Happy April fool's Day! A launch on the first day of April is really kind of ironic in a way. NVIDIA had planned to launch the 9800GTX card in March but delayed it by a week to better get stock in stores I guess. Following a recent trend by both NVIDIA and ATI, NVIDIA is launching their new card with instant stock on shelves on the same day that the card is announced.

NVIDIA has been releasing cards like there's no tomorrow recently. The launch of the 9600GT for the under $200 price range has brought new performance to that price point. The launch of the 9800GX2 has brought new performance to the high-end segment, with four 9800GTs on one system being the ultimate performance king (2 9800GX2s). But there seems to be a missing component of the equation.

What about the high-end single card? NVIDIA has not replaced their 8800GTX or 8800 Ultra cards with faster single cards. Every card released until the 9800GX2 a week ago was a refresh or slight modification of their G92 graphics card. This is a bit disappointing from a company that released a new architecture every 6 months, but understandable as the pace of new DirectXs from Microsoft has also slowed down.

Today NVIDIA is announcing their newest card to their lineup, the 9800GTX. For those that read my 9600GT review and the 8800GTS 512MB review from Doc, there won't be much surprise from the 9800GTX as it is essentially a faster clocked 8800GTS 512MB card with Tri-SLI in it. But let's take it through the paces to see how it fares.

EVGA builds video cards and motherboards based upon NVIDIA chipsets. They are best known for their Support of their cards as they offer Lifetime Warranty, Toll-Free 24/7 Technical Support and a Step-Up program for new card owners guaranteeing that the new owner will have the best NVIDIA card for their budget within 90 days of the purchase. Today I'm reviewing their 9800 GTX 512MB standard clocked card.