[Review]HD3870X2 Quad-CrossfireX smasher: GeForce 9800GX2
Talk about the BR04
BR04 is a bridge chip which we have mentioned before(on 780i SLI). It is a PCIe bridge chip developed by NVIDIA itself. Different from Radeon HD 3870 X2’s PEX8547 bridge chip, BR04 is PCIe 2.0 enabled. (words have has it that HD 3870 X2 will also use a PCIe 2.0 bridge chip in new revision.)
BR04’s spec is like 7950GX2’s BR03 bridge, both have 48 PCIe lane. But because BR04 is PCIe 2.0 enabled so the data transfer rate raise a lot. So the data transfer rate of PCIe 2.0 x16 raise to 16GB/s.
The internal data transfer bridge.
BR04’s 48 lane is fully used. First of all, 16 lanes are connected to the primary PCB’s external PCIe connector, and secondly the rest of 32x lane splits into half, connect both GPU. Data sent into the card will be split into half and send to different GPU for further processing.
7950GX2 Quad SLI working diagram. 9800GX2 is exactly the same, but the bandwidth doubled because of PCIe 2.0.
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The advantage of dual PCB
Page 3: 800GX2 Quad SLI: the new 4-way AFR
Page 4: 9800GX2 power connector issues
Page 5: The LEDs of 9800GX2
Page 6: A closer look at 9800GX2(1)
Page 7: A closer look at 9800GX2(2)
Page 8: Talk about the BR04
Page 9: 9800GX2 HD playback test
Page 10: GeForce 9800GX2 power consumption test
Page 11: GeForce 9800GX2 cooling test
Page 12: Test bed and remarks
Page 13: Futruemark 3DMark06
Page 14: DiRT:Colin McRae Off-Road V1.1
Page 15: Enemy Territory:Quake Wars
Page 16: Half Life2 Episode2 timedemo
Page 17: F.E.A.R:Perseus Mandate
Page 18: Call of Duty 4 MP V1.5 timedemo
Page 19: Unreal Tournament 3 V1.2
Page 20: Bioshock V1.1
Page 21: Crysis V1.1
Page 22: Call of Juarez V1.1.10 AMD Version
Page 23: Company of Heroes OF V2.201.0
Page 24: World In Conflic V1.0.0.5b
Page 25: Lost Planet V1.004
Page 26: Single VS SLI：9800GX2 vs 8800GTS
Page 27: Flagship VS Flagship: 9800GX2 vs 8800Ultra
Page 28: Who’s the new King：9800GX2 vs 3870X2
Page 29: King, and two queens: 9800GX2 vs 3870X2 CF
Page 30: Final thought
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March 19th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
[...] GX2 has finally came. Will 9800 GX2 better than HD 3870 X2, take back the crown of graphic? Source __________________ Click Me -> BUILDING my Future Rig by the end of March with [...]
March 20th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Very good review. Thanks!
March 20th, 2008 at 8:48 am
GX2 is sick!
March 20th, 2008 at 9:09 am
[...] 22:08 #3 (permalink) BFG GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB review [Review]HD3870X2 Quad-CrossfireX smasher: GeForce 9800GX2 – Expreview.com [...]
March 20th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
its all about optimization
if game makers optimized their games for ati and nvidia ,ati would win
if u see the call of jaruz amd version that game was optimized for atiand u can see almost double the fps when using CF
March 20th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
BTW Jeff u didnt tell why NV used a 8 pin in the other card
ill let u figure it out
March 20th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Thanks for your tests!
March 21st, 2008 at 12:52 am
[...] Expreview | Nvidia Tags: 9800GX2, GeForce, [...]
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 am
gg: I like how you compare ati vs nvidia on the game that is clearly scaling well on crossfire and clearly having problems on SLI and nvidia in general. It really shows how people willfully mislead themselves just to believe what they wish to believe.
Perhaps a more accurate statement would be: “if game makers optimized their games for ati and not nvidia, ati would win” *cough* AMD Version *cough*
gg silly pants..
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Interesting review. However, I fail to see the reason to spend an extra 180 U.S dollars more for a few more frames per second on Nvidia’s X2 card while both AMD and Nvidia are running on immature drivers and on un-optimized (Xbox 360 Nvidia) games. The best X2 graphics card option is still with ATI. Spend your extra 180 U.S. dollars on something else, like a good power supply… “OH, I CAN RENDER 20+ FPS COMPARED TO YOUR CARD!!!!” yes, but you will not see any differences above 60 fps and I have an extra 2GB of RAM, after market coolers, and a smile on my face.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:57 am
The whole ‘you can only see 60fps’ thing is bullshit. You can actually tell the difference.
March 24th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Hello Wrong,
It would be nice if you could write a comment on the review first and then comment on my writing. Yes the eye can detect 220fps (actually and more correctly, a flash of image at 4.5ms and with adrenaline in your system), but what does it mean for gaming with limited refresh rates on your monitor? Truthefully you still won’t see any use of more than 60fps which is why first person shooter games like UT3 and Quake have framerate caps at 62fps.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
wrong u moron he referred to the screen limit, not the eye limit
March 30th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
3870X2 beat it in 3DMark
March 31st, 2008 at 8:34 am
Seeing those results and comparing them what other website reporting I must say that comparison betwen 9800gx2 and 3870×2 CF is set in quite unfair way against 3870×2.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
nVIDIA GX2 is just amazing,at least it’s better than 3870 x2
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[...] Undying.Technics: nVIDIA GX2 is just amazing,at least it’s better than 3870 x2… [...]
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
[...] Undying.Technics: nVIDIA GX2 is just amazing,at least it’s better than 3870 x2… [...]
May 11th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Some really cool stats as I was wondering which card was the right one for me. Now I know…Thanks for sharing
June 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
What a scam? LOOK AT THESE FPS? U must be kiddin me! X-Fire must have 64-84% better perf. than single… What a scam review… Update u’r drivers, mb & mind…
June 9th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
…in most listed games, something must be wrong with “U’R” X-fire setup(!:D)… Sorry if I have wrong, but my tousands if hours looking at “SLi-vs-XFire”-reviews all over the net making me sick looking at this review, sorry!:)
I just trying to find what is better choise today… I can’t believe nobody nomore!
August 6th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
5500FX FTW
September 4th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
А я так посмотрю, Вы как всегда немногословны
May 25th, 2009 at 6:49 am
can you make this opening photo SMALLER ?!?!?