|
 A few months ago, rumors began
to circulate that alleged
ASUSTeK
Computer Inc. (aka Asus), a long-time provider of
NVIDIA based graphics products, was poised to launch a new
line of video cards based on ATi's popular Radeon GPUs.
Asus had been a steadfast NVIDIA partner for quite a few
years, but it seemed like NVIDIA's recent troubles had
forced some of their most loyal cohorts to look at
competing products. A shot while later, the
rumors proved to be true and now we've got two ATi
powered, Asus built video cards burning up our monitors
here in the HotHardware labs. The products we'll be
looking at today, the Asus Radeon 9800 XT/TVD and Radeon
9600 XT/TVD are both equipped with customer cooling
solutions and boast some of the most impressive
feature-sets and bundles in their respective market
segments. We've taken both of these cards and
directly compared them to their NVIDIA based rivals, the
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, with a
wide variety of games on a fully-loaded 3GHz Intel powered
system. Read on to see what we found...
CLICK ANY IMAGE FOR AN
ENLARGED VIEW
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Specifications & Features of the Asus Radeon XTs |
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Asus Switches Sides! |
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Radeon 9800 XT Specifications:
RADEON 9800 XT Visual Processing
Unit (VPU)
● 412MHz Core Clock
MEMORY CONFIGURATION
● 256MB of DDR SDRAM - 730MHz DDR
3D GRAPHICS FEATURES
● Eight parallel rendering pipelines process up to
3.3 billion pixels per second
● Four parallel geometry engines process up to 380
million transformed and lit polygons per second
● High precision 10-bit per channel frame buffer
support
● 256-bit DDR memory interface
● AGP 8X support
SMARTSHADER? 2.1
● Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0
programmable pixel and vertex shaders in hardware
● 2.0 Pixel Shaders support up to 16 textures per
rendering pass
● 2.0 Vertex Shaders support vertex programs with an
unlimited number of instructions and flow control
● 128-bit per pixel floating point color formats
● Multiple Render Target (MRT) support
● Shadow volume rendering acceleration
● Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL via
extensions
SMOOTHVISION? 2.1
● State-of-the-art full-scene anti-aliasing
●
New technology processes up to 18.2 billion
anti-aliased samples per second for unprecedented
performance
●
Supports 2x, 4x, and 6x modes with programmable sample
patterns
●
Advanced anisotropic filtering
●
Supports up to 16 bilinear samples (in performance
mode) or trilinear samples (in quality mode) per pixel
●
2x/4x/6x full scene anti-aliasing modes
●
Adaptive algorithm with programmable sample patterns
●
2x/4x/8x/16x anisotropic filtering modes
●
Adaptive algorithm with bilinear (performance) and
trilinear (quality) options
●
Bandwidth-saving algorithm enables this feature with
minimal performance cost
HYPER Z? III+
●
Hierarchical Z-Buffer and Early Z Test reduce overdraw
by detecting and discarding hidden pixels
●
Lossless Z-Buffer Compression and Fast Z-Buffer Clear
reduce memory bandwidth consumption by over 50%
●
Fast Z-Buffer Clear
●
8.8 : 1 Compression Ratio
●
Optimized Z-Cache for enhanced performance of shadow
volumes
TRUFORM? II
●
2nd generation N-patch higher order surface support
●
Discrete and continuous tessellation levels per
polygon for dynamic LOD
●
DirectX 9.0 displacement mapping
VIDEOSHADER?
