Competition time: Inno3D GeForce 9600 GT and 9800 GX2 up for grabs!

If you don't fancy your chances in tonight's Lotto draw, here's an alternative competition for you; HEXUS and Inno3D have teamed up to offer our readers the opportunity to win one of two GeForce 9 series graphics cards.

In order to get your hands on an Inno3D GeForce 9800 GX2 or GeForce 9600 GT OC, all you have to do is answer the following two questions:

Question 1

Name three unique features belonging to Inno3D's iChiLL range of products?
Question 2

Write in 100 words or more what features you consider most when you buy a graphics card, and why?

That's all there is to it! We won't be accepting e-mail entries for this one, answers must be posted in our community forum by no later than June 7th 2008.

The competition winner will be getting his/her hands on the Inno3D GeForce 9800 GX2, a card which our review concluded "can only be recommended to hardcore gamers who live for frame-rate".

The runner-up will soon be the proud owner of an Inno3D GeForce 9600 GT OC edition:

So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to the HEXUS.net community forums and post your answers. Good luck, everyone, we'll be picking the winners soon after the competition closes.

Rules and Regulations

The competition winners will be picked at random from all eligible entries that arrive by midnight of the closing date June 7th 2008
Competition entries are only applicable via the HEXUS.net community forums
In event of any dispute the judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into
Only one entry is permitted per household. The winner will be notified by email no later than 14 days after the closing date
The grand prize is an Inno3D GeForce 9800 GX2, the runner-up prize is an Inno3D GeForce 9600 GT OC
HEXUS.net will do everything to ensure a speedy delivery of of your prize, we cannot guarantee a delivery date
In the event that the prize offered is unavailable due to circumstances beyond our control, we reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater specification
Competitions are open to residents in the UK who are over 12 years of age
Entrants can be assured that no details will be kept on file or re-distributed
Prize Draws are not open to employees of HEXUS.net and their affiliates, agencies, suppliers, sponsors and members employees' immediate families
Submission of an entry will be taken to mean acceptance of these terms and conditions

Useful links

Official product page: Inno3D GeForce 9800 GX2
Official product page: Inno3D GeForce 9600 GT OC

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UK only, again.

Curse you, Hexus!

Question 1
Name 3 unique features belonging to Inno3D's i-Chill range of products?

Great cooling by using high performance 3rd party coolers from companies like arctic cooling.

Much quieter than the standard coolers on graphics cards.

3 year warranty compared to inno3d's normal 2year warranty.

just an added one is that they have gold plated connectors for dvi etc cant remember if thats unique so cant add that one.

Question 2
Write in 100 words or more what features you consider most when you buy a graphics card, and why?
The features i look for when buying a new graphics card tend to be
• performance, it needs to be able to play most of the latest games on higher settings with decent frame rates(except crysis) so around 30+ is acceptable for me.
• Price, the card needs to have a good price and performance ratio so around the pricing of the 8800GT is good, i consider a max budget for a card is £200 as i think any higher is just a waste as tech changes so fast.
• Heat, it needs to stay cool which is say is under 65C on load with the fan setting on medium to make sure the card isn’t under too much stress from the heat, noise is also a factor as i prefer a dual slot cooler with the noise considerably less like the 8800GTS vs 8800GT.
• Power usage, it needs to use a lowish amount of power because it would make the running of a pc cost too much in the long run, something around the 8800GT/S is fine, the added benefit of the sleep mode thing is great as it reduces power considerably.
• Looks are also a benefit as it makes you feel like it was worth the money even more so.

Sorry its long xD.

Q1:
Mahoosive overclocking capabilities (on top of factory overclock)
Mahoosive custom cooling with patented vibration absorption (e.g. Zerotherm Hurricane cooler and others from the likes of Zalman, Arctic Cooling, XStriker and Zerotherm, which you might need to fit to the card yourself)
Mahoosively Gold plated outputs :)

Q2: (Covered above by Hicks12 mostly, but I will try to add some more)

- Stable drivers across operating systems. It is important that drivers are available for all platforms and they are stable. Historically certain graphics cards makers are renowned not to support Linux very well (although they are improving) :)

- HDMI audio passthrough. Home systems are converging towards an combined multi-purpose device (gaming, hd video viewing, etc on one PC) which should have the latest audio capabilities that is compatible with an audio system giving access to the latest sound formats (lossless Dolby and DTS codecs).

