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XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+: Overclocked Graphics Card

Here we have the XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ Graphics Card, for those of you who are in the know you will understand that the 9800 GTX+ is just an overclocked version of the 9800 GTX.

For those of you who would like to know a little more about this graphics card, then Tweaktown have done an extensive review on it. Here are some of their final thoughts on what they thought of the XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+. Read more

Hands-on: ASUS GeForce EN9600GT Matrix Graphics Card

This is the ASUS GeForce EN9600GT Matrix graphics card that is an excellent performing 9600 GT, its packed to the brim with features like HDMI, Optical, Power Saving technology and an excellent aftermarket cooler.

Tweak Town have reviewed this 9600 GT card over 18 pages, and in their final thoughts they said “ASUS has managed add a few nice little tweaks to the card to make it stand out compared to other 9600 GT cards that we’ve looked at over the past few months Read more

Affordable Gateway P-7811FX Notebook for Gaming: Great for students

Now looking at this Gateway P-7811FX notebooks price you would have to say it is not what you call really cheap, but when you think about a decent gaming notebook costing in the region of $5000-ish you would have to say the Gateway P-7811FX notebook being only $1399.99 is very cheap indeed.

Personally like many others would have to say this is a perfect gaming laptop that would suit students.

The Gateway P-7811FX was announced by Gateway and that it is a new addition to its FX series, you can but this notebook at Best Buy.

The Technical Bit: Features include Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS graphics with 512 MB of video memory, Intel Centrino 2 technology, 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1920 x 1200 resolution, 802.11n Wi-Fi, 200GB hard drive, built-in webcam, Windows Vista Home Premium and 4GB of RAM.

Source – Gateway via PC Magazine

Hands-on Review: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 260 Graphics Card

Many graphics cards drop in price after a given time like the GTX 280 for example, well it looks like the GTX 260 graphics card is going down the same road. Read on for the low-down on the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 260 Graphics Card.

With the GTX 260, NVIDIA really have managed to tie up most of the price brackets. Working in AUD, the under $150 bracket has the 9600 GT, $150 - $200 you can pick up a 9800 GT, $200 - $300 will get you a 9800 GTX+, over $300 can get you the GTX 260 while at the $500+ mark you can get yourself a GTX 280.

Really, the only price bracket that isn’t covered is around the $400 mark. We’re sure NVIDIA have something up their sleeves, though. The current price on the GTX 260 is pretty attractive these days, thanks to recent price drops and its performance against the other NVIDIA cards giving us a good idea of where the card sits on the market.

If you do have the money and you’re happy to spend it, we would probably suggest the GTX 260 over the 9800 GTX+; this for a few reasons, mainly. We have some more memory, it’s built on newer technology and it’s the most recent NVIDIA release which makes us tend to think that NVIDIA are going to be working hard to increase performance on these cards more so then the older models through the means of driver updates.

While the GIGABYTE card doesn’t offer us a huge bundle or anything, it does what it’s supposed to do; give us a good performing graphics card for a decent price. By avoiding all the extras like HDMI convertors and games, GIGABYTE can keep the price down.

The GTX 260 is definitely a good card in this price bracket and for people on SLI based motherboards we know that two of these cards are just going to absolutely fly along for only slightly more than a single GTX 280.

Read the full 18-page hands-on review of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 260 Graphics Card over on TweakTown

Sony Vaio VGCLS30E All-in-One Desktop PC

There is no denying that the Sony Vaio VGCLS30E is a great All-in-One Desktop PC. This computer is compact in its design but still offers high-performance thanks to its Intel 1.7GHz Dual Core Processor.

The PC is hidden well inside the 19-inch LCD monitor. The frame of this PC has an elegant design, one that we are not that familiar with from PCs. If you love to have your technology on show, then this should be your center piece.

The specifications of the Sony Vaio VGCLS30E All-in-One Desktop PC show that it is a powerful system. Firstly we have the 1.73GHz Intel Pentium dual-core processor with 533MHz front side bus and 1MB L2 cache.

The hard drive is a 250GB7200 RPM SATA, then we have 2GB of RAM as well, so this PC is no slouch. The graphics card used is the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400.

Woot currently have the Sony Vaio VGCLS30E All-in-One Desktop PC for $799.99

Review: ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX+ Graphics Card

Ultimately, the 9800 GTX+ is just an overclocked 9800 GTX and an overclocked GTX+ is a 9800 GTX overclocked even more. ASUS’ decision to offer an overclocked GTX+ from the word go seems to be a good idea as it helps it stand out a bit more from just a regular GTX or an overclocked GTX.

