With the GeForce 9-series NVIDIA has created quite a lot of confusion. Instead of a major update it seems that most GeForce 9 cards are merely updated versions of GeForce 8 cards, and unfortunately named so you cannot figure out which card is based on which.

The GeForce 9800GTX is a perfect example. While the name implies that it is an upgrade for the GeForce 8800GTX, which it in a way is, it also is just a higher clocked GeForce 8800GTS 512 MB. You might wonder why NVIDIA didn’t just use GeForce 9 for all their G92 based cards but we may never know why.

If you read our review of the Sparkle 8800GTS 512 MB you know that we really liked the card. So it sounds logical that the Sparkle 9800GTX should be just as good, doesn’t it? Well, that is what we want to find out in today’s review as we test it in a variety of benchmarks.