●
Seamless integration of programmable pixel shaders
with video data
●
High quality, hardware accelerated de-blocking of
internet streaming video
●
Noise removal filter for captured video
●
Integrated MPEG-2 decode
●
Hardware accelerated iDCT, motion compensation, and
color space conversion
●
Top quality DVD and all-format DTV/HDTV decode with
low CPU overhead
●
Back-end scaler delivers top quality playback
●
Upscaling and downscaling with 4-tap horizontal and
vertical filtering
●
Filtered display of images up to 1920 pixels wide
●
Unique per-pixel adaptive de-interlacing feature
combines the best elements of the ?bob? and
?add-field? (weave) techniques
FULLSTREAM? video de-blocking technology
●
Noise removal filtering for captured video
●
MPEG-2 decoding with motion compensation, iDCT and
color space conversion
●
All-format DTV/HDTV decoding
●
YPrPb component output
●
Adaptive de-interlacing and frame rate conversion
●
Dual integrated display controllers
●
Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400MHz DACs
●
Integrated 165 MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI and HDCP
compliant)
●
Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
●
Optimized for Pentium® 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon? 3Dnow!
●
PC 2002 compliant
DISPLAY FEATURES
●
Dual integrated display controllers
●
Drive two displays simultaneously with independent
resolutions and refresh rates
●
HYDRAVISION? software provides complete control over
multi-display configurations with a user-friendly
interface
●
Dual integrated 10-bit per channel palette DACs
operating at up to 400MHz
●
Integrated 165MHz TMDS transmitter supports
resolutions up to QXGA (2048x1536) and complies with
DVI and HDCP specifications
●
Integrated TV-Out support up to 1024x768 resolution
●
YPrPb output for direct drive of HDTV monitors
DISPLAY SUPPORT
●
15-pin VGA connector for analog CRT
●
S-video or composite connector for TV/VCR
●
DVI-I connector for digital CRT or flat panel
●
Independent resolutions and refresh rates for any two
connected displays
GENERAL FEATURES
●
Comprehensive 2x, 4x, and 8x AGP support
●
High performance quad-channel DDR or DDR2 memory
interface supports 64/128/256MB configurations
●
Fully compliant with PC 2002 requirements
●
Optimized for Pentium® 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon? 3Dnow!
processor instructions
●
Supports optional THEATER? 200 companion chip for
NTSC/PAL/SECAM video capture
●
Highly optimized 128-bit 2D engine with support for
new Windows® XP GDI extensions
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Radeon 9600 XT Specifications:
RADEON 9600 XT (RV360) Visual
Processing Unit (VPU)
●
Core Clock Speed 500MHz
MEMORY CONFIGURATION
●
128MB of DDR RAM
●
300MHz DDR / 600MHz Effective Speed
●
128-bit Memory Interface
3D GRAPHICS FEATURES
●
Four parallel rendering pipelines process up to 2.0
billion pixels per second
●
High precision 10-bit per channel framebuffer support
●
128-bit DDR memory interface
●
AGP 8X support
SMARTSHADER 2.1
●
Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 programmable
pixel and vertex shaders in hardware
●
2.0 Pixel Shaders support up to 16 textures per
rendering pass
●
2.0 Vertex Shaders support vertex programs up to 1024
instructions with flow control
●
New 128-bit per pixel floating point color formats
●
Multiple Render Target (MRT) support
●
Shadow volume rendering acceleration
●
Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL via
extensions
SMOOTHVISION 2.1
●
State-of-the-art full-scene anti-aliasing
●
Supports 2x, 4x, and 6x modes with programmable sample
patterns
●
Advanced anisotropic filtering
●
Supports up to 16 bilinear samples (in performance
mode) or trilinear samples (in quality mode) per pixel
●
2x/4x/6x full scene anti-aliasing modes
●
Adaptive algorithm with programmable sample patterns
●
2x/4x/8x/16x anisotropic filtering modes
●
Adaptive algorithm with bilinear (performance) and
trilinear (quality) options
●
Bandwidth-saving algorithm enables this feature with
minimal performance cost
HYPERZ III+
●
Hierarchical Z-Buffer and Early Z Test reduce overdraw
by detecting and discarding hidden pixels
