ASUS RADEON X800 XT: First Look

Like the ASUS AX800 PRO, the AX800 XT came to us in its retail package – this huge-size box has already become a symbol of top-end products from this manufacturer.

This time the company came up with a unified package for the whole AX800 family. Like the AX800 PRO, the AX800 XT card from ASUS is accompanied with luxurious accessories:

• Quick installation guide;
• Detailed installation guide;
• Specification list;
• Software manual;
• DVI-I-to-D-Sub adapter;
• S-Video-to-RCA adapter;
• S-Video-to-YPbPr (HDTV) splitter;
• VIVO splitter;
• Molex power splitter;
• ASUS webcam.

Instead of S-Video and RCA cables the package contains a special splitter which is attached to the all-purpose VIVO connector. It’s not as handy as the switch unit enclosed with ASUS RADEON 9800 XT/TVD cards, but makes its job done, anyway.

The contents of the orange plastic package with software haven’t changed since the AX800 PRO. We’ve got the following discs here:

• CD with drivers and utilities from ASUS;
• CD with ASUSDVD player;
• CD with ASUS PowerDirector 3DE;
• CD with CyberLink MediaShow SE 2.0;
• CD with Ulead Cool 3D SE 3.0 and Photo Express SE 4.0;
• 2 CDs with Deus Ex: Invisible War;
• 2 CDs with Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

This time it’s quite natural to see video-editing software bundled in as the ASUS AX800 XT/TVD is equipped with a Rage Theater chip capable of capturing video signal.

Like the AX800 PRO, the reviewed card supports ASUS’ exclusive technologies GameFace, Video Security and Smart Doctor that we described in our previous reviews of graphics cards from this manufacturer (you can refer to our ASUS V9950 Graphics Card Review, ASUS RADEON 9800 XT/TVD Review in our article called ASUS RADEON 9800 XT and LeadTek WinFast A380 TDH Ultra: The Battle for AquaMark3, or ASUS AX800 PRO/TD Review for details). Also there you can get a description of the web-camera included as an accessories bundle.