X-bit labs

ASUS AGP-V6800 Review

Category: Video

by FastSite

[ 03/30/2000 | 12:00 AM ]

This is one of the cards on NVIDIA GeForce256, which doesn't copy the reference design. It features a unique SmartDoctorTechnology for the graphics card hardware monitoring.

Table of contents:

• Closer Look
  
• Overclocking
  
• SmartDoctor Technology
  
• Installation and Drivers
  
• Performance
  
• Conclusions
  

In autumn 1999 we all welcomed a new NVIDIA GeForce 256 chipset, which indicated the beginning of a new 3D graphicsaccelerators family. For game developers it meant a lot of new opportunities in the field of realistic 3D graphics. Todaythis chipset enjoys wide popularity among most graphics card manufacturers. And what about the largest companies? Such asASUS, for instance? In fact, it may be pretty hard to retain leadership if the mass manufacturing of GeForce 256 based graphicscards starts. Of course, in order to keep control over a certain market sector, one has to reduce prices. But, there is anotherpossibility: to launch a new graphics card family, which will meet very diverse users' requirements. We have already reviewed twocards from this family, namely: ASUS AGP-V6600 and ASUS AGP-V6600 Deluxe. Now it's high time we offered you some cards with DDRmemory.

We got a chance to take a look at ASUS AGP-V6800 graphics card based on NVIDIA GeForce 256 chipset and equipped with DDRSGRAM. We have already discussed in detail the peculiarities of this memory type in our ELSA Erazor X2 Review. DDR SGRAM differsfrom the usual SDR SDRAM by the data transfer, which is carried out along both fronts of the signal for DDR memory, while in SDRcase - it is only one front of the signal that is involved.

Closer Look

ASUS AGP-V6800 is an initial model of V6800 family. Unlike its elder brother, ASUS AGP-V6800 Deluxe, it doesn't have a TV-in,TV-out and an output for stereo-glasses. Besides, AGP-V6800 Deluxe is also accompanied by the glasses themselves, which areabsent in the package of AGP-V6800.

Here are the main features of ASUS AGP-V6800:

• NVIDIA GeForce 256 (DDR) chipset;
• 32MB DDR SDRAM;
• RAMDAC 350MHz;
• AGP 2x/4x with Fast Writes mode;
• SmartDoctor technology;
• Supports the following resolutions:
  
  

  Resolution	Color Depth (bits)	Max Refresh Rate (Hz)
  640 x 480	8/16/32	240/240/240
  800 x 600	8/16/32	240/240/240
  1024 x 768	8/16/32	240/240/200
  1152 x 864	8/16/32	200/200/170
  1280 x 960	8/16/32	170/170/150
  1280 x 1024	8/16/32	170/170/170
  1600 x 900	8/16/32	150/150/120
  1600 x 1200	8/16/32	120/120/100
  1920 x 1080	8/16/32	100/100/85
  1920 x 1200	8/16/32	100/100/85
  1920 x 1440	8/16/32	85/85/75
  2048 x 1536	8/16/32	75/75/60

Now let's take a closer look at the main peculiarities of this graphics card:

The graphics card is based on AGP 2x/4x interface, has 32MB DDR SGRAM located in eight microchips on both sides of the PCB.

Memory microchips are made by Infineon and boast 6ns access time, which implies that they can work at 166MHz. NVIDIA recommendsusing 150-166MHz memory in cards with DDR, however, the memory nominal frequency on this particular card (as well as on all othercards from the same family) is 150MHz (corresponds to 300MHz for SDR-memory). Note that they very often use SDR figures to presentthe DDR memory working frequency and SDR values are twice as high. In other words, if it stands that DDR memory working frequencymakes 300MHz, then you should see its working frequency as equal to 150MHz.

It is pretty interesting to point out that the chipset marking on the graphics cards provided with DDR memory is different fromthe marking of the chipset installed onto the cards with SDR memory.

Besides, take a look at the three letters "DDR" at the bottom of the chip. However, despite that, the chipset works at a frequency,typical of all GeForce256 based graphics cards: at 120MHz.

If we compare the design of ASUS AGP-V6800 with that of similar cards, we have already reviewed before (Creative 3D BlasterGeForce256 Annihilator Pro, Leadtek WinFast GeForce256 DDR, ELSA Erazor X2), we will hardly see any difference in the cards'exterior. However, the reversed side of ASUS AGP-V6800 is absolutely different from the competing products. The differenceoccurs because of the unique SmartDoctor technology, which implies hardware chipset monitoring. To support this technologythey installed a special hardware monitoring controller microchip Winbond W83781D onto the reversed side of the PCB.

