Thinking of buying a 9800GX2

[nx02nx02]

I am thinking of buying this card but I am kind of worried about compatibility with games and driver problems. I own a older computer with a 7600GT(And a brand new computer that the 9800GX2 would go in) and in my main system I had a 8800GTX and a 7600GT. I used to have a 6800XT and a Geforce 4 and a Geforce 3.

These cards were compatible with everything, My 7600Gt and 8800GT plays every single game new and old. Can the 9800GX2 do the same?

I have alot of older games as well as newer games I would need to be able to play without issues can the 9800GX2 do this?

Basically what I mean is, is the 9800GX2 compatible with every game on the market new and old that the 8800GTX and 7600GT is?

Are there any older games that I wont be able to play with the 9800GX2?

I am worried if I buy this card and put it in my system I might end up not being able to play some of my older games because of SLI or driver problems that dont exist with single cards the the 8800GTX and 7600GT.

I have never owned a dual or sli card and appreciate any help.

Thanks.

 

[reviewhunter]

If you are looking for compatibility, I would actually recommend 3870X2.

 

[nx02nx02]

My biggest concern is my old games. I think the 9800GX2 probably works great with games like Crysis, etc new sli enabled games but what about old games from 2002-2006 etc? Strategy games and not well known games that weren't written for SLI?

There are alot of games I would need it to be compatible with but the easiest way to know would probably just be to ask, Will the 9800GX2 work with every single game the 8800GTX will work with?

 

[hooflung]

The 8800 series isn't exactly compatible with older games. It still has trouble doing UT2k4 right. Just look at BFG10K's post on the official Nvidia forum. Since 2006 they have failed to fix a great majority of legacy titles. If you want compatibility then you need to look at an AMD HD3850+.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

Ohh my 8800 GX2 could not work with startrek Legacy and other than other issues with heat the 9800 GX2 was a card that i am happy too sell off BTW i am useing 3870 x2 and it works gr8 with startrek legacy and even quake 2...!!

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: reviewhunter
If you are looking for compatibility, I would actually recommend 3870X2.

That is interesting:

With the 3870X2, you are limited to compatibility with the games coded into the the drivers and one type of AFR you can force.

ATi isn't exactly known for getting the games into the drivers immediately:

In XBit's 3870X2 review, they had issues with 7/19 games

A user can't turn off Crossfire with the 3870X2 without losing all patches and driver optomizations for the game.

With SLi/GX2, the user can:
1. Disable SLi, use one GPU, which is a faster GPU by far:
The GX2 is oftentimes faster than three Radeon HD 3870 GPUs and sometimes faster than four. Nvidia's superior building block in the G92 GPU makes such feats possible.

2. Force three multicard render modes (AFR1, AFR2, SFR) instead of one.

3. See which games have SLi profiles and edit them, or create new ones.


The 3870X2 is not the more compatible choice, and even if there were games it works with that don't work with SLi, a single GX2 GPU likely offers a comparable gaming experience.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: hooflung
The 8800 series isn't exactly compatible with older games. It still has trouble doing UT2k4 right. Just look at BFG10K's post on the official Nvidia forum. Since 2006 they have failed to fix a great majority of legacy titles. If you want compatibility then you need to look at an AMD HD3850+.

"The great majority"?

You mean of the handful of titles he reported issues with? And didn't test on a 3870X2, so we don't know if they work either?

 

[Don66]

Originally posted by: hooflung
The 8800 series isn't exactly compatible with older games. It still has trouble doing UT2k4 right. Just look at BFG10K's post on the official Nvidia forum. Since 2006 they have failed to fix a great majority of legacy titles. If you want compatibility then you need to look at an AMD HD3850+.

:roll:
cough.....bullshit.......cough

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: Don66

Originally posted by: hooflung
The 8800 series isn't exactly compatible with older games. It still has trouble doing UT2k4 right. Just look at BFG10K's post on the official Nvidia forum. Since 2006 they have failed to fix a great majority of legacy titles. If you want compatibility then you need to look at an AMD HD3850+.

:roll:
cough.....bullshit.......cough

:thumbsup:

 

[CP5670]

Basically what I mean is, is the 9800GX2 compatible with every game on the market new and old that the 8800GTX and 7600GT is?

Are there any older games that I wont be able to play with the 9800GX2?

I am worried if I buy this card and put it in my system I might end up not being able to play some of my older games because of SLI or driver problems that dont exist with single cards the the 8800GTX and 7600GT.

It's compatible in the sense that you can disable SLI and revert to a single GPU for those games. Depending on how old the game is and what resolution/AA you want to use, that may be fast enough. If no default driver profile exists for a game, there is no guarantee that SLI will work properly in it. It may work fine, or you can run into any of a variety of issues ranging from rendering glitches to performance worse than a single card. Similar comments apply to CF.

 

[mhouck]

I would classify world in conflict as a strategy game and the 9800 GX2 runs fine on it but that's not a legacy game.

 

[mhouck]

edit: Double Post my mistake

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: hooflung
The 8800 series isn't exactly compatible with older games. It still has trouble doing UT2k4 right. Just look at BFG10K's post on the official Nvidia forum. Since 2006 they have failed to fix a great majority of legacy titles. If you want compatibility then you need to look at an AMD HD3850+.

LOL @ 3850! The 3870X2 gets beaten by a GX2 in most cases, and a 3850 isn't even in the ballpark. If you're going to make alternate recommendations at least keep them somewhere in the neighborhood. Anyone considering a GX2 is most likely not going to see an HD3850 box at Fry's and think, "shiny!" and buy the 3850 instead...

As far as compatibility with older games, I would think that the 9800GX2 is as compatible as an 8800GT. First of all, they both use the G92 core, the GX2 just has two of them. Second, if you do run into an issue with an older game with SLI, you can always run the card in single gpu mode (just untick multi-gpu mode in the CP). Chances are if you're running an older game that doesn't have an SLI profile, then then a single G92 core will probably run it at about 300fps anyway.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
The 3870X2 gets beaten by a GX2 in most cases, and a 3850 isn't even in the ballpark.

I don't know if I've actually seen a benchmark where a 3870X2 defeats a 9800GX2, at least with AA on.

(the R6XX series are non-AA powerhouses, to be sure)

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: nitromullet
The 3870X2 gets beaten by a GX2 in most cases, and a 3850 isn't even in the ballpark.

I don't know if I've actually seen a benchmark where a 3870X2 defeats a 9800GX2, at least with AA on.

(the R6XX series are non-AA powerhouses, to be sure)

This is the only case I can think of, and I only give the nod to the X2 because of the higher minimum fps... http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14524/9

Apparently, Crysis at 1920x1200, Very High settings, with 4xAA just exceeds the amount of vRAM on the 512MB NVIDIA cards, which actually kills the performance on the 9-series tri/quad-SLI rigs. Although, that is a bit outside of the scope of this thread.