Customer Reviews

PNY VCG98GTXPXPB Geforce 9800 GTX+ 512MB PCI-Express Graphic Card

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The card works great. Although it has a different cooling fan than the one pictured. Go to PNY's website to see what it actually looks like.

The Geforce 9800 GTX+ is my first effort to purchase any hardware to upgrade my PC. Generally, my PCs have been custom built and haven't had much need for upgrades, but given a few dollars to spare and a need to replace my old graphics card, which suddenly failed on me, I took some time researching graphics cards. I wanted something that would be worth the price, but not as power hungry or as expensive as the highest end gaming cards. As far as criteria go, I do a lot of word processing, a lot of video conversion and streamed recording, webcam every now and then, and (perhaps the most intensive graphics requirement for me) I play the Sims 2 and the Sims 3 whenever I can get some honest, not-in-the-midst-of-procrasination, free time.

For these purposes, and I'm sure others, this video-graphics card works like a charm. It runs smoothly and quietly and has greatly expanded my options for visual enjoyment on my PC. My games run smoother than ever, without a moment's lag. Vista's (yes, I happen to actually like Vista; it hasn't been problematic for me at all) Performance Information Tools rate the video card in two ways: Graphics (Desktop performance for Windows Aero) and Gaming Graphics (3D business and gaming graphics performance). Both have ratings of a 5.9, the highest rating possible at this time.

As far as the hardware itself is concerned: it is easy to install, though it is a larger-than-average piece of hardware--but that's because it houses its own fan. The fan does a great job of keeping the device cool and I have never had any problems with overheating or noise. *Speaking of the fan: a former reviewer noted that his video card has a heat sink instead of an exhaust grate; perhaps the reviewer needs to check to make sure s/he received the right card. The video card I received DOES have its own exhaust grate, which contributes to the efficiency of the fan. I can't imagine that we are reviewing the same card.

At this point, I'd love to offer some pithy closing remark or drop some amazing statistics of specs on you... but, well, I'm just not that creative. Suffice it to say, at this mainstream price, there is no reason to settle for a card that offers anything less than the specifications of this model. It is a worthy investment without disappointment.

After buying my ATI 4870x2 bohemoth card, I thought I pulled myself off the high-end card market for at least 5 or more years. Well, I have since re-evaluated that premise and decided to dump the single card (dual memory) option in favor of the 9800GTX+ edition. I bought one earlier first and liked the performance and noted that it was out performing my ATI on Microsoft FSX and Laminer Research's X-Plane 9.45. I decided to purchase the second card from Amazon and install it as an SLI 2 card solution. What a difference this combination makes in all 3D performance. I have some of the most intensive resource games on the market and they all perform very well under extreme resolutions. I do not play any 3D-game less than 1600 x 1200. This card is probably under estimated if you read the middle of the road reviews. The bottom line is, the price and performance gains are immense and boils down to simple is better. I thought if I paid 500 dollars or more for a solution, it would be the best performance. I am an engineer by trade and in most situations, if you put more quality assurance in a product, you should get better performance and reliability. In this case, The 9800GTX+ is BETTER than the ATI 4870x2 for the following reasons;

1) ATI claims the power draw is 380 or so watts when in fact, its closer to 500 under load
2) My electric bill is down a whole 100 dollars/mo just from removing that card....(yes 100 dollars)
3) My case stayed extremely hot even with 6 fans in the case
4) There has been no cooling solutions for the ATI solution and those that have tried are charging rediculous prices for that solution (frankly, ATI should have done this)

I'm a happy camper now. I have noted a quieter case (fans don't have to work as hard) and performance is better than the ATI solution. I know there are high end nvidia solutions as well but I am telling you my experience with a middle of the road solution; NOT BAD !!!!!

This unit had a retail magnetic strip inside it. This led me to think the seller bought it at some big sale at Fry's or somewhere and resold it here. I guess that's not really wrong but...the inside...INSIDE...sub-box was crushed up some, which led me to wonder if this was even a new unit. From my view there was no way the damage could have been done to the inside box without some damage to the outside ("cover") of the box. It appeared more like someone unpackaged it and sat down on the inner box or something.

Anyway...card is working fine, and the 9800 GTX+ is still a better quality and more stable card than a lot of the crap...JUNK...NOT-WORTH-BUYING...cards that Nvidia has dumped onto the public in the last couple of years...take the GTX 280 series for example. Then the grossly, horribly overpriced so-called top of the line GTX 580...pure trash...the only really decent card they've put out since the 9800's are the GTX 480's....and THOSE THINGS...you could seer a steak on them the run so frigging HOT...you have to buy an aftermarket cooler just because you're afraid the thing might catch your house on fire if you walk away for more than 15 minutes...utterly ridiculous. All performance comparisons have ATI way ahead of Nvidia...and that's sad. Probly why Apple dumped them...they have some serious flaws, and it's only my opinion, but they need some MUCH better engineers and better quality control if they are going to even stay in this game for the next 2 or 3 years.

Pros - This is probably the coldest running card I have ever had. It's running at 35C right now and maybe 42C under load. It is fairly quiet although fan noise does not bother me. This will max out most games today with the right CPU combo. Price. This thing is amazingly cheap for the price.

Cons - Does not like overclocking. It's very large so you need a sizable case to use it. High power cuonsumption. Not a problem for me but others with a weaker power supply may have problems.

Update: I up-graded my memory from DDR2 800 to DDR2 1000 after doing so I found that my memory was bottlenecking my system I usually play one game and really my system is now over kill for that game (CSSource) I went from 100FPS avg. to 180FPS avg. and I just upgraded my memory, Oh and this Graphics card from an 8800GT Superclocked 650MHz core 950MHz memory. This card does run cooler than the 8800GT, I just wish I could have gotten the dual slot exsaust to where the air is taken out of the case (like the one in the Pic) now they put some cheap heatsink on them now I'm not happy about that. But Oh well win some lose some.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\I bought this in hopes to gain some frame rates but needless to say I wasted my money I can't believe then again I can beleive that series after series performance gain is not noticable unless you skip a few series when upgrading. This card is not the dual slot cooler type they put this picture up to con you in buying just to give you the cheap cooler I can't believe this whats this world comming to people rip you off then get away with it because they're making someone money? my God. Can you tell I'm P O'ed so dont buy this. If you don't own an 8800GT then you may not know what I'm talking about. 8800GT Rocks and are cheaper, These 9800GTX+ cards suck for the price you pay, get an 8800GT. Even a used one would be beter than this disapointment.
2nd UPDATE: I just ran 3D MARK 06 with my old 8800GT and another with this card needless to say they scored the same 10500 I could not believe it I will sell this card for what I paid for it. It may be a great card paired up with another 9800GTX+ and I would buy another but I already have 2 8800GT