Asus AX800 XT (Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition)

Name: Asus AX800 XT (Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition) - Page 14
Brand: Asus

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, August 17, 2004, 01:00 PM EDT

Benchmark Summary: We tested all of the cards in this review in 41 different configurations and found that the GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition was the fastest card in 18 of the tests, the Asus AX800 XT was the fastest card in 12 of the tests, and the remaining 11 tests concluded in a draw. The GeForce was mostly faster when AA was disabled and when 4X AA was enabled. It was also clearly superior in Doom 3, but the Radeon shined with using anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering concurrently in most of the tests. Subtract Doom 3 from the equation, however, and the win / lose / draw ratio becomes 12 W - 12 L - 11 D. How's that for close competition?

The Asus AX800 XT is a fine choice for hardcore gamers in the market for a high-end card such as this. Asus has included a very complete bundle of accessories and software, including two full games, the card is backed by a very well respected company, and performance was excellent in all but one of the benchmarks we ran, Doom 3. This is, however, quite an expensive product and finding one may prove to be difficult. We found five on-line retailers that listed this card in their inventory, but none of them had it in stock and all were selling the AX800 XT for a price in excess of $580 U.S. A few of the retailers expected delivery this week, but we weren't able to found out in what quantities they would be arriving. We expect there won't be many available in the immediate future though. It'll probably be a few more weeks before these cards become more common. Based on its performance, single-slot near silent cooler, and good bundle, we're giving the Asus AX800 XT an 8.5 on the HotHardware Heat Meter.

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Tags: Asus, ATI, Radeon, edition, XT, platinum, PLA, X8

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com