Originally posted by: SunnyD
ArsTechnica's review sums it up:
It's hard to justify buying a $649 GTX 280 when it's outperformed by a Palit 9800 GX2 that happens to cost $141 less, and I know which card I'd personally pick.
The GX2 wins a good portion of the tests over the GTX280. The 280 is no slouch, but at that price point... most definitely NOT worth it.
I have two 9800GX2s, and two GTX280s, I can tell you which I prefer. My eight year old has the GX2s.
1. The GTX280s offer better power handling.
2. The GTX280s offer the bandwidth and framebuffer I need for 25X16 gaming. Not "want"- need for the settings I want to run.
3. SLi (and CF) scaling is variable so you always want the highest single GPU you can get for the basis of your GPU set.
4. GTX280s dump all heat outside case.
5. GTX280 is the most future proof card I own.
6. Mostly, they just kick ass. In a big way.
I see a lot of naysayers here grumbling about the price, the level of performance difference in this and a 9800GX2.
You're trivializing what is the largest advance for gamers that has happened in computer gaming history.
By definition, the GTX280 is superior to 9800GX2 because it is a single chip, and has more upgrade potential.
The price is inline with past releases, and being the top end single GPU component.
6800GT SLi = 7800GTX $600 launch price
7900GTX SLi = 8800GTX $600 launch price
9800GTX SLi = GTX280 $650 launch price
Nothing unusual has happened here, NVIDIA consistently offers last gen SLi performance for ~$600 with next gen.
All the talk of multi card for less is irrelevant because the products aren't comparable: special motherboards (sometimes), driver profiles, microstutter, mouse lag, highly variable scaling, and sometimes even multicard render errors come into play with those solutions to one extent or another.
We should be glad NVIDIA isn't a CPU manufacturer, if they were, these cards would cost over $1000..
These cards will sell big for the reasons I've outlined above, or history teaches us nothing.