There isn’t really a whole lot to say about the card; it’s going to come in at a good price while offering some good performance. It’s going to fill in the gap that’s present between the GTX 260 and 9800 GT since 9800 GTX stock has become quite limited.

The only problem at the moment is the card is quite hard to get a hold of. While there was an official date for the lifting of the NDA, there was never really any word of when the stock was going to be arriving on store shelves. It seems like stock is beginning to show up at places and over the next few weeks we should see more and more stock.

While samples of the card are going to get out to websites around the world, everyone is really beginning to focus on the HD 4870 X2 which is just around the corner. The positive press from the HD 4800 series already on the market means that people are very keen to know what the new HD 4870 X2 is going to offer over the top GTX 280 from NVIDIA.

At the end of it all, the 9800 GTX+ TOP is a good performing card which should show up at a decent price level. It would have been nice to see stock earlier, but that’s not ASUS’ fault. We’re not sure if it was a matter of limited cores or getting rid of the original GTX that slowed the release of the card down, but the good news is it’s coming very soon now.

Let us know what you think of the ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX+ Graphics Card.

Please visit TweakTown for the 17 page review.

Palit GeForce 9800 GT: Overclocked 512MB Sonic Version

This is an overclocked 512MB Sonic version of the Palit GeForce 9800 GT. The new 9800 GT from NVIDIA is basically the old 8800 GT. The names changed but the product is the same.

The Palit GeForce 9800 GT has aftermarket cooling, out of the box overclock, a full version game and an excellent price. There isn’t much that’s not to like about the card.

Tweak Town have given this graphics card a hands-on review over 18 pages and in their final thoughts they said “Palits decision to come straight out of the gate with an overclocked model is good news as it helps compete against the HD 4850 at stock clocks a bit better. It is very often we see it right on the tail of the HD 4850, or even passing it.

While the cooler Palit are using these days is probably becoming a bit dated, it still does an excellent job of keeping the card at a reasonable temperature, be it a bit louder than a lot of other aftermarket coolers.

It’s also nice to see that Palit have chosen to include a game in the package, which is good news for people who want to install the card and get into something that doesn’t look too bad straight off the bat.

Like we’ve already said, while the 9800 GT might be nothing more than an 8800 GT, the aggressive pricing of the card, the overclocking capability and the availability of the product make it a very strong competitor against the HD 4850. Then you add in the fact that out of the box the card is able to pass the performance of the HD 4850 in a lot of situations and it does become quite appealing.

Palit have done a good job with the 9800 GT and there’s no doubt it’s going to quickly become a popular card thanks to the aforementioned pros”.

Read the 18 page review or view other computer hardware news.

Hands-on with ZOTAC NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard

This is the ZOTAC NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard and it shows that ZOTAC are back with a board featuring the socket 775 platform; this board may not be in Australia yet but it has a lot of potential. The added wireless Ethernet is a great feature that we don’t normally see on 790i motherboards, this gives ZOTAC’s version of the NVIDIA 790i Ultra chipset board a leg up.

Tweak Town have given ZOTAC’s motherboard a full hands-on review, the results have been covered over 15 pages and in their final thoughts they said “ZOTAC has definitely made its mark with us. While our first board we received from them that was based on the GeForce 8300 chipset failed to impress, the 790i SLI Ultra board really got us going. While it’s a great feat of engineering as to how it’s laid out, ZOTAC isn’t to thank for that since it’s based right off the NVIDIA reference design. But it’s good to see ZOTAC not trying to modify it too much.

The performance of the board was right up there with the likes of the X48 chipset, so if you’re planning on an SLI setup for your NVIDIA chipset, the 790i isn’t going to disappoint as much as the 780i does.

Overall, the ZOTAC board is definitely worth your dollar. With a good software bundle as well as a few added extras like the wireless networking, you’re not going to be disappointed”.

Hit the read link below to see the full specifications, what’s inside the box, BIOS and overclocking, benchmarks and a lot more.

Read the 15 page review.

XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX Edition: Bargain compared to the GTX 280

This is the awesome XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX Edition which has good performance and great value, the question is the GTX 280 XXX Edition which was posted yesterday is a good card also and choosing out of the two I would have to say the XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX Edition is the one for me, this is down to great performance and at a fantastic price.

