If you don't think this video card is worth the money, then that's fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking a 9800 GTX is anywhere near "almost as good" because it's just not. You're talking about a 3x or more difference in performance which, in my book at least, is not even in the ballpark. Maybe if you strictly play wow, single-boxing, you can make an argument that the extra horsepower is wasted, but there are plenty of games out (and monitor resolutions) that can make use of that performance.

Of course it's going to be expensive, and not linearly more so than the lesser cards - what else is new? Such is the case when you want to own the best of ANYTHING. This card is not aimed at "bang for your buck" consumers.