GeForce 9800 GTX architecture features
The most productive single-chip model based on the G92 was the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB video adapter, which can compete on equal terms with the flagship based on the previous G80 core - Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX. However, after the appearance of the GeForce 9800 GX2, a significant gap appeared in the price line between the $249...299 and $599...649 segments, where Nvidia did not have current products, but where the competitor has a two-chip ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 with a price in the range 399...449 dollars. As a result, the company decided to close the gap between the prices of products of different classes, and at the same time expand the GeForce 9 line.
This is how the Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX appeared, a graphics card based on the G92 chip with all activated units and slightly increased clock speeds relative to the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. The product not only does not have any innovations compared to its predecessors (except for support for 3-way SLI and SLI HybridPower technologies), but also introduces additional complexity into the line of sold Nvidia GeForce graphics cards.
Quite weak competition from ATI, the graphics division of Advanced Micro Devices, which continued from the very moment the latter purchased ATI Technologies in October 2006, as well as the very successful G80 graphics chip seriously changed both the situation in the discrete graphics market and Nvidia's policy.
Thus, due to the lack of alternatives in the $599 segment, the company does not reduce the price of the GeForce 8800 GTX, but introduces the GeForce 8800 Ultra for $849. At the same time, instead of adjusting prices for cards in the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB (G80) class, the GPU developer is waiting many months to introduce an entirely new G92 chip and fill the price segments from $199 to, subsequently, $649. The latter, as can be seen today, was a success. However, this contributed to an unprecedented level of product naming confusion.
At one time, the appearance of the G80 core led to the creation of a slender line of graphics cards, which included the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB, GeForce 8800 GTX and the GeForce 8800, which appeared much later. Ultra. Hardly any of the company’s clients had difficulty finding the most productive or, conversely, average-speed model.
However, with the release of the G92, Nvidia for some reason did not want to give products based on the new chip a new general model number, for example, GeForce 8900 or GeForce 9800, which would have been the most logical step. As a result, a lot of confusion was created in the GeForce 8800 family, when the G92-based models were faster than the G80-based variants, but it was impossible to clearly tell by the name. Thus, the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB was ahead of the GeForce 8800 GTS 320/640MB, while the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB was inferior to them, and the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, which appeared later, became a direct competitor not to the older models with the GTS index, but to the more powerful GeForce 8800 GTX.
Ultimately, realizing that eight different products sold under one model number was too much, Nvidia released the next generation - GeForce 9. The first representative of the GeForce 9 family was the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB based on the G94 graphics processor. The new product turned out to be very successful: already in the first reviews it was noted that it was ahead of the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB (not to mention the not very successful GeForce 8600 series cards) and sometimes not inferior to the more expensive GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. This further complicated the situation for buyers, since all three cards are still on the market today in the price segment from 150 to 200 dollars (in Moscow retail - from 4 to 6 thousand rubles).
The second member and flagship of the GeForce 9 family was the GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB graphics card based on two G92 chips. By tradition, the new flagship of the family should confidently surpass the previous one in performance, which was done in most cases thanks to the high-quality optimization of Nvidia ForceWare drivers for working with two chips in AFR mode.
The last announced representative of the new line was the already mentioned GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB based on the G92 graphics processor. In addition to slightly increased clock frequencies compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, the new product received support for 3-way SLI and SLI HybridPower technologies, as well as a 27-centimeter 12-layer printed circuit board with a pair of PCI Express power connectors.
Although the number “9” in the series number hints at some new and hitherto unoffered capabilities, in fact the GeForce 9800 GTX, 9800 GX2 graphics cards do not differ at the hardware level from the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, 8800 GT 512MB, 8800 GTS 512MB, since all of them are based on the G92 chip. The latter has exactly one significant difference for the user from the G80 (on which the first generation GeForce 8800 was based): a more advanced video processor that can hardware decode HD video streams encoded using H.264 and VC-1, as well as perform HD post-processing video.
The new product differed from the previous most productive graphics card based on the G92 in two ways: higher frequencies GPU and memory, as well as the presence of two SLI connectors, which really marks it out as the successor to the GeForce 8800 GTX, which, as is known, supported three-processor Triple SLI configurations. Thus, it is obvious that the GeForce 9800 GTX is really positioned as the successor to the GeForce 8800 GTX.
Characteristics of NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX
| Name | GeForce GTX 9800 |
| Core | G92 |
| Process technology (µm) | 0.065 |
| Transistors (millions) | 754 |
| Core frequency | 675 |
| Memory operating frequency (DDR) | 1100 (2200) |
| Bus and memory type | GDDR3 256-bit |
| Bandwidth (Gb/s) | 70.4 |
| Unified shader units | 128 |
| Unified shader unit frequency | 1688 |
| TMU on conveyor | 64 |
| ROP | 16 |
| Shader Model | 4.0 |
| Fill Rate (Mpix/s) | 10800 |
| Fill Rate (Mtex/s) | 43200 |
| DirectX | 10.0 |
| Memory Capacity | 512/1024 |
| Interface | PCI-E 2.0 |
In general, we have before our eyes an example of how a good idea in itself can be significantly spoiled by both marketing confusion and unsuccessful engineering solutions. However, before the appearance of the new GT200 core, the Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX rightfully held the title of the fastest single-chip graphics card.
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