TweakTown have given this graphics card a hands-on review with 18 pages and in their final thoughts are as follows. I do have to say that it’s surprising to see just how close the GTX 260 performs to the GTX 280 in resolutions up to 2560 x 1600. Only at 2560 x 1600 does the GTX 280 begin to show clear signs of a performance increase. Considering the price of the GTX 260 compared to the GTX 280, it could be considered quite the bargain.

There are a few things we have to wonder though; the HD 4870 is just around the corner which is going to come in cheaper again, and the 9800 GTX+ should also begin to show up in the next few weeks. While the GTX 260 looks like an attractive buy at the moment, NVIDIA could be making a mistake by releasing the GTX+ at a cheaper price which may offer extremely similar performance once again. XFX has done a good job with the card; the price is alright, availability is growing, performance is attractive and the bundle is pretty good with a full version copy of Assassin’s Creed in the package.

As of this second, the GTX 260 does look like quite the card to buy. The thing is though; will the next 24 – 48 hours change this as we get samples of the HD 4870? – Well, we can’t see into the future so we won’t know ‘till tomorrow. For the most part though, the XFX does seem like a very good value card with some good performance to boot. For that reason we will give it the “Value” Editor’s Choice Award because compared to the GTX 280 it does offer very good value.
TweakTown have given this product a rating of 93%

Read the 18 page review here.

XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX Edition: memory bumped way up

This is the XFX version of the GeForce GTX 280 XXX Edition and its had it’s memory bumped way up, XFX are known to be one of the aggressive graphics card overclockers and this version may not be the best value for money but the GTX 280 XXX Edition from XFX is still no doubt very fast. You will not be disappointed with its performance.

Tweak Town have given this card a hands-on review over 18 pages and in their final thoughts they said “XFX has done a good job with finding a very high clock on the memory, but it would have been nice to see the core be bumped to 700MHz out of the box. A little overclocking saw the card had no issue at 700MHz, so it does come as a little surprise that XFX didn’t aim for the 100MHz overclock on the core.

It’s good to see that XFX has also taken the time to include a recent full version game which makes it more appealing; the package on the whole is pretty standard with the normal cables and paperwork, but the little sign to hang off your door knob is a nice extra which we also saw in the XFX 9600GT Alpha Dog.

Unfortunately this all comes at a price, and the XXX edition from XFX is one of the more expensive GTX 280s on the market. That’s no real surprise though, since it’s also one of the highest clocked at the moment, but DIY overclockers will probably find themselves looking for a cheaper option. The good thing about the XFX offering, however, is that you’re guaranteed a 2500MHz memory clock, which is pretty attractive.

XFX has done a good job with the GTX 280 and the massive overclock gives it another speed bump. While we continue to feel disappointed with the fact that we don’t have a huge boost in performance over the last generation 9800 GX2, the fact remains that NVIDIA has been able to place the power of the two cores into a single one while adding new technologies such as CUDA and PhysX.

Hopefully we begin to see some games under NVIDIAs “Way it’s meant to be played” umbrella make use of physics and really begin to offer gamers a completely new gaming experience”.

Read the 18 page review

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP Edition Overclocked: 50% faster than 9800 GX2

We all know how great the old 9800 GX2 GPU was, but there is now a big boy on the block and that is the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP Edition. This Graphics card has been overclocked and is thought to be at least 50% faster than 9800 GX2. As with all GPU’s that state they are a 50 percent faster than another model, this does not always seem to be the case so the guys at TweakTown have decided to put the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP Edition through its paces, they have even pitted it against the top of the range AMD HD 3870 X2.

TweakTown’s thoughts on the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP Edition are “So, that’s the GTX 280. There is no doubt that you’re probably left as underwhelmed as myself at the moment. The rumors that the card was going to be 1.5x faster than the 9800 GX2 were clearly un-true, which is disappointing. But at the same time, it’s probably a bit optimistic.

There are definitely some good things about the card; the performance we got in World in Conflict with AA and AF on is extremely impressive and does show that the card has massive potential.

The other thing that is worth noting is that we still don’t have a PhysX driver for the card, which is a bit of a joke I must say. It seems that NVIDIA these days is so rushed to get the cards out the door that the drivers aren’t yet ready to make full use of the card. This was also seen with the release of the GX2 were the Quad SLI driver wasn’t available at launch.
The other thing is that unlike the 9800 GX2 we tested with today, the GTX 280 is overclocked out of the box from ZOTAC, making the card a little faster than the stock clocked offerings that we will no doubt see.

