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By Andrew Gould 6 June 2008

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With two onboard GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), the GeForce 9800 GX2-based graphics card is basically two powerful cards combined into one, which makes it the most powerful graphics card currently on the ­market.

This monster of a card comes with 2x 256 GPU cores running at 600Mhz each, a 512 Bit Memory ­interface and 1GB GDDR3. This allows it to perform 30 to 50% faster across games (under certain ­resolutions) than the ­previous ­performance ­leading GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU. Take note: you need to have a good system to make full use of this card. We ran it with an ASUS Rampage Formula board, Intel Duo Core 8400E OC to 3.4Ghz. You will also need a beefy power supply to feed the beast. 750w or more is ­recommended. What does all this mean for the non GFX-savvy crowd? The GeForce 9800 GX2 is the Bugatti Veyron of GFX cards. We ran some tests and this really is the new fps (frames per second) master. We got a score of 13468 in 3DMark2006 Pro at 1280x1024, and 39 fps in Crysis at 1920x1200. This card is more than capable of running the latest gen games at ridiculously high resolutions (or at native ­resolution for the lucky few with 24" LCDs). Games like Crysis and Age of Conan ran consistently at 50fps+ with game setting on the highest. The GeForce 9800 GX2 also ­supports Direct X10 and needs a PCIe x16 Slot.

Another great feature is the High Definition support. It comes with an HD port and HDMI audio functionality at hardware level. If you are considering to buy this pricey card, we assume you can plug it into your latest 42" HD LCD and enjoy Blu-ray movies. If you are into the having the best of the best, then this is for you.

The RRP on the GeForce 9800 GX2 is R6699 (standard edition). Visit www.axiz.co.za for more info.


PROS
Scorching frame rate and excellent HD picture quality.
CONS
The cards amazing performance doesn???t come cheap.
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