nVidia GT200 Series Review Thread

[ChaosDivine]

Originally posted by: nRollo
I have two 9800GX2s, and two GTX280s, I can tell you which I prefer. My eight year old has the GX2s.

Holy sh*t! He's gonna get all the girls!

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Lord Athlon

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
No offense, but if you have to worry about a couple dollars in power bills, a top of the line card probably isnt for you anyway.

This card would be much more attractive @ $599, which is where Im sure it will end up soon. EVGA has it listed for $649, and e-tailers generally have the cards for around $50 less after launch.

I disagree on the first part

You pay for the card once while you pay your for electricity monthly so it's not really comparable , especially your bill goes up by 50 $ or more.

Show me how one of these will run your bill 50 dollars higher per month than it already it is? Even if you run this thing 100% at full tilt 24/7 I bet it would amount to less than 10 bucks. That said most may run it full tilt for a few hours a week. Which will be a few bucks tops.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Rollo does bring up a good point. A 7900GTX SLi did infact outperform an 8800GTX at the time of its release. It was probably cheaper as well.

Numbers are impressive (GTX280 similiar to 9800GX2, GTX260 abit faster than the HD3870X2), but prices aint (only for the GTX280). With the launch of HD4800 series soon, you can guarantee prices falling.

Here are more reviews:
Hardware Canucks

Hardwarezone

Numbers seem to be all over the place. (Just look at the FS review!)

I know it is amazing. Like people forgot the launch of the previous generation of chips. And when the GT300 series comes out and is on par with a GT200X2 they will whine about the GT300 being a disappointment lol

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: ricleo2

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: ricleo2
Man oh Man. Several years ago I bought some stock in Nvidia at about $12.00 each. It eventually split twice and I sold it all at around $70.00 each. After that I became an Nvidia fan boy. Slowly over time I have become unenamered with the CEO. His arrogance knows no bounds. I am wondering if he has anybody on his staff that will tell him no or is not afraid to disagree with him. That might explain this sorry new card and other sorry products Nvidia has been putting out. And yes, I am pissed.

I typed up a long reply to this but it got lost (some kind of error).

But the bottom line is that you are simply wrong; nVidia has had very impressive products over the last two years... G80 owned the high end, G92 brought G80 performance to acceptable prices, and G94 made midrange DX10 exciting for once.

GT200 is not a bad chip at all, it just missed clock targets. This is clear in that GTX 280 does not reach 1 TFLOP - nVidia surely would have clocked the GTX 280's shading units at the 1.39GHz needed to reach that figure if the chips were yielding well at that speed. If GT200 was hitting the same clocks as G92 does, it would beat the 9800 GX2 and be much more impressive. Hopefully GT200b on 55nm will allow for higher clocks.

nVidia just needs to realize that it messed up and lower prices. GTX 260 might be OK at $399, depending on HD 4870 performance, but GTX 280 needs to come down to $499.

As a former stockholder I would be angry at the price of the GTX280. More sales would happen if it was not so high. And why is it so high? Arrogance!

The price is high because it is so expensive to build. GT200 is an extremely large chip with (likely) poor yields. It is comparable to Itanium CPUs in terms of die size / yields, yet Itanium CPUs sell for $1,000's and are built by Intel, which I am sure gets better yields on such a chip than a foundry like TSMC.

I think nVidia is milking the high end market with the GTX 280 for now and will likely lower the price when R700 comes out. While GTX 280 as a single card doesn't provide good value, in SLI / Tri-SLI it is the fastest thing out there. 9800 GX2 is faster than GTX 280, but 9800 GX2 Quad-SLI is not faster than GTX 280 SLI. And certainly not Tri-SLI.

If I were a stockholder I would have mixed feelings about the price of the GTX 200 cards - on one hand, they are high for what they offer. But shareholders don't care about performance if the card sells. nVidia is very good at selling cards, and there are people that are going to buy the GTX 280 despite its poor performance and high price. If the price were lowered to $499, you would get more sales but significantly lower margins.

