Introduction

PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX OC

If you’re like us, you’re probably still recovering from the latest round of VGA price cuts. NVIDIA’s entire GeForce lineup has seen a complete price makeover, with the GeForce 9800 GTX going from $299.99 to $199.99. Even the GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 have seen their prices reduced. As a result, gamers looking to upgrade this summer who may have had their eye on the GeForce 8800 GT can now upgrade to a faster card like the 9800 GTX or Radeon HD 4850 and save money in the process.

All these price adjustments have had a significant effect on NVIDIA’s board partners as well. Not only have they been forced to slash their prices, many of them will also have to take a hard look at their distinct offerings for each GPU: with just $50 separating the GeForce 9600 GT from the GeForce 9800 GTX, some board partners may want to axe certain SKUs. Picking and choosing isn’t going to be an easy task either, there are literally dozens of combinations of factory OC’ed versus stock GeForce 9600 GT and 8800 GT cards out there, and dozens more combinations of cards with different types of dual-slot and single-slot cooling. And don’t forget that there are still plenty of GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards still floating around in the market even though production of the card has officially ended!

With so many different choices out there, keeping up with all the different cards can be a daunting task. The scary part is things could potentially get even more confusing shortly. GeForce 9800 GTX+ cards will be hitting retail shelves in the next two weeks, and NVIDIA is expected to debut additional 55-nm G94b and G96 GPUs by the end of this quarter. These GPUs will reportedly be sold as GeForce 9500 GT and 9800 GT cards.

Dual SLI connectors and power

GeForce 9800 GTX+ (bottom) vs PNY 9800 GTX OC (top)

For right now though, we’re going to worry about the GeForce 9800s. Specifically, the GeForce 9800 GTX versus GeForce 9800 GTX+ dilemma. If you’re set on getting a 9800 GTX specifically, hopefully this article will answer some of your upgrade questions.

Spicing up the 9800 GTX

At launch, the GeForce 9800 GTX was a definite disappointment. The GPU offered very little over the existing GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, in fact, some factory OC’ed 8800 GTS 512MB cards were faster, and all the cards were stuck at the same stock speeds and relied on the same stock NVIDIA cooling.

GeForce GTX 260 (bottom) and PNY 9800 GTX OC

Dual-slot cooling

Things have changed now though. Today you can find several factory OC’ed 9800 GTX cards that are great performers. In fact, some of them are even clocked just a few MHz shy of the GeForce 9800 GTX+. XFX’s 9800 GTX Black is actually clocked higher than the 9800 GTX+, but it currently sells for more than a 9800 GTX+ also. What if you don’t want to spend that kind of money, but still want a factory OC’ed 9800 GTX card?

PNY was the first NVIDIA board partner to send us a factory OC’ed GeForce 9800 GTX, and it currently sells for less than the 9800 GTX+. In fact, Newegg sells the board for just $10 more than PNY’s bone stock $199.99 GeForce 9800 GTX card. What does that $10 buy you, and how does the board compare to 9800 GTX+? Let’s find out!