So what are my actual thoughts on the card? – Okay, yes it’s nice that we’ve got the performance of two GPUs on one card that takes less power, but at the moment an immature driver doesn’t give us the gains that we probably expected to see with a 512-bit memory interface and an increase in stream processors. Do I think that the GTX 280 is going to be performing significantly better in a months’ time? - Absolutely! Will it be too late? - We’re not too sure.

The other thing I have to say before I wrap this all up is that I’ve tested the HD 4850, and I’ve tested it in Crossfire. Now, if I hadn’t tested those cards I may have been more impressed with the GTX 280, but I have. I’ve seen the performance figures the cards put out. We also know the price on a pair of HD 4850s is going to be under $600 AUD, while the new GTX 280 in stock form seems to be launching at the absolute cheapest in Australia in the low $700 AUD area. Ouch.”

NVIDIA’s back helping Phenom with its IGP based GeForce 8300 chipset

This is the ZOTAC GeForce 8300 AM2+ Motherboard and it supports quite an array of feature, but its layout does need a bit of work. Overclocking is non-existent; meaning if you’re after a budget booster this board won’t really deliver. Great for HTPCs if you don’t mind using the DVI to HDMI converter.

With NVIDIA back helping Phenom with its IGP based GeForce 8300 chipset, Tweak Town have given the ZOTAC GeForce 8300 AM2+ motherboard a hands-on review and spread the results over 14 pages. In their final thoughts they said “This has been the first ZOTAC motherboard we have managed to acquire, and most certainly won’t be the last. We have more waiting for us. For our first board we managed to get, we were left with a reasonably good impression. However, ZOTAC needs to do a little more planning on its budget boards. While cheaper is better, there is always room for improvement, even on the lower scale.

NVIDIA’s GeForce 8300 chipset is an extremely impressive unit; its IGP is rather good for a cheap offering, but can’t stand up to the might of a discrete GPU. If you’re going for a budget HDMI based setup, the GeForce 8300 will do you if you’re after an NVIDIA solution. It depends on your preference, as we have seen that the NVIDIA and AMD solutions are extremely competitive with each other. So, depending on what you’re after, it’s a bit of a research game these days.

Overall, we were satisfied with the board. However, we hope to see ZOTAC introduce some better layouts on their next series of boards”.

Read the 14 page hands-on review.

Very Fast BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GTX OCX 512MB

This is the very fast BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GTX OCX 512MB graphics card and its BFG’s first OCX card with a 9800 GTX core. This card is really the whole package with a good overclock, lifetime warranty and 24/7 tech support for the US. Tweak Town have given this card a hands-on review and in their final thoughts they said “I’ve been quite a fan of the 9800 GTX from the word go, this simply due to the plain fact that it’s brought good performance at a reasonable price. While the BFG Tech OCX is one of the more expensive 9800 GTX cards on the market, the lifetime warranty and healthy out-of-the-box overclock make it quite an attractive purchase.

While the 9800 GTX at the higher resolution is for the most part slower than the more expensive 9800 GX2, it still offers excellent performance. If you have an SLI motherboard as well, we would be optioning for a pair of 9800 GTX cards versus a single 9800 GX2 as the GX2 really is nothing more than a pair of 8800 GTs in SLI.

If you’re on an Intel based chipset where SLI isn’t an option, we’re also probably still leaning towards the GTX due to the plain fact that on a whole it offers a whole lot better performance to price ratio.

With all this said though, who knows where the 9800 series of cards are going to be in a few weeks once the new GT 200 based cards are on the market. Will NVIDIA drop the price of these cards or will we simply see them discontinued? – My bet is that the 9800 GTX is probably still going to fill a price gap that won’t be seen with the GT 200 line-up of cards come launch day.

Either way, it’s hard not to be impressed with the offering that BFG has her. If you’re in the market for a graphics card that you expect to keep for years to come, or you’re just finding that when it comes time to sell it, the fact it has a lifetime warranty is more attractive, then you can’t go wrong with the BFG Tech 9800 GTX”.

Read the 17 page hands-on review.