This graphics card is provided with a cooler of much higher quality than on ordinary cards based on NVIDIA chipset. Thefan has a tachometer that is why you may see three wires connected to it. The space between the chipset and the heatsink isfilled with thermal paste. We would like to point out that such approach to the use of thermal paste together with the mechaniccooler fastening has become quite a rare thing today, although it really ensures a much better heat dissipation.

Further examination of the card shows that there are some empty spaces on the PCB intended for TV-out and LCD monitor outcontroller microchips. As for these devices, they are absent on this version of the card. In fact, we have no idea if thereare any graphics card revisions with the already installed TV-out and/or LCD-out. Probably these empty spots were madeaccording to the reference design used for this card.

ASUS AGP-V6800 is supplied in a traditional ASUSTeK box.

Besides a CD-disk with the drivers and utilities, the supply also includes two games (Drakan and Rollcage), a CD-diskwith 12 demo versions of various games and a CD-disk with ASUS DVD player.

Overclocking

Of course, we couldn't help testing an overclocked ASUS AGP-6800. We managed to overclock the chipset to 150MHz and thememory - to 350MHz. Frankly speaking, this is not an absolute limit (for instance, there are such Creative Annihilator Procards, which can be overclocked to 166/350MHz). However, even the frequencies we managed to get on our card should have aserious influence on the overall performance.

A lot of owners of the mainboards on i440BX wonder if graphics cards of the kind could work at the increased AGP frequency.i440BX chipset is known to provide AGP with 1/1 or 2/3 of the system bus frequency, which prevents from using higher than 100MHzFSB frequency on these mainboards. That is why most users are usually greatly disappointed when they can't get their AGP graphicscard running perfectly at AGP bus frequency over 75MHz. If we set the FSB frequency of our i440BX based board to 133MHz, then wewill get 89MHz at AGP, which can turn out fatal for some graphics cards. Nevertheless, tests showed that some graphics cards couldstill work even at such FSB frequency. In particular, our ASUS AGP-V6800 graphics card proved impeccable at this frequency.

SmartDoctor Technology

And now let's dwell for a while on SmartDoctor Technology. In order to make use of the features provided by this technologythere is a special SmartDoctor utility supplied with the graphics card.

This program can be activated on every Windows booting and after a five-second demonstration of the graphics card status itmay switch to the background mode transforming into a special tray icon. SmartDoctor allows controlling the chipset temperature,graphics card voltage (on the chipset and on the AGP-bus) and the on-chip fan rotation speed. Then after a brief analysis of theobtained data the system shows the card's status summary. If it is too overheated, then the utility automatically activates andyou will get a message about system overheating on the desktop together with the possibility to reduce the chipset and memoryworking frequencies.

However, the card temperature control is not the primary goal of SmartDoctor technology. In the first place it is destinedto reduce the working frequencies in all possible cases. For example, in idle when no software is running, the frequencies dropdown to 85/100MHz. If any 2D application is activated, such as Adobe PhotoShop, for instance, then the frequencies increaseslightly (in our case to 94/230MHz), however, it is still lower than the nominal frequency. And if you start a 3D application,the frequency will return to the nominal value: 120/300MHz. In case the chipset and memory working frequencies were set higherthan the nominal values before SmartDoctor began working, then without any active 3D applications they will be reduced in linearproportion. Overclocking will be withdrawn and the frequencies will be set again equal to nominal ones (120/300MHz) only if thechip temperature achieves its critical value. So, with SmartDoctor you should bear in mind that this utility will do its best toreduce the working frequencies as much as possible in order to prolong the lifetime of your graphics card.

Installation and Drivers

Well, we are through with the peculiarities and features of ASUS AGP-V6800 graphics card. Now let's pass over to testing. Atfirst, take a look at the testbed configuration:

• Intel Pentium III 600MHz CPU;
• ASUS P3B-F (i440BX) mainboard;
• 128MB PC100 system memory;
• Quantum FB CR 6.4GB HDD;
• ViewSonic P810 monitor (21");
• Windows 98.

What is the first thing we usually do when we start working with a graphics card? Of course, we install the drivers. Wesuggest looking at ASUS drivers for our card. We used version 3.68:

There were no problems with the installation. Below in the system tray we got an icon, which opened all the card settingsif pressed.