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
A 7900GTX SLi did infact outperform an 8800GTX at the time of its release. It was probably cheaper as well.

I don't recall the SLI setup being much cheaper, certainly not to this degree. Also, the dual GPU card of the time, the 7950GX2, was considerably slower than a single 8800GTX, especially in newer games back then. (although it should be noted that it had much lower stock frequencies than a pair of 7900GTXs)

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
According to reports from Nvidia is the relatively high power consumption of the GeForce 280 GTX under Windows to a still unspecified driver bug.

A driver issue... for power... interesting joke. We've assumed for a while that it would be a giant vacuum cleaner just based on the specs, and someone tried to blame software.

For that matter, exactly which other OS do they expect buyers to use for a gaming card?

Originally posted by: Martimus
Actually, the Anandtech review showed that it used more power than the 9800GX2 (313W at load vs. 289W). In fact, they couldn't even run two GTX 280's in SLI with any PSU they had on hand. They had to jury-rig a second PSU to actually run benchmarks with the SLI's system.

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when I read that part. nVidia really shot themselves in the foot by being unable to realistically run their latest and greatest in SLI mode. Enthusiasts willing to spend the money are going to be pissed, and plenty of people who "only" want 1 card may need to buy new PSUs, cranking up the cost even more.

Originally posted by: nRollo
I have two 9800GX2s, and two GTX280s, I can tell you which I prefer. My eight year old has the GX2s.

You make me cry tears of blood, sir.

 

[ricleo2]

arrogance:

The act of making undue claims in an overbearing manner; that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree; proud contempt of others; lordliness; haughtiness; self-assumption; presumption.

 

[Munky]

This is definitely not as big of a jump in performance as the g80 was over the previous generations. On average, I'd say about a 60% improvement, definitely not 2x. However, it seems this round Nvidia focused on not just gaming performance, but also GPGPU, with things like double-precision ALU's and better use of dual-issue instructions.

 

[Foxery]

Damn, this thread moves fast

Originally posted by: Extelleron
If I were a stockholder I would have mixed feelings about the price of the GTX 200 cards - on one hand, they are high for what they offer. But shareholders don't care about performance if the card sells. nVidia is very good at selling cards, and there are people that are going to buy the GTX 280 despite its poor performance and high price. If the price were lowered to $499, you would get more sales but significantly lower margins.

I'm glad you brought this up - will nVidia make money? (And I mean serious corporate profits, not the obvious "someone will buy it.") A great deal of the consumer base is put off by the various problems with this product, including its extreme cost. nVidia's profit margins are eaten further by the difficulty in fabbing the world's largest die.

Investor reaction today has been a big *yawn* so far.
NVDA Chart - Last 5 days

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
A 7900GTX SLi did infact outperform an 8800GTX at the time of its release. It was probably cheaper as well.

I don't recall the SLI setup being much cheaper, certainly not to this degree. Also, the dual GPU card of the time, the 7950GX2, was considerably slower than a single 8800GTX, especially in newer games back then. (although it should be noted that it had much lower stock frequencies than a pair of 7900GTXs)

The 7900 series also had poorer image quality compared to the 8800 series. FPS is not everything.

 

[Kuzi]

The GTX280 does perform a bit lower than expected, but wait a couple of weeks when ATI releases their cards, Nvidia will have no choice but to lower the prices of both the GTX280 & GTX260.

To be honest, if the GTX280 was the same price as the GX2, I'd get the GTX280, even though it performs a bit slower. Don't want to deal with scaling issues with dual-gpu cards, some games just don't scale well, and others run slower than on a single gpu card.

ATI will probably have the performance crown once the 4870x2 gets released (August hopefully). So anyone wanting the highest performance at the highest resolutions should wait for that card.

For me I have a 22" LCD, so I'll get a GTX260 or HD 4870 depending on which will have better price/performance ratio. Still using a 7900 GTX, so that will be a good jump in performance for me

 

[LightningRider]

I'm thinking of the HD4870 instead of the GTX 260 but I can't step up to a 4870... Is there any proof of where the HD4870 performance will land?