Call Of Duty 4 on PC gets free map pack: nothing for Sony PS3 or Xbox 360

Its easy to understand why the PC version of Call Of Duty 4 is getting some free maps, the free map pack is thanks to graphics card firm Nvidia. They want to say thanks to Activision for the COD4 game and also give something free to the community of gamers. Now as we do not buy graphics cards for the Xbox 360 or Sony PS3, that’s why console gamers will not get any free maps.

It’s a shame as I personally have bought a lot of gamers for the Playstation 3, as have many other gamers on the 360 and PS3. Its nice to get something free and lets hope Sony decide to give back to their community of gamers with some free maps (unlikely).

Nvidia made this statement “This is our way of saying thanks to Activision for an incredible game and also our way to give something back to the PC gaming community. Now go download it from nzone.com and I’ll see you online!”

If you own a GeForce card then its you they want to reward, you can download the free Variety Map Pack for Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on nzone.com…there is nothing like some new maps for a game that takes up all my gaming time.

Would you like more maps for the console version of COD4?

Source: Read

GeForce 9600GT everywhere: Overclocked, 512MB or 1GB, HDMI, Display Port, DVI & more

When it comes to graphics cards, some get made in many more versions than any other and that is so true for the 9600GT. This card is everywhere and each brand seems to make at least five different versions. These include DVI, Display Port, HDMI, single and dual slot, passive and active cooling, 512MB, 1GB, overclocked, stock clocked and much more.

This is the GIGABYTE GeForce 9600GT TurboForce 512MB graphics card that has a heat-pipe for those that like silent cards. This version carries the usual GIGABYTE quality and an excellent overclock. There isn’t much more you could ask for from a mid-range graphics card.

Tweak Town have given this card a hands-on review in and in their final thoughts they said “The GIGABYTE multi-core cooling setup seems to do a good job of keeping the card at a reasonable temperature while pushing out some decent FPS. The advantage it also has over the Sapphire HD 3870 Ultimate, which we looked at the other day, is that getting one is going to be a lot easier. While the card hasn’t hit the market yet, it’s only around the corner and GIGABYTE being as big as they are means that we should see most major retail stores carry it, or at least have access to the model.

With NVIDIA saying that the G92 core should be around for another 12 months, the driver support for the 9600GT should continue to be excellent and we should continue to see some more performance out of it over the coming months.

If you’re looking for a silent card, the 9600GT from GIGABYTE could be a good option. We’ve also heard that a 1GB model is announced and no doubt we’re going to check that out, too. So if you want to get a bit more RAM on your silent card, it might be worth waiting.

It would have been nice to see a game or HDMI adapter in the bundle, but on a whole the setup here from GIGABYTE is pretty good. The overclock is great for a passively cooled card and the performance is even better.”

Read the 17 page hands-on review.

NVIDIA going after Intel with GeForce GTX 280 / 260 next-gen cards

It seems that NVIDA have been making some big noise of late about slimming down their product line of graphics cards, and are also going after Intel and some of their business. With that kind of announcement, you would have thought that the new summer line-up from NVIDIA would be something special, but I am afraid to say that it is much the same as what they already have. NVIDIA have two new graphics cards coming in their summer line-up, the GeForce GTX 260 and the GeForce GTX 280, both of which are next-gen cards.

Both will use the D10U graphics core; however the GTX 280 is the full fat version of the processor which uses all of the 240 unified stream processors. The GTX 260 will only use 192, so is a watered down version. Both the 260 and 280 GPU’s support three-way SLI, NVIDIA are also planning to incorporate PhysX support however; as yet there are no details on this, we will just have to wait until the June 18 launch.

As we mentioned above, both cards will use the D10U processor, these are said to be 50% better than the shaders which were used on the older D9 GPU’s. One thing that you need to know about the D10U chipset though, it does not offer support for DirectX extensions above 10.0. It does seem to me that with the launch of both the GeForce GTX 280 / 260 next-gen cards, NVIDIA are not doing enough to go after Intel.

Source

abit conserves power with the I-N73HD GeForce 7100 Motherboard

abit has done a fine job with their new I-N73HD GeForce 7100 Motherboard, the layout is very tidy for such a small board. There are just two DDR2 memory slots and hiding behind them are the 24-pin power connector as well as the IDE and FDD connectors. The motherboard is only limited to 2GB of memory, but as you will not be running SLI graphics as well as high-end games this is more than enough to keep things running sweet.

