NVIDIA's ninth generation series of graphics cards brings cutting edge technology and advanced capabilities together to provide best-in-class performance. The 9800GX2 is the solution for all your most demanding graphic needs. It’s Microsoft Vista ready and equipped with a PCI-Express 2.0 interface for the latest system.
The 9800 supports Quad SLI to seriously crank your performance options by using up to four graphics cards to for insane flow rates. Support for DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0, OpenGL 2.1 and NVIDIA's PureVideoHD are built in to render even the most intense environmental effects or HD DVD video with brilliant clarity. The card's core clock runs at 600MHz relieving your CPU of pixel crunching duty. Data surges through the 9800's 256 stream processors which are fed by 1GB of 512-bit 2000MHz GDDR3 memory.
Twin dual-linked DVI and 400 MHz RAMDAC lets you display 2560 x 1600 resolution video and graphics on even the largest monitors, or output to other video displays via the S-Video and HDTV connectors for maximum flexibility. The 9800 delivers fluid frame rates and HD video with solid performance. If your motherboard can take it, the 9800GX2 can dish it out.
NVIDIA Unified Architecture with GigaThread TechnologyThe fully-unified shader core dynamically allocates processing power to geometry, vertex, physics and pixel shading operations, delivering incredibly true-to-life 3D graphics. In addition, the massively multi-threaded architecture supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shader programs.
NVIDIA HybridPower TechnologyDesigned for PC enthusiasts and hard-core gamers, HybridPower Technology switches graphics processing from the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card to your motherboard GeForce GPU when running less graphics-intensive applications for reduced energy consumption, quieter operation, and less heat generation.
PCI Express 2.0 InterfaceThe PCI Express 2.0 interface delivers an ultra-high data rate of up to 16 GB/s, and is backward compatible with PCI Express x16 (PCI-E 1.0), so you can upgrade the graphics of your existing system with the EVGA 01G-P3-N891-AR.
Quad NVDIA SLI TechnologyThe next-level Quad NVIDIA SLI technology enables a pair of über-powered, dual GPU GeForce 9800 GX2-based graphics cards to work simultaneously, delivering a 3.4x performance increase over a single GeForce 8800 GT, perfect for building the world’s fastest gaming platform under Windows Vista.
NVIDIA PureVideo HD TechnologyThe combination of high-definition video decoding acceleration and post-processing delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color and precise image scaling for all video content, especially movies.
Essential VistaNVIDIA GeForce 9 Series GPUs are essential for accelerating your Windows Vista experience by offering an enriched 3D user interface, increased productivity, vibrant photos, smooth, high-definition videos, and ultra-realistic games.
Pros: Runs everything I've thrown at it at a liquid-smooth framerate.. From Crysis, to Jericho and 3DMark2006 with no hitches whatsoever! All this with a 1440x900 screen, which most may say is a waste, but I am updating that very soon. eVGA has made a nice, solid and beautiful card and the step-up program is great!
Cons: Price. Though that's coming down through rebate offers. People may also say that you're better off investing in two 8800 GTS, or GTX cards. Card exhausts its generated heat through the top-vent of the card, so make sure you have sufficient cooling! My Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS seems to provide sufficient cooling, and the idle-and-load temperatures seem average compared to what I've seen in review sites.
Overall Review: Research! Those with tighter wallets could probably do well with two 8800GTS cards SLI'ed together. In the end, this card isn't a real update to those sporting two GeForce 8800-series cards but since I'm updating from a system that used an ATI Radeon X850, and I had the money.. I pounced on this card, and I don't regret it. HDMI out may be a good thing for those users with the capability.