ASUS

ASUS: Dual manufacturing continues

ASUS plans to continue providing ATI and NVIDIA solutions to its users going into the summer, although the most exciting news for ASUS is on the ATI front. For their PCI Express X800 XT Platinum board, ASUS plans to implement a heat pipe-based cooling solution, making them the first board manufacturer we’re aware of to go this route. In addition, the card will stand out even more with its LED behind the cooling fan.

The demo board ASUS had on display at its booth isn’t the final board design, in fact you can see it lacks the external power connector, but ASUS does plan to implement dual DVI connections on their PCI Express X800 XT board, which is tentatively dubbed the Extreme AX800.

Dual DVI graphics on the ASUS card

Versus DVI/VGA on the AGP variant

But ASUS isn’t leaving special features to the PCI Express users only, as their AGP-based RADEON X800 XT and PRO boards both sport heatsinks that are unique to ASUS. Unlike the ATI reference design ATI and most of its board partners are using, ASUS’ heatsink is a little larger, not only cooling the graphics core, but also its surrounding memory, just like the old RADEON 9800 XT. ATI’s reference design doesn’t touch the memory modules.

ASUS X600 XT card

ASUS will also be bundling their high-end boards with their GameFace Live technology, which has been revised to support more simultaneous users (up to eight players are now supported) as well as a wide variety of applications. For instance, in your GameFace window you can see when you receive new email. ATI has also enhanced its Video Security technology this year, and to boost its acceptance among users, ASUS will begin bundling a 300K webcam with all of their X800 XT and PRO boards, regardless of interface. To keep the price of their X800 PRO more competitive with other board manufacturers, ASUS will provide two X800 PRO SKUs: one with video input, the AX800 PRO/TVD (256MB) and one without, the AX800 PRO/TD (256MB).

VIVO continues at mainstream

For the mainstream segment, ASUS plans to differentiate themselves from other board manufacturers by providing video input capability on their X600 XT board, the Extreme AX600 XT. The board will also rely on a custom cooling solution with the cooling fan located offset of the graphics core for enhanced cooling performance. At the center of the fan, ASUS has integrated a blue LED.

For the NVIDIA market, ASUS has prepped the V9999 Ultra Deluxe, which is based on NVIDIA’s high-end GeForce 6800 Ultra GPU. Rather than rely on NVIDIA’s standard dual-slot cooler, ASUS has decided to continue its single-slot philosophy (first enacted on their GeForce FX 5900 Ultra-based V9950 Ultra) by utilizing NVIDIA’s single-slot reference cooler. Like ASUS’ other high-end cards, ASUS adorns the center of the fan with a blue LED for added panache. The V9999 Ultra Deluxe board is also bundled with a 300K pixel webcam.

PCI Express 5900 graphics from ASUS

ASUS V9999 Ultra Deluxe

Just below the V9999 Ultra Deluxe is ASUS’ V9999 Gamer Edition. This board sports all the features of the Ultra Deluxe card, only it’s based on NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 GPU. Additionally, ASUS omits the dual DVI connections for the more traditional DVI/VGA configuration.

At the bottom of ASUS’ GeForce 6800 line is the V9999/TD/128. Like the V9999 Gamer Edition, the V9999/TD/128 is based on NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 GPU. The only difference is memory configuration: the Gamer Edition is equipped with 256MB of memory whereas the V9999/TD/128 is outfitted with 128MB of memory.

All of ASUS’ newest cards will ship with a newer game bundle for 2004. Deus Ex: Invisible War as well as Counter Strike: Condition Zero are now part of the standard game bundle from ASUS.