Xfx geforce 9800 gtx black edition: XFX 9800 GTX+ Black Edition Specs

XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition Review

Verdict

Key Specifications

Review Price: £168.00

With the recent launch of new graphics cards from both ATI and nVidia, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the demise of previous generation cards would be swift and merciless. However, that has yet proved to be the case, with ATI in particular, assuring us that the 3000-series of cards is here to stay for a while. Also, fresh on the back of some hefty price cuts old stalwarts like the nVidia 9800 GTX and ATI HD 3870 can still offer great value, especially when you look at some overclocked cards. It’s with this in mind that we’re looking at the XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition – the most highly overclocked 9800 GTX we’ve yet come across.

As you would expect, given the name, the packaging is a mostly black affair which will certainly catch the eye on a shop shelf – assuming that you can find a shop that sells graphics cards anymore. Inside, as well as the card itself, you get a very healthy bundle including both DVI-to-HDMI and DVI-to-VGA dongles (in fact you get two of the latter) as well as an S-Video cable and component dongle. There are also two dongles for converting two Molex power connections to a single 6-pin PCI-Express connection for use with older power supplies. Finally, at least on the hardware front, there’s an S/PDIF cable that can be used to connect your graphics cards to your sound card and output digital audio over you graphics cards’ HDMI connection.

On the software side you get the a copy of Assassin’s Creed, which is worth a few bob. It’s not the most modern title and it certainly didn’t quite live up to the hype but it’s a welcome addition nonetheless. You also get a driver and utilities disc and a miscellany of well written quick installation guides and information cards. Oh and of course the essential, ‘I’m Gaming, Do Not Disturb’ door handle tag! Woo!

As for the card, well, it’s an nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX with a sticker on it. Although XFX’s internal tweakings have pushed the card’s performance, the cooler and the rest of the card’s design is just the same as any other 9800 GTX, which just goes to prove how good nVidia’s reference coolers have been of late.

Along the top edge of the card are the twin SLI connectors that can be used to join two or even three of these cards together for more performance. Also up here are the two extra power connectors that are needed to keep this thirsty card running. Two dual-link DVI sockets (which are HDCP enabled) grace the double width back panel along with an analogue video output socket that supports S-Video natively and component and composite with the help of dongles. This is the standard output configuration we’ve come to expect from cards in this price range.

The back of the PCB is covered by a metal plate, which helps protect the delicate electronics resident there and also performs some additional heatsink duties. This is a feature we first saw on the 9800 GX2 and it’s one we’ve come to appreciate, especially as the regularity with which we’re swapping cards around in our test bed requires us to manhandle them more than would otherwise be good for them – does anyone ever really use those anti-static wrist bands?

For those that aren’t familiar with the 9800 GTX, what this card will get you is 128 stream processors, 16 ROPs, 64/64 texture address/filter units, and 512MB GDDR3 memory talking to the chip over a 256-bit interface. Standard clock speeds for the 9800 GTX are 675MHz core, 1,688MHz shader, and 2,200MHz memory. XFX has up these to 760MHz core, 1,900MHz shader, and 2,280MHz memory.

Of course the key selling point of the Black Edition, aside from its impressive overclocking figures is its price. On the back of nVidia implementing some severe price cuts XFX has also taken an aggressive stance with pricing for this particular card. Whereas many 9800 GTXs are still demanding around £200, Scan already has the Black Edition listed on pre-order for £168.

This pricing means the card fits in perfectly within nVidia’s current range, sitting comfortably below the GTX 260. In fact, it also falls squarely in-between ATI’s HD 4870 and the HD 4850 so in fact it has no direct price competition, which is always going to help its cause.

For testing we ran through our usual set of gaming tests and also measured the power draw of our test bed with this card installed. The test setup is as follows:

”’Common System Components”’

* Intel Core 2 Quad QX9770

* Asus P5E3

* 2GB Corsair TWIN3X2048-1333C9 DDR3

* 150GB Western Digital Raptor

* Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

”’Drivers”’

* ATI: Catalyst 8.4

* nVidia GTX200 Series: Forceware 177.34

* Other nVidia cards: Forceware 175.19

”’Cards Tested”’

* XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition

* nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX

* nVidia GeForce GTX 260

* ATI HD 4870

* ATI HD 4850

”’Games Tested”’

* Crysis

* Race Driver: GRID

* Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

* Call of Duty 4

* Counter-Strike: Source

Looking first at power draw, it’s clear the overclocking required some internal voltages to be increased as both total idle and load power draw have also risen slightly. The difference is pretty negligible and is still below both the GTX 260 and the HD 4870, though.

In terms of performance, the card equips itself pretty well though the impact of the overclocking varies from title to title. Most notable, perhaps, are the results for Crysis that see the Black Edition being nearly 40 per cent faster than a standard card and comfortably faster than the HD 4850. The HD 4870 is still on average considerably faster, though, and as it costs only £20 – £30 more we’d be inclined to save for that card. That said, if you can’t spend anymore the Black Edition is a great value option. Indeed, it’s probably the best value nVidia card available at the moment.