I cannot wait to see benchmarks of both side by side because I want to step up tomorrow if I go with a GTX 260

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: aldamon

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
A 7900GTX SLi did infact outperform an 8800GTX at the time of its release. It was probably cheaper as well.

I don't recall the SLI setup being much cheaper, certainly not to this degree. Also, the dual GPU card of the time, the 7950GX2, was considerably slower than a single 8800GTX, especially in newer games back then. (although it should be noted that it had much lower stock frequencies than a pair of 7900GTXs)

The 7900 series also had poorer image quality compared to the 8800 series. FPS is not everything.

Yes, there was also that issue. Switching to high quality mode largely fixed it but sometimes had a significant performance hit as well.

 

[Kuzi]

Originally posted by: LightningRider
I'm thinking of the HD4870 instead of the GTX 260 but I can't step up to a 4870... Is there any proof of where the HD4870 performance will land?

I cannot wait to see benchmarks of both side by side because I want to step up tomorrow if I go with a GTX 260

No just wait for now The GTX260 is supposed to sell for $400, and the HD 4870 for around $300-350.

From the HD 4780 specs, it should at least double the performance of the 3870 in many cases. And if you notice in the review, the GTX260 is a little faster than the 3870x2. The 3870x2 is on average 50-70% faster than the 3870.

So it is very likely now that the 4870 will easily beat the 3870x2 and perform on par with the GTX260 or actually beat it in many games.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: LightningRider
I'm thinking of the HD4870 instead of the GTX 260 but I can't step up to a 4870... Is there any proof of where the HD4870 performance will land?

I cannot wait to see benchmarks of both side by side because I want to step up tomorrow if I go with a GTX 260

I don't think the step-up to a GTX 260 is going to be a good option; I was in the same boat as you, not sure whether to step up to GTX 260 or HD 4870, but I don't think GTX 260 is going to be an option anymore.

eVGA is pricing their GTX 260 at $459.99 apparently: http://www.evga.com/products/prodlist.asp

Unless they lower the price of course ($60 over MSRP seems like a lot). But if not, they are screwing people who want to step-up.

 

[LightningRider]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking too.

But I realise that it's probably not a good idea to spend more money and pay the full price of an HD4870 instead of just stepping up to a GTX 260 which will only cost me a bit over $100. Plus nVidia is lame and often pay developers to make their games work better on nVidia cards, don't they? At least in some games they do I believe.

EDIT FOR EXTELLERON: Yeah I know that's kind of lame but it's still a lot cheaper than buying an HD4870 full price.

I think I will still go with the GTX 260. Because of this I'm hoping the HD4870 does worse than the GTX 260

 

[Kuzi]

Don't be surprised if the GTX260 will be $359 in a couple of weeks.

 

[LightningRider]

That would really suck if they pulled that card AFTER everyone steps up. I don't have much time left in order to do so. If they do that then I would begin to think this step up thing isn't so great after all...

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: LightningRider
Yeah that's what I'm thinking too.

But I realise that it's probably not a good idea to spend more money and pay the full price of an HD4870 instead of just stepping up to a GTX 260 which will only cost me a bit over $100. Plus nVidia is lame and often pay developers to make their games work better on nVidia cards, don't they? At least in some games they do I believe.

EDIT FOR EXTELLERON: Yeah I know that's kind of lame but it's still a lot cheaper than buying an HD4870 full price.

I think I will still go with the GTX 260. Because of this I'm hoping the HD4870 does worse than the GTX 260

For me I paid $237.49 for my current 8800GTS, so it would probably be a bit cheaper to go HD 4870. If I paid $350 and it was only $100 to step up, I'd definitely go with the GTX 260.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: LightningRider
Yeah that's what I'm thinking too.

