Clarification on 9800M GTX sli

Hi,

I'm relatively new to the realm of in-depth analysis of graphics cards and was about to get myself a new xps 1730 with 8800m gtx sli when I began to digg deeper into what is currently coming out new to the market. There I began reading about the new 9800m gtx and after reading 100 different posts on speculation/comparison was left quite in the dark.

Specifically I'd like to get some opinions on the following:
- Would an xps machine with 8800m gtx sli be upgradable to a 9800m gtx sli (once the sli version hits the market)? Whats the key determinant for it to be upgradeable?
- Would it be worth the wait until a machine with 9800m gtx sli comes out, as it seems inevitable that it will come out at some stage soon?
- Would a 9800m gtx sli make crysis (safely) playable on high with a better average FPS than 30 (just to get a rough idea with regards to benchmarks).
- In relation to my second point, could it be that there won't even be a 9800m gtx sli version (for whatever technical reason)?
- Given previous release cycles, what would be your best guess for the release of the first 9800m gtx sli notebook?
- Pardon my ignorance on this one: Is a 512 MB 9800m gtx sli better than a 1MB 9800m gtx non-sli, and if so why?

Sorry for any questions that have already been answered in other threads, but I really would like to be clear about this before hurrying into any purchase. Any additional comments/insights/tips are more than welcome!

Thanks

 

- that would be up to Dell. The key determinant for vidoecard upgrades is the ODM/OEM first to see if they want to keep a current system and order videocard modules for that model... for upgrades.
- and the support of Nvidia with driver and other configurations

the 9800M GTX is looking to perform about 15-20% better than the 8800M GTX... so its up to you too see if its worth it or not
- for me, its not a huge enough difference.

Like I have been saying about Crysis....
"It needs to be optimized."

I did the beta testing for it and it seemed that the developers cared more about the eye candy then the optimization.

While when I was doing the UT3 beta, they cared to focus on game optimization, that is why you can crank everything to max and actually see a difference in UT3 as compared to Crysis.

 

Nothing's for certain, but my bets are:
- I'd imagine the 8800m GTX's can be upgraded to the 9800m GTX's - it all depends on how much heat they produce, and form factor. However the upgrade to 2 new 9800's is going to be very pricey (~$1000), and with only a small performance bump (~20%)
- The rule is, if you need a laptop now, get it; if you don't, then wait. There will always be new tech coming out around the corner, so if you wait for the next best thing, you'll never get a laptop.
- I'd imagine SLI 9800m GTX's could handle crysis rather well.
- I believe that clevo/sager notebooks can already be configured with sli 9800's. I'm not sure about when dell is going to offer them.
- VRAM is almost useless for determining the quality of a video card. I'd say that the sli config is always better than the non-sli config, no matter how much memory the card has.

I hope this helps!

 

I'd imagine the 9800M GTX won`t be worth the price tag.
But if you want the best and the fastest in the mobile world, the 9800M GTX SLI will be it. If you`re up for the whole in the pocket that is.

 

Well clocks are out for the 9800m GTX. Exact same clocks as 8800m GTX 500/1250/800 but it has 112 SP`s instead of 96 SP´s. 9800m GT is exactly an 8800m GTX with exact same clocks and 96 SP´s.

 

So no great improvement huh.. hmm... winder if I can get Xotic to build me an NP9262 with Dual 8800GTX cards lol. Or are the shaders really worth it? Considering future longevity aswell, future proofing, Dual 8800GTX to save cost or dual 9800GTX to increase future proof.. or would it even be more future proof with the newer GFX?

 

Getting dual 9800gtx is not really going to "future proof" anything. Future proofing is getting top of the line stuff to make sure you won't have to upgrade later. You are getting the top of the line stuff for now, but its not that big of an improvement so its probably not going to last that long as king. If you got the 8800gtx a few years back instead of a 8700gt, then that would be future proofing as even now the 8800gtx is on par with the "second best".

 

Awesome, thanks for all the replies. I have a quick additional question:

Given that Sager is actually offering 9800m GT sli, would the following be a correct statement (broadly speaking):

8800m GTX sli < 9800m GT sli < 9800m GTX sli

Given that the above holds, my qustions would be:
- How much better would a gtx vs a gt be (9800 version, c.p.)
- Given that it is often said the jump from 8800 gtx to 9800 gtx is not that amazing, would going to 9800 gt be a good enough approximation to the gtx (kind of same question as first)
- What IS actually the difference between GT and GTX??

Many thanks again for all the help!

 

Maybe this will help a little bit, comparing 8800m GTX to 9800m GT

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=272659

 

Hmm, just got off the phone with a Sager Sales rep who vehemently argues that 9800M GT sli is exactly the same as 8800M GTX sli ...

Which really leaves me clueless after digging through the previous thread on what the difference is...

Aren't the 9-er series supposed to be in some way more efficient at least?

Thanks for the help

 

Check this LINK out.

 

Aha:

An advantage of the GeForce 9000 series is the integrated PureVideo HD video processor. It is able to help with the decoding of H.264-, VC-1-, MPEG2- and WMV9 video material in HD quality and eases the CPU.

In conjunction with the Nvidia 9100M G integrated graphics, the 9800M GT supports Hybrid-SLI (only HybridPower). HybridPower is a technique to choose between the integrated and dedicated graphics core, if performance or battery runtime is needed. This works only in Windows Vista. Up to now the user has to use a tool to switch between the GPUs. Later Nvidia wants to switch automatically in the drivers. GeForceBoost is not supported with this card, as there would be no performance gain to combine the integrated GPU with the 9800M GT.

From that I'd say there is clearly a difference, whether it would have a significant gaming impact...not sure.