Tweaktow have a in-depth review of the abit I-N73HD GeForce 7100 Motherboard, and they have some mixed feelings on this piece of hardware, here are there thoughts” NVIDIAs GeForce 7 series of integrated chipsets do fill in a void, giving you a choice for an integrated system that isn’t based on an Intel chipset. However, with the performance of this chipset compared to a G33 and G35 these days, Intel’s chipset has the option to run six SATA ports over the aging four that NVIDIA has. And the lack of Hybrid SLI on the GeForce 7 IGP based setups leaves them in direct competition with Intel for the IGP chipset of choice, something that Intel is currently winning, especially since G35 now has DX10 support under Vista.
The layout of the board is extremely clean, and its power and overclocking features do give it a heads up over the Intel IGP based chipsets which really leave a bit to be desired on overclocking. This makes the NVIDIA chipset a lot better, especially on memory overclocking. Asynchronous memory clocks are something NVIDIA introduced and continue to support, even on its IGP based boards.

abit has again done a fantastic job. While known for more of its high-end boards, the company now offers value boards that are extremely attractive options on the market. Overall, we found the board to have a great feel and good overclocking for the budget users.”

Source

ATI Radeon 4800 series launch details revealed: Radeon 4850 codenamed Makedon

There is some good news and some bad news, the good news is that there are some new details about AMD’s next-generation graphics card line-up and it is getting very near to the launch date, the new graphic boards will come with physics processing capability and even better prices will be lower than $200 for a 512 MB board, the bad news is that the 4800 series will be launched after the Nvidia GT200.

NVIDIA no doubt have heard to much about the AMD ATI Radeon 4800 series to move up the launch date for its GeForce 9900 series cards, but the latest news from TG Daily are more launch details for the mid to high end cards. The first on the list will be the Radeon 4850 or simply codenamed the “Makedon,” this card will boast 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, CrossFireX support and single-slot cooling, the price for this card will cost $189 to $219.

Next up is a pair of Radeon 4870 cards which will be here in July codenamed “Trojan” one will boast 512MB of GDDR5 memory and the other will have full 1024MB, it will also come with a dual-slot cooler, these two will cost between $249 and $279. They all pack game physics processing capability plus 7.1 channel audio via HDMI support and DirectX 10.1 support.

For much more in depth detail please visit TG Daily

Source

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-37453-135.html

Palit GeForce 9600 GSO Sonic 768MB: NVIDIA confuses with new model

The Palit GeForce 9600 GSO Sonic 768MB has entered a crowded graphics card market and while NVIDIA are confusing many buyers with another model that’s so similar to other cards. The results do show this model offers excellent performance and value for money. Palit has taken it a step further by upping the clocks even more, which make for an excellent model and buy. Tweak Town have spent some time with the Palit GeForce 9600 GSO and while they are unhappy with the “stupid GSO naming”, they did agree that this card offers value for money. In their final thoughts they said, “This is where it becomes really messy. Performance wise, the 9600 GT Sonic is 0% – 10% faster than the 9600 GSO Sonic, which means a stock clocked 9600 GT is going to perform slightly worse than this card in some instances.

Then there is the price; the overclocked Sonic version comes in at a whopping $5 AUD more expensive than the stock 9600 GT. Now, when you put overclocking into consideration at the price point of a stock clocked 9600 GSO, it’s going to come in cheaper than the 9600 GT.

So what you have here is a card that is $5 more than a stock clocked 9600 GT, performing at the same speed or slightly faster (depending on the game). You then also get yourself some extra RAM as well.

What’s going to be real interesting is the 384MB which comes in $50 AUD cheaper than the 768MB, and significantly cheaper than the 9600 GT. Increase the clocks on the model and you could be onto a real winner of a card if we get performance similar to a 9600 GT 512MB.

Now, I’ve openly spoken about the issues I’ve had with NVIDIA’s naming schemes, but this has to be the absolute worst. This card has been released because they’re dumping the 8800 GS that never sold. The main reason it never sold? No one knew about it. What they’ve done in the whole process is kill sales on the 9600 GT. Palit are different; their Sonic version of the 9600 GT offers a wealth of connectivity with display port, HDMI and more. But if you’re a supplier holding a few hundred/thousand pieces of 9600 GT reference clocked cards, I wouldn’t be too happy at the moment.

What makes it even worse is that when speaking to a manufacturer today, they said that NVIDIA are talking about changing the 9600 GT to the GSO. If that happens we could end up with four models under the naming scheme with RAM options being 384MB, 512MB, 768MB and 1GB; and for further confusion there’ll also be two different memory widths present.