But I realise that it's probably not a good idea to spend more money and pay the full price of an HD4870 instead of just stepping up to a GTX 260 which will only cost me a bit over $100. Plus nVidia is lame and often pay developers to make their games work better on nVidia cards, don't they? At least in some games they do I believe.

EDIT FOR EXTELLERON: Yeah I know that's kind of lame but it's still a lot cheaper than buying an HD4870 full price.

I think I will still go with the GTX 260. Because of this I'm hoping the HD4870 does worse than the GTX 260

After seeing the benchs I really really doubt that... The GTX 260 usually outperforms the 9800 by say, 20-25% ? (depending on the site, results are all over the place)

The thing is AMD just cant lose this one, because of their agressive pricing... It seems Nvidia will become some sort of "Elite only" provider

The good part is last generation cards are so cheap theres no way a gamer would be unhappy purchasing now (although no one but Nvidia fanboys would make a purchase right now with the AMD cards around the corner), Id venture to say that there has never been such a good price/performance ratio on midrange cards in video card history, heh!

At 300$ with a 8800GT SLi setup theres basically nothing you cant play, unless you really need 2560x1536... And thats the main problem here... The 8800GTX was impressive for its time because it delivered the best performance for its price, bar none... It wasnt until the G92 cards that we got these crazy midrange cards (just thinking of how lame the 8600GTX was gives me the shivers)

Also to everyone justifying the GTX 280 purchase by saying SLi has this and that problem blabla, thats stupid, you should be comparing it to the 9800 GTX, not the GX2... Have you noticed that most of the time, the GX2 doesnt get much more than 50% of the GTX performance? The reason the GTX still looks competitive, IS because of the Sli scaling being subpar...

Although I have to say by the benchs it seems to be a very forward thinking card... Just look at the Crysis and 3dmark Vantage scores, it really shines there, but considering the 4870 will also boast a massive shader increase, I think we will be in for some unexpected high end competition from AMD

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: LightningRider
That would really suck if they pulled that card AFTER everyone steps up. I don't have much time left in order to do so. If they do that then I would begin to think this step up thing isn't so great after all...

I never thought the step up thing was so great, I'm surprised how many people here talk about it. How much better is it as opposed to just selling your old card and buying a new one independently?

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: LightningRider
That would really suck if they pulled that card AFTER everyone steps up. I don't have much time left in order to do so. If they do that then I would begin to think this step up thing isn't so great after all...

I never thought the step up thing was so great, I'm surprised how many people here talk about it. How much better is it as opposed to just selling your old card and buying a new one independently?

Well I paid $237 for my 8800GTS 512MB, but I can only sell it for $150-160 if that. So it's a good deal if the GTX 260 was $399 on eVGA's site. But clearly they are gouging because they know a lot of people want to step up to the 260.

 

[Pugnate]

So I went through the web's benchies, and laughed a little. I bet all of you boys who bought your 7950GX2s are really pleased.

I predict the price will go down to $350 pretty soon on the 280.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: aldamon

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
A 7900GTX SLi did infact outperform an 8800GTX at the time of its release. It was probably cheaper as well.

I don't recall the SLI setup being much cheaper, certainly not to this degree. Also, the dual GPU card of the time, the 7950GX2, was considerably slower than a single 8800GTX, especially in newer games back then. (although it should be noted that it had much lower stock frequencies than a pair of 7900GTXs)

The 7900 series also had poorer image quality compared to the 8800 series. FPS is not everything.

Agreed. This is why back then it had more of the "wow" factor. G80 brought alot of new things since the 7 series lacked IQ and a bunch of other things. What GTX280 brings now is abit different since most users dont even know what CUDA or GPGPU is.

That being said, we probably wont see this hidden feature til CUDA becomes more mainstream.

And erm i doubt the GTX280 prices will fall to $350. It all depends on how the new RV770 performs. And we are going to found out rather soon.

 

[TonyB]

for people like me who owns a P35 based motherboard we dont have options to upgrade to SLI. The GTx 280 will be the only logical upgrade besides going ATI.