A costly graphics card with very useful features. (XFX GeForce 9800GT)

Member Name: Gladiator007

Product:	XFX GeForce 9800GT
Date:	12/03/09 (692 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Over - clocking, bundled games, high core clock speed, noiseless cooler, HDTV connectivity .

Disadvantages: very expensive, does not suits normal pc users,

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

XFX is one of the leading graphics card manufacturing companies based in Hong-Kong. It's one of the secondary groups of the Pine Technology. XFX mainly focuses in manufacturing high end graphics card for both AMD and NVIDIA, alongside with quite good reputation to the consumers. XFX's graphics card has been widely praised by the users for its stylish look and superlative performance capability.


It is one of the primary solutions for graphics card both in United States and also Europe. XFX provides a distinctive double life time warranty for the users both in Canada and USA. It's known as Double Life time warranty. This means, if any consumer buys one XFX graphics card and registers them with XFX via online, and if afterwards within the warranty period the consumer transfers the ownership of the Graphics Card to another person, the other person will also get the benefit of remaining warranty period.

XFX is also renowned for great solutions for OVERCLOCKING. Over-clocking means that, to increase the clock rate higher than its specification to get better performance. In case of over-clocking enabled graphics card, XFX have a better reputation in market compare to ASUS, EVGA and BFG. Often the over-clocked graphics card known as Extreme edition, XXX edition or black edition.


INTRODUCTION OF THE PRODUCT

XFX GeForce 9800 GT is launched in international market for consumers around July 2008. According to the provided specification and core clock speed, it has striking similarity with the previous released version 8800GT. 9800 GT specializes in HD viewing ability and supreme gaming performance. It also comes with extensive connectivity options to facilitate the consumers.


SPECIFICATION

The earlier model 8800GT was manufactured in 65 nm size, but in case of 9800 GT it is manufactured in 55nm in size. It is smaller in size and also has the ability of less heat consumption and consumes much less power. It has core clock speed of 600 MHz and when it is over-clocked, we can enjoy the the speed upto 670 MHz. Similarly, in case of shader clock the specified speed can go up to 1600 MHz from 15oo MHz after over-clocking.


The rate of pixel per clock is 26 in normal speed and go up to 56 in the peak time. It also supports only DDR3 memory types. DDR3 is unique for its tremendous bus speed; such as up to 1600 MHZ starts from 800MHz. Higher bus speed allows high speed data transfer and also fast performance in your PC system. Currently there are two types of video memory size provides by the manufacturer, such as 512 and 1024 MB.
Maximum resolution in case analog is 2048x1536 where as in case of digital it goes up to 2500x1600. Total memory bandwidth of this 9800GT graphics card is really massive and huge and up to 68 GB/s and also the bus technology uses the PCI express 2.0 version.


INSTALLATION AND USER MANUAL

After opening the box, we can see that the graphics comes along with its Driver Cd, and some useful soft wares and connectivity wires. It's basically connects in the main motherboard of the system. Just because 9800GT supports and manufactured with PCI 2.0 express, that's why it is required to have PCI slot in the motherboard to install this graphics card. It comes with very handy user manual, which is really easy to understand, and also show you the procedure how to insert the graphics card into your motherboard step-by-step.


But the most important thing is, we must have the PCI 16x slot and also PCI2.0 compatibility in motherboard to install and run this graphics card in the system.

CONNECTIVITY


1. Dual DVI output connectors.
2. Single HDTV/S-video connector.
3. HDMI support via connector interface.

STANDARD FEATURES


1. It supports directX10 version, allows the user to enjoy very high level resolution with smooth view. Also allows the user to play high spec games in system.
2. It also comes with built in SLI technology or Scalable Interface technology, enable the graphics card to enhance its hardware speed and also increase the bus speed .It feels like enjoying the 2x performance from a single graphics processing unit.
3. It also comes with HD video processing technology, allows the user to enjoy high quality video with 1080 p playback capability.
4. It also supports dual monitor viewing ability at the same time, it means we can enjoy the same quality of high resolution and smooth video in two monitors in same time .

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS


1. PCI 16X slot.
2. At least 512 MB DDR3 memory, but its better to have 1GB to enjoy the extended features.
3. Dual core AMD or INTEL processor, but 9800GT works much better with core 2 Duo processors, and also allow you to enjoy some extra features.
4. PCI 2.0 compatible motherboard.

RETAIL BOX CONTAINS


1. The graphics card
2. Two DVI to VGA adaptors.
3. Installation manual.
4. Additional useful software are also in the installation CD.
5. A molex to PCI power connector.

ADVANTAGES


1. HDTV support and also high quality DVD playback.
2. Over-clocking allows the user to enjoy faster performance than its specification.
3. Consumes much less power.
4. Supports the mighty DDR3 memory with bus speed up to 1600 MHZ.
5. Much higher resolution both in analog or digital viewing condition.
6. The cooler fan is almost noiseless.
7. Comes with some exciting games such as Farcry4 and call of duty with the retail box.

INCONVENIENCES


The only problem is with this card is, it does not have something that stands out from 8800GT. The core speed should be higher to have some higher performance. Apart from that, it will cost you around £120, kind of expensive.

MY OPINION


XFX is one the most reputed companies both in USA and Europe. They makes some brilliant graphics card with very useful features. Though, it has some good features such as HDMI support and SLI support, still I think its very expensive. We can get a entry level graphics card with similar features may be around £50-60. But to be honest, those cards lack in performance and also in clock speed compare to 9800 GT. But it is good enough to serve the consumers right for multimedia fun and also decent level gaming fun.

9800 GT have very handy features, also comes with some bundled games. Which is pretty good for hardcore games, but for normal users who just want to enjoy a high quality video palyback in system, it is really expensive.


DECISION

I think, if you need to upgrade you PC with a graphics card and sole purpose is to have higher viewing quality, HDMI and DVD playback support, then don't go for it. But if you are an devoted PC gaming lover, then it is perfect for you. It will serve you right with overclocking facility, allow you to enjoy a high level performance almost twice as the specification said.


WHERE CAN WE GET IT

We can buy this graphics card from Amazon. It will cost around £120. Apart from that, some other online retailers also sell this graphics card within the £110-120 range.


Thank you for reading. Cheers.:)

©Gladiator007

Summary: If you are a hardcore gamer then it is perfect, otherwise consider something cheaper :):)

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