NVIDIA is about to launch a graphics card using two GPUs. AMD fitted two RV670 chips onto a single PCB to create Radeon HD 3870 X2, R680. But as we know from previous experience, GeForce 7950GX2, NVIDIA prefer to work with two separate PCBs with its dual-GPU cards. Therefore it came as no surprise that the 9800GX2 would be pretty much the same as the 7950GX2. We’ve seen a couple of pictures of the card, but it seems NVIDIA had a couple of ideas on how to design card, among others a sandwich layout where the two PCBs were facing each other, thus using the same cooler.
It looks like NVIDIA simply took two G92 cards, fitted them together and installed an external SLI bridge. This is of course just a prototype of 9800GX2, and the performance is suppose to be sub-par, which could be a driver issue though.
We’ve seen too many pictures of other GeForce 9800GX2 cards to believe that this anything but an early prototype, but who knows, weirder things have happened. When you compare this layout to that of the Radeon HD 3870X2, it looks rather half-baked.