Our only real gripe is that the card is rather large. Sure it’s only about the same size as an HD 4870 but then that card is considerably faster. Also, the HD 4850, although slower, is half the width and markedly shorter. It’s not something we’d term a deal breaker but it will certainly be of concern for some.

”’Verdict”’

XFX has got the pricing and performance of the 9800 GTX Black Edition just right with it sitting just inbetween the ATI HD 4850 and ATI HD 4870 on both counts. If you can push your budget we’d still recommend gunning for the ATI HD 4870 but if you can’t stretch any further then you can’t go wrong with this card.

Score in detail

Value 9
Features 8
Performance 8

Edward Chester contributed computing reviews to Trusted Reviews between 2007 and 2019.
…

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2004, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

GeForce 9800 GTX Reviews Roundup

2008/05/28 JeGX

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX reviews:

– ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX @ ThinkComputers.org
– Club 3D GeForce 9800 GTX @ hardware-mag.de
– XFX 9800 GTX @ i4u.com
– XFX GeForce 9800 GTX Black Edition @ motherboards.org

Graphics Cards

geforce 9800 gtx

SEARCH

Quick Links

Latest Graphics Drivers

NVIDIA GeForce 528. 49 (VK_1.3.224)

NVIDIA Vulkan Dev 528.50 (VK_1.3.240)

AMD Radeon 23.2.2 (VK_1.3.237)

Intel Arc/IGP 31.0.101.4125 (VK_1.3.237)

Intel IGP 31.0.101.3790 (VK_1.3.228)

Geeks3D’s Tools

FurMark 1.33.0

GPU Caps Viewer 1.58.0

GPU Shark 0.29.0

GeeXLab 0.49.3

ASUS FurMark ROG Edition 0.8.16

MSI Kombustor 4.1.20

YAFFplayer 0.5.16

GL-Z 0.5.0

MadView3D 0.4.2

h5shG3n 0.5.2

⦿ Never miss a news

⦿ WebGL Caps Viewer

[ WebGL Caps Viewer ]

⦿ Sticky Articles

Vulkan API Programming Resources

How to Install NVIDIA Graphics Drivers on Linux Mint 17

Electronics: blinking LED with Raspberry Pi GPIO and GeeXLab

AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce FP32/FP64 GFLOPS Table

Graphics card VRM explained

Graphics memory speeds demystified

Graphics card TDP database

Review XFX Geforce 9800GTX 512MB DDR3 Black Edition

. … Or is it worth overpaying?

Introduction.
Just the other day you were presented with an ordinary video card. Review, testing XFX Geforce 9800GTX 512MB DDR3.

The cost of this video card is 800 rubles ($34) more expensive than the previously reviewed video card. Considering that not many users are ready to overclock video cards themselves, I wanted to evaluate with this review: is it worth overpaying for factory overclocking or not?

Complete.

The card fell into my hands, in a black box, the same dimensions as the previous one.

In the box, in addition to the video card, there was also:

1. Game disc: Assassins Creed.

2. 2 x 6 pin power adapters

3. 2 Dvi-to-VGA adapters

4. Dvi-to-Displayport adapter

5. S-Video to S-Video extension cable.

6. Tv-out-to-HDMI adapter.

7. Driver disk.

As you can see, the equipment is the same, but «my remarks» have already been taken into account here and the Company of Heroes game has been changed to the new Assassins Creed, which cannot but rejoice.

Specifications.
Since the kernel has not changed, the specifications remain the same.

In this review, I will present the specifications in the form of a table to make it easier to compare with previous models:

The main differences of this card are the increased frequencies:

1. Core frequency — 760Mhz.

2. Memory frequency — 2280Mhz.

3. Shader domain frequency — 1900Mhz.

Key features of the new kernel:

1. NVIDIA® PureVideo® HD Technology

2. Hardware accelerated decoding

3. Dual thread hardware acceleration

4. Dynamic Contrast Enhancement and Color Stretch

5. 3-way NVIDIA SLI® Technology

6. NVIDIA HybridPower™ Technology

7. PCI Express 2.0 support

Overclocking results.
Relative to the factory frequencies, the video card did not show heights in overclocking, it reached 834Mhz in the core, but after a half-hour test, apparently due to overheating, it dropped artifacts. Reduced to 805Mhz — everything became normal.

Memory overclocked to 2380Mhz(1190×2).

Test configuration and test results.
1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4

2. Intel Core Quad Q6600 overclocked to 3.57 GHz

3. XFX Geforce 9800GTX 512MB DDR3 Black Edition

4. 2x1Gb Hynix Original PC6400 DDR800

5. 2xHD WD 250AAJS in Raid 0 array.

6. Case Asus

7. PSU FSP 550W Blue Storm

8. Monitor ASUS 222U

Tests in which the system participated:

1. Company of Heroes (maximum detail).

2. Crysis (High detail).

3. 3Dmark 06.

Specially selected the same tests as in the test of the previous video card.

1. Company of Heroes (maximum detail).

The superiority of the overclocked version over the regular one is 10-11%.

2. Crysis.

In this game, there is, of course, an increase from factory overclocking, and it averages 3FPS. What without a «trained» eye and not notice.

