X-bit labs

ASUS AX800 XT/TVD Graphics Card Review (page 20)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 11/04/2004 | 11:05 AM ]

Conclusion

The ASUS AX800 XT/TVD is an example of product that is very close to being perfect: there is only one drawback –  the cooling system! Anyway, we guess any enthusiast would enjoy having the tremendous speed and gorgeous accessories of this device. Of course, like all X800 series graphics cards, this one doesn’t support Shader Model 3.0, but this is unimportant as yet, since there’s just one game (Far Cry) that uses shaders of the third version. 3DMark05 also supports them (see our article called 3DMark05: The Future of Computer Games in Numbers for details), but it is not a game, but a benchmarking tool and should be regarded as such.

For you to see the overall performance level of the ASUS AX800 XT we’ve constructed two diagrams with all the test results put together.

As you see, the performance of the ASUS AX800 XT in the pure speed mode roughly corresponds to that of the GeForce 6800 Ultra, save for a few instances like Doom 3 where all NVIDIA’s GPUs have an initial advantage. Sometimes, thanks to its quick execution of pixel shaders, the ASUS leaves the GeForce 6800 Ultra far behind (see the results for Painkiller and Colin McRae Rally 04, for example).

In the eye candy mode, i.e. when 4x full-screen anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering are enabled, the ASUS AX800 XT has much more impressive results, outperforming the GeForce 6800 Ultra across the majority of applications, save for Doom 3 and IL-2 Sturmovik. It is especially clear in 1600x1200 resolution as the efficient methods of working with the graphics memory allow the ASUS card to feel more confident in the highest resolution than in 1280x1024.

The high price of the ASUS AX800 XT/TVD is another disadvantage we haven’t yet mentioned as, according to Pricewatch.com, you are invited to pay from $585 to over $700 for a sample of that card. Well, highest performance and gorgeous accessories do not come for free – this is a top-end graphics card after all. We guess true enthusiasts won’t be taken aback by the price and we recommend this graphics card to them. However, we’d like to express our concerns to the manufacturer about the cooling system – the current cooling of the card is not always capable of keeping such a rapid device cold.

Highs:

• High performance;
• High 2D quality;
• VIVO functionality;
• Good overclockability;
• Effective appearance;
• Support of ASUS’ exclusive technologies;
• Rich accessories.

Lows:

• The cooling system doesn’t match the class of the card;
• High price.