Zotac GeForce 9800 GX2

Today NVIDIA launches the GeForce 9800 GX2. As the name suggests thiscard is a dual GPU design, just like the AMD Radeon HD 3870 X2.Compared to the latter there is a big design difference, NVIDIA usestwo seperate PCBs with one GPU each. This allows much easier signalrouting and helps signal stability allowing higher clocks. As coolingsolution a new ingenious approach is used. The GPUs are facing eachother, with one cooler in between. This helps keep the fan noise down,also the whole card is lighter and is cheaper to manufacture.

When looking at the specs it becomes clear that the NVIDIA GeForce 9800GX2 is really not much more than two 8800 GTS cards glued together andrunning in SLI. What should be noted here is that the GeForce 9800 GX2will work in any system with PCI-Express, an NVIDIA chipset is notrequired for operation.
Zotac's card follows the reference design to the letter, with the onlyexception being a Zotac sticker on the card's cooler. Zotac is workinghard with NVIDIA to release a higher-performance Amp! Edition, but atthe moment NVIDIA does not allow any changes to the card and itssettings.

	Radeon       HD 3850	Radeon       HD 3870	GeForce       9600 GT	GeForce       8800 GTS	GeForce     8800 GT	GeForce       8800 GTS	Radeon     HD 3870 X2	GeForce     8800 GTX	GeForce       9800 GX2	GeForce     8800 Ultra
Shader units	320	320	64	96	112	128	2x 320	128	2x 128	128
ROPs	16	16	16	20	16	16	2x 16	24	2x 16	24
GPU	RV670	RV670	G94	G80	G92	G92	2x RV670	G80	2x G92	G80
Transistors	666M	666M	505M	681M	754M	754M	2x 666M	681M	2x 754M	681M
Memory Size	256 MB	512 MB	512 MB	320 MB 640 MB	512 MB	512 MB	2x 512 MB	768 MB	2x 512 MB	768 MB
Memory Bus Width	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	320 bit	256 bit	256 bit	2x 256 bit	384 bit	2x 256 bit	384 bit
Core Clock	670 MHz	777 MHz	650 MHz	500 MHz	600 MHz	650 MHz	825 MHz	575 MHz	600 MHz	612 MHz
Memory Clock	828 MHz	1126 MHz	900 MHz	800 MHz	900 MHz	970 MHz	900 MHz	900 MHz	1000 MHz	1080 MHz
Price	$170	$210	$200	$260 $350	$215	$289	$449	$439	$599	$650