3. 3Dmark 06.

In this synthetic test, the advantage of factory overclocking is 3%.

Conclusions:
1. It can be seen from the tests that the increase from factory overclocking is small, but it is still there.

2. But due to the small increase, I cannot advise you to overpay for this card. This is most likely a marketing ploy.

3. Inadequate gain from factory overclocking, I can only explain by overestimated timings on this card. Bios wrote it down when I get the usual XFX — I will definitely compare these parameters.

4. Custom overclocked XFX 9 cardThe 800GTX gets more of an edge. True, you still need to do it yourself.

Article prepared by FireAiD specifically for Mega Obzor .

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX vs Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB: What is the difference?

16 points

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

46 points0011

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

Why is Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX better than Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB?

45W below TDP?
140W vs 185W
15mm lower? Why is Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB better than Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX?
- GPU frequency 582MHz higher?
  1257MHz vs 675MHz
- 5. 86 TFLOPS above FLOPS?
  6.29 TFLOPS vs 0.43 TFLOPS
- 32.9 GPixel/s higher pixel rate?
  43.7 GPixel/s vs 10.8 GPixel/s
- 900MHz faster memory speed?
  2000MHz vs 1100MHz
- 7GB more VRAM?
  8GB vs 1GB
- 5800MHz higher effective clock speed?
  8000MHz vs 2200MHz
- 153.5 GTexels/s higher number of textured pixels? more memory bandwidth?
  256GB/s vs 70.4GB/s
Which comparisons are the most popular?

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 580 8GB0011

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 580 4GB

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 570 8GB

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce GT 620

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

AMD Radeon RX 580

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

AMD Radeon RX 480

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce GTX 460

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs. 0011

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ventus XS

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

vs

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080

Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

Gigabyte Radeon RX Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB

vs

AMD Radeon RX 58017800 GTX)

1366MHz

When the GPU is running below its limits, it can jump to a higher clock speed to increase performance.

pixel rate

10.8 GPixel/s

43.7 GPixel/s

The number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen every second.

FLOPS

0.43 TFLOPS

6.29 TFLOPS

FLOPS is a measure of GPU processing power.

texture size

43.2 GTexels/s

196.7 GTexels/s

Number of textured pixels that can be displayed on the screen every second.

GPU memory speed

1100MHz

2000MHz

Memory speed is one aspect that determines memory bandwidth.

Shading patterns

Shading units (or stream processors) are small processors in a graphics card that are responsible for processing various aspects of an image.

texture units (TMUs)

TMUs take texture units and map them to the geometric layout of the 3D scene. More TMUs generally means texture information is processed faster.

ROPs

ROPs are responsible for some of the final steps of the rendering process, such as writing the final pixel data to memory and for performing other tasks such as anti-aliasing to improve the appearance of graphics.

Memory

effective memory speed

2200MHz

8000MHz

The effective memory clock is calculated from the size and data transfer rate of the memory. A higher clock speed can give better performance in games and other applications.

maximum memory bandwidth

70.4GB/s

256GB/s

This is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored in memory.

VRAM (video RAM) is the dedicated memory of the graphics card. More VRAM usually allows you to run games at higher settings, especially for things like texture resolution.

versions of GDDR memory

Later versions of GDDR memory offer improvements such as higher data transfer rates, which improve performance.

memory bus width

256bit

256bit

Wider memory bus — this means it can carry more data per cycle. This is an important factor in memory performance, and therefore the overall performance of the graphics card.

Supports memory debug code

✖Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

✖Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

Memory debug code can detect and fix data corruption. It is used when necessary to avoid distortion, such as in scientific computing or when starting a server.

Features

DirectX version

Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX)

DirectX is used in games with a new version that supports better graphics.

OpenGL version

The newer the OpenGL version, the better graphics quality in games.

OpenCL version

Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX)

Some applications use OpenCL to take advantage of graphics processing unit (GPU) power for non-graphics computing. Newer versions are more functional and better quality.

Supports multi-monitor technology

✔Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

✔Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

The video card has the ability to connect multiple screens. This allows you to set up multiple monitors at the same time to create a more immersive gaming experience, such as a wider field of view.

GPU boot temperature

Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX)

Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB)

Lower boot temperature — this means that the card generates less heat and the cooling system works better.

supports ray tracing

✖Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

✖Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

Ray tracing is an advanced light rendering technique that provides more realistic lighting, shadows and reflections in games.

Supports 3D

✔Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

✔Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

Allows you to view in 3D (if you have a 3D screen and glasses).

supports DLSS

✖Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

✖Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an AI based scaling technology. This allows the graphics card to render games at lower resolutions and upscale them to higher resolutions with near-native visual quality and improved performance. DLSS is only available in some games.

PassMark (G3D) result

Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB)

This test measures the graphics performance of a graphics card. Source: Pass Mark.

Ports

has HDMI output

✖Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX

✔Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB

Devices with HDMI or mini HDMI ports can stream HD video and audio to an attached display.

HDMI connectors

Unknown. Help us offer a price. (Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX)

More HDMI connectors allow you to connect multiple devices at the same time, such as game consoles and TVs.

HDMI version

Unknown. Help us offer a price.