- Media capabilities. Hardware video decoding is an essential feature that takes the load off the CPU, freeing it up for other things. It also makes it possible to decode HD video on lower spec PCs.

- Performance with latest games and future games. Minimum frame rates and picture quality should be of acceptable quality. Features like display port, physics processing and dual gpu on one die should be hitting mid-upper range mainstream soon or at least on high end cards.

- Overclocking capabilities. A card that can be overclocked more is preferred.

- Expansion potential (i.e. crossfire or SLI). When games become more demanding it would be good if it is cost effective to stick another card into the machine to give the frame rates a boast. By cost effective, I mean it would be cheaper to go SLI rather than sell the card and upgrade to newer model. e.g. in 1 years time when my 9800gtx starts to become slow for the games, if it is cheaper for me to buy another 9800GTX, rather than sell my 9800gtx and buy a 9900gtx, then it is cost effective (assuming it will provide a similar performance).

- Price. Hardly anyone is going to buy a £300 card that only outperforms a £200 card by 7%.

- Last, but most important: the e-peen factor. If you have the latest graphics card setup, all the other geeks on the internet would be jealous! :naughty:

Q1:
Gold plated TV out and DVI connector that allows better signal quality and less oxidization.
Custom made cooling solutions with systematic noise reduction.
Exceeds normal overclocking speeds by up to 10%

Q2:
Performance is obviously a big factor when choosing a graphics card, but balanced with price to give me a “bang per buck” figure in my head. I also generally wait a few months after a card is released to monitor things like reviews, benchmarks, support issues etc. before making my choice. All of these things play an important part, and thanks to the marvel of sites like Hexus, the information you need is readily available.
However, I guess the hardest question to answer, but one that most gamers ask at upgrade time is “how much faster is it than my current setup?”. Since reviews and benchmarks normally only compare a card against it's direct competitors, comparisons against older cards is often harder to find. Answering this question normally requires lots of google-bashing research, forum trolling and “404 page not found” frustration.
Once I've cracked the question of performance, questions about a card's noise levels and cooling solution would be next on the list. I run a tight ear-friendly ship, so any card with Dyson-esq noise levels will probably be rejected. Similarly, if it is likely to fill my case with component-killing temperatures, then it will almost certainly fall by the wayside. So again a good cooling/noise balance must be found.
Finally, if it's a close call by this point - I will look at a company's warranty level, customer service reputation, bundled software and other “added value” extras that might swing the decision one way or the other.
At the end of all that I should have found a card that most fits my requirements, and hopefully will give me hundreds of happy hours of gameplay :)

Question 1
- Professionally pre-fitted ‘3rd party’ cooling
- Quiet cooling through out the range
- Solid caps for good power stability

Question 2
Generally the most important feature when I choose a card is noise.
The case fans are silent at 800rpm, the CPU has one monster block of metal on top and the motherboard has spaghetti of heat pipes leaving the graphics card with a measly fan which sounds like your average twelve year old online gamer. Sure I can slap on a quiet 3rd party cooler but there goes the warranty. OR, buy a card with quiet cooling!
Second important feature is HD video ability; HD video is all the rage, no point buying a new graphics card which can’t play movies at 1080p, especially if it lacks HDCP. Slightly related is the availability of HDMI for media cards which preferably can also transmit audio via pass-through.
Third important feature is the size; an 8800GTX sized card won’t fit in my case without modding. Hopefully newer cards don’t get longer and longer.
Finally is the bang for buck but this isn’t a feature per se. No point buying a £400 card when a £200 one is only 5fps down.

Competition time: Inno3D GeForce 9600 GT and 9800 GX2 up for grabs!

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