Besides, there is another way for you to get into the settings page: through the display settings. In this case you get thefollowing opportunities:

• Setting color modes for the desktop:
  
  
  
• Setting color modes for games in Direct3D:
  
  
  
• Setting color modes for games in OpenGL:
  
  
  
• Setting the monitor working modes:
  
  
  
• In particular, changing the refresh rate:
  
  
  
• Changing the graphics card settings in Direct3D:
  
  
  
• There is an additional page where you can enable/disable Vsync (monitor refresh rate synchronization with RAMDAC):
  
  
  
• Changing graphics card settings for OpenGL mode, enabling/disabling Vsync for this mode:
  
  
  

As we can see, among the drivers settings there are a few options dealing with stereo glasses. Although they aren't includedinto this supply and moreover there is no port to connect them to on the card, it is still possible to use the glasses with it.In this case you need ASUS VR-100 Kit, where you will find not only the glasses, but also the converter, which allows connectingthem to any ASUSTeK graphics card on NVIDIA chipset, such as TNT/TNT2/GeForce256. That is why the additional settings in thedrivers will never be undemanded.

The accompanying software also includes a separate overclocking utility - ASUS Tweaking Utility:

This utility lets you increase the chipset working frequency up to 150MHz, and memory up to 375MHz.

The screenshots clearly showed that the drivers offer you a rich choice of various settings and include all the optionsavailable in NVIDIA reference drivers. Moreover, there are also some new services in the drivers.

Many of you may probably be wondering which drivers are the best to use: those developed by the graphics card manufactureror NVIDIA reference drivers? It has long been known that the drivers developed by the graphics cards manufacturers are alwaysbased on the reference drivers and enriched by some new extra services. Some time ago the manufacturers were falling farbehind the reference drivers. Therefore, everybody believed that reference drivers could ensure higher performance of thecard. However, the drivers going together with the graphics card could usually boast some new functional features, whichmade them a more attractive piece. Besides, ASUSTeK keeps improving its drivers, and numerous beta-versions and driversreleases are a perfect proof for that. A very short while ago the final version ASUS 3.68 came out. And now we will tryto find out what the difference between the reference drivers ver. 3.77 and the latest ASUS drivers is.

As you can notice, almost everywhere ASUS driver (ver. 3.68) provides a bit higher performance compared to the referencedrivers. Besides, ASUS driver has a bit more settings on the properties pages. That's why if you are an ASUS owner, we wouldadvise you to use the driver from the same company.

Performance

To begin with - a few words on 2D graphics. We have already mentioned in the reviews devoted to NVIDIA GeForce256 chipsetand the cards on this chipset, that the fastness and quality of 2D graphics shown by these graphics cards can satisfy allusers at the same time. It is true even for those, whose monitors are quite large and usually work at 1280x1024 and up. Andwe have to admit that ASUS AGP-V6800 brilliantly stood this test.

To analyze the things about 3D graphics, we used the following two games:

• Rage Expendable (Direct3D, multitexturing);
• id Software Quake3 v.1.16h (OpenGL, multitexturing).

These tools should be more than enough to show adequately the graphics card performance. For a more illustrative comparisonwe added the performance of two more graphics cards to our diagrams. These were: ASUS AGP-V6600 (an analogue to AGP-V6800 butwith SDR-memory) and Creative 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro (with DDR-memory). We will also show our ASUS AGP-V6800 when overclocked.

We have already made a very detailed comparative analysis of the graphics cards on NVIDIA GeForce 256 chipset. And as for theseparticular results, they mean only that ASUS AGP-V6800 graphics card is one of the leaders among the today's cards.

If you can't live without a DVD-Video, then you should know that this card has all the things necessary for high-quality DVDmovies playback. The card goes together with a software player - ASUS DVD based on WinDVD player, which can also work with GeForce256. So, we can't express any disappointment with the DVD playback quality. The CPU utilization during DVD movies playback on ASUSAGP-V6800 makes not more than 40%.

Conclusions

Summing up, we would like to point out that ASUS AGP-V6800 is a really cool product. This graphics card available for aquite reasonable price features beautiful gaming potential. There is one small drawback, the absence of a TV-out, becauseASUSTeK does not provide its graphics cards with TV-out only. It can be found on the card if there is a TV-in as well andif the stereo glasses are also supported. However, this will be another family - Deluxe.

Highs

• High performance, compared to the most powerful accelerators;
• Perfect drivers with the whole lot of various settings;
• Nice software package including the games and ASUS DVD-player;
• SmartDoctor technology preventing the graphics card from overheating.

Lows

• The price is still too high for these cards to become a really mass product;
• No TV-out and no LCD monitor connector.