Palit has done a good job with the reference 9800GTX video card in that they have included a game bundle and their entry into the US is most welcome since the video card market needs more players bringing better competition to the retail market place for the video card dollar. Palit support needs to update their drivers as NVIDIA has released the 174.74 Forceware and the drivers on Palit’s website are based upon 169.32.

The inclusion of the latest Tomb Raider game which was released last year is a somewhat good thing. I remember buying video cards and getting huge game bundles (20 games and demos for the Diamond Monster 3D card). I hope Palit gives a game with every card they sell as it adds value for the new buyer. Sure games get old fast, but the fact is its better to have a game bundle than not to have one.

The 9800GTX is the fastest single chip video card I’ve ever tested. Having said all the positives on the 9800GTX, the 9800GTX is not much of an upgrade over the 8800GTS 512MB that was released last year and is in fact just an overclocked version of that card with more power requirement and a higher price. It is rather disappointing from a technical point of view to see NVIDIA stuck in a rut. It has been over two years since the release of the 8800GTX and the 9800GTX just doesn’t live up to the GTX moniker as something special.