●
Lossless Z-Buffer Compression and Fast Z-Buffer Clear
reduce memory bandwidth consumption by over 50%
●
Fast Z-Buffer Clear
DISPLAY SUPPORT
●
15-pin VGA connector for analog CRT / DVI-I connector
for digital CRT or flat panel
●
S-video or composite connector for TV/VCR
●
Independent resolutions and refresh rates for any two
connected displays
VIDEOSHADER
●
Seamless integration of programmable pixel shaders
with video data
●
High quality, hardware accelerated de-blocking of
internet streaming video
●
Noise removal filter for captured video
●
Integrated MPEG-2 decode
●
Hardware accelerated iDCT, motion compensation, and
color space conversion
●
Top quality DVD and all-format DTV/HDTV decode with
low CPU overhead
●
Back-end scaler delivers top quality playback
●
Upscaling and downscaling with 4-tap horizontal and
vertical filtering
●
Filtered display of images up to 1920 pixels wide
●
Unique per-pixel adaptive de-interlacing feature
combines the best elements of the ?bob? and
?add-field? (weave) techniques
FULLSTREAM
●
Noise removal filtering for captured video
●
MPEG-2 decoding with motion compensation, iDCT and
color space conversion
●
All-format DTV/HDTV decoding
●
YPrPb component output
●
Adaptive de-interlacing and frame rate conversion
●
Dual integrated display controllers
●
Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400MHz DACs
●
Integrated 165 MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI and HDCP
compliant)
●
Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
●
Optimized for Pentium® 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon? 3Dnow!
●
PC 2002 compliant
DISPLAY FEATURES
●
Dual integrated display controllers
●
Drive two displays simultaneously with independent
resolutions and refresh rates
●
HYDRAVISION? software provides complete control over
multi-display configurations with a user-friendly
interface
●
Dual integrated 10-bit per channel palette DACs
operating at up to 400MHz
●
Integrated 165MHz TMDS transmitter supports
resolutions up to QXGA (2048x1536) and complies with
DVI and HDCP specifications
●
Integrated TV-Out support up to 1024x768 resolution
●
YPrPb output for direct drive of HDTV monitors
GENERAL FEATURES
●
Comprehensive 2x, 4x, and 8x AGP support
●
DDR memory interface supports 64/128/256MB
configurations
●
Fully compliant with PC 2002 requirements
●
Optimized for Pentium® 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon? 3Dnow!
processor instructions
●
Supports optional THEATER? 200 companion chip for
NTSC/PAL/SECAM video capture
●
Highly optimized 128-bit 2D engine with support for
new Windows® XP GDI extensions
|
Asus provided an impressive
compliment of bundled software and accessories with both
of these cards. Included with the Asus Radeon 9800
and 9600 XTs, we found a ViVo break-out box, a DVI-to-DB15
adapter and a total of eights different CDs, two of which
were full version games - Gun Metal and Battle Engine
Aquila. There was also a coupon in the box good for
a copy of Half Life 2, when it is finally released,
bringing the total number of actual games to three.
Another CD is loaded with demo versions of some popular
games like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Warcraft III, Bug
Mutha Truckers, BREED, Colin McRae Rally 3 and Toca Race
driver. And they didn't stop there. An
assortment of other applications were bundled with the
cards as well, including DVD Playback software, Ulead Cool
3D SE, Photo Express SE, and Cyberlink's MediaShow SE and
PowerDirector ME Pro. Asus' Driver / Utility CD is
also jammed with useful goodies. On this CD we found
all of the necessary drivers, along with a host of tools
like Asus' Smart Doctor 2 overclocking and hardware
monitoring utility and their custom GameFace utility,
which is basically a video conferencing tool targeted at
gamers. Lastly, Asus included Video Security and
Digital VCR applications that work in conjunction with the
Video-In and Video-Out capabilities of these cards.
Overall, a very impressive bundle, there's something in
here for everyone...
Video Software &
Some Screenshots
|
A few months ago, rumors began
to circulate that alleged