While this may quickly become one of the best valued cards on the market, it really is the absolute worst thing when it comes to helping people make their decision on which graphics card to buy.

All NVIDIA is doing is confusing everyone and slowing down graphics card professions. They’re being slack; the 9600 GSO, while a fantastic product thanks to its performance to price ratio, is just an 8800 GS. Ultimately though, does this really surprise anyone? The whole 9 series have been nothing more than some strategic name changing that does nothing but confuse people. The good news is that cards carrying the X600 GS naming scheme, which were generally horrific for games, are actually now really good. So if this is anything to go by, the 10400GS should perform at about the same speed as the 8800 Ultra.”

Read the 12 page review.

NVIDIA helps PC users go Green with Hybrid SLI

PC users love the visual realism that high-performance graphics processors give their PCs, but would rather do without the noise and power consumption typical of modern entertainment and gaming PCs. Starting today, however, they can have the best of both worlds, thanks to the new NVIDIA® platforms based on the company’s Hybrid SLI® technology. These new platforms are the foundation for a new breed of PCs that deliver a richer visual experience while reducing energy consumption and costs, fan noise, and even heat. The new technology is available immediately with new NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI and GeForce 8 Series based motherboards.

“Hybrid SLI will give consumers the extra GPU performance they need for the increasing numbers of visual PC applications such as today’s PC games,” said Drew Henry, general manager of platform business at NVIDIA. “And it will give gamers and PC enthusiasts the quiet and power savings they demand. Hybrid SLI components could very well pay for themselves over the life of the PC.”

The visual capabilities of typical PCs are driven by either integrated graphics on the motherboard or by higher performance, discrete graphics cards, like NVIDIA GeForce® GPUs. Unfortunately, the most common integrated graphics chips lack the performance and features needed by many popular modern 3D applications, games, and movies. Discrete graphics cards deliver a far superior visual experience, but consume more energy.

Hybrid SLI-enabled motherboards eliminate this problem by putting a GeForce GPU directly on the motherboard. This GeForce GPU has better DirectX compatibility and HD movie playback capability than the most common integrated graphics chips found in today’s PCs, but consumes less energy than a discrete graphics card. But that’s only the start.

Designed for PC enthusiasts and hard-core gamers, the HybridPower™ feature completely powers down the discrete graphics cards and switches graphics processing to the motherboard GPU in applications where major 3D horsepower is not required, such as e-mail and Web surfing. Users will appreciate the lower energy consumption, quieter PC operation, and less heat. When additional 3D horsepower is needed, it can be manually transitioned back to discrete graphics cards using HybridPower technology, which are then powered up and ready to rock the 3D world. Hybrid SLI technology can save hundreds of dollars in energy costs over the life of the PC for high-end, enthusiast-class PCs, and deliver additional graphics performance for more mainstream desktops via these two features.i

For mainstream users, a Hybrid SLI technology feature called GeForce Boost allows the user to add an additional graphics card for even more graphics horsepower. By combining the performance of the motherboard GPU and graphics card discrete GPUs, GeForce Boost increases overall graphics performance up to 50% for today’s visually intensive applications and home entertainment.

“NVIDIA continues to deliver outstanding innovation for AMD CPUs. We are especially excited that HybridPower, a feature of NVIDIA Hybrid SLI, will be introduced exclusively on AMD CPU-based platforms,” said Leslie Sobon, director, product marketing, AMD. “The AMD Phenom™ X4 quad-core processors, together with this motherboard’s HybridPower features, deliver powerful performance and energy efficiency, an important combination for AMD.”

The Hybrid SLI-enabled desktop PC motherboards are designed to create a balanced PC with GeForce GPUs and AMD Phenom processors. Eight models, including a newly available nForce 780a SLI motherboard, are available:

• nForce 780a SLI, nForce 750a SLI, nForce 730a, and nForce 720a
• GeForce 8300, GeForce 8200, and GeForce 8100

Currently available Hybrid SLI-enabled discrete graphics cards include:

• NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 and NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX (both HybridPower-capable)
• GeForce 8400 GS and GeForce 8500 GT (both GeForce Boost-capable)

Hybrid SLI-enabled PC motherboards for Intel processors and Hybrid SLI-enabled notebooks will be available in Q3 of 2008. For more information about NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology please visit www.nvidia.com/Hybrid_SLI.

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