TestBed

Motherboard: MSI P45D3 Platinum ( Provided by: MSI );
Processor: Intel Core 2 QX9770 Extreme edition at 3.6GHz ( Provided by: Intel );
Memory: Corsair Dominator 12800 7-7-7-24 ( Provided by: Corsair);
HDD: WD VelociRaptor 300G 10,000RPM ( Provided by: SmoothCreation );
Driver:  ForceWare 190.62, Catalyst CCC 9.8 Vista 32 SP1

Futuremark Tests

Gainward 9800GT Golden Sample Goes Like Hell does well in 3DMark06 tests, where it outscores the HD 4850. The reference 9800GT with 512MB of memory doesn’t do so well, lagging behind Gainward’s card by up to 17.5% lower results. The higher clocks on Goes Like Hell card helped it to even beat Gigabyte’s reference clocked 9800GT card with 1GB of memory.









Gaming

Far Cry 2

FarCry 2 makes good use of Gigabyte GV-N98TSL-1GI’s additional memory and this resulted in more frames at high resolutions with antialiasing on compared to both the reference 9800GT and Gainward’s overclocked card. At 1680x1050, Goes Like Hell out-muscles Gigabyte’s card even when we threw antialiasing in the pot. FarCry2 clearly shows that the memory is important, but at resolutions such as 1680x1050 – core clocks are much more important.














HAWX

HAWX also shows that additional memory goes a long way to contribute to higher scores, but Gainward compensated for the memory with its higher clocks. The best case scenario sees Gainward beating the reference 9800GT by 13.5%. Unfortunately, HAWX comes with DX10.1 support, which when enabled allows Radeon cards to run much better and emerge as winners.














Left 4 Dead

Left4Dead clearly shows that Gainward 9800 GS GLH runs much better than the reference card. This game likes higher clocks more than the additional memory so Gainward leaves both Gigabyte’s and the reference card in the dust.














World in Conflict

World in Conflict confirms that Gainward did a good job overclocking their card. We recorded as much as 20% better results than the reference 9800GT.














Conclusion

Geforce 9800 GT Golden Sample Goes Like Hell is a gamer version of the 9800GT, and it comes overclocked to 650MHz core, 1625MHz shader and 1100MHz memory (2200MHz effectively). The cooling solution is pretty efficient but sometimes loud, courtesy of the lack of manual RPM settings. The card comes with 512MB of Samsung’s GDDR3 memory.

The GF9800GT GLH 512M DDR3 256B CRT DVI HDMI card comes with native HDMI, which is a nice touch, but that’s not all as the card also features dual link DVI and VGA outs.

Gainward’s “ExpertTool” overclocking tool we’ve found on the driver CD allowed us for smooth overclocking, and we easily pushed the GPU to 700MHz. Although additional overclocking will bring more muscle, the card is already pre-overclocked and as our testing has proven – this will be enough to beat any reference 9800GT card whether it’s 512MB or 1024MB version.

The memory maybe matters at high resolutions, but if you’re planning on gaming at 1680x1050 or less, Goes Like Hell is one hell of a choice as you’ll receive a card with a native HDMI that’s overclocked, covered by the warranty and faster than any reference card.