The 9800GTX+ is supposed to be the green camps answer to the ATI HD4850. In this endeavor it does not entirely succeed. When the performance numbers are put down on paper the HD4850 and 9800GTX+ each won 18 out of 36 benchmark tests for a 50/50 split or you guessed it a 50% win percentage. With the increased clock speeds on the GPU core(740) and shaders(1836) the performance is almost there, almost. The smaller 55nm process does not provide increased performance but what it is supposed to do is reduce manufacturing costs for the manufacturer and reduce operating expenses for the end user by reducing the power consumption. To that end the 9800GTX+ can be paired with a Hybrid power capable motherboard to further reduce the power consumed by your system by disabling the discrete video card(9800GTX+) during non demanding 2D graphics use and then ramp up the performance by re-enabling the card for that demanding frag fest. Initially offered with a price point of $229 dollars this has dropped to a current price of $159 dollars after rebate at a popular e-tailer. This puts the price squarely in the price/performance point that the red camp has been so effective at during this last round of the video card technology wars. XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ @ Overclockers Club

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