Board analysis

If you read our V9950 Ultra review, the V9980 Ultra probably looks remarkably similar to you. It should, it’s practically the same design!

ASUS V9980 Ultra

Back of the card

Shiny backplate

Once again ASUS takes NVIDIA’s reference board layout and adds their own unique cooling solution to the mix. Like the V9950 Ultra ASUS starts the V9980 Ultra’s cooler off with an all copper heatsink for the graphics core, with dual fans used to blow hot air off the copper heatsink. Copper is used for the ASUS heatsink rather than aluminum because of its superior thermal conductivity characteristics, although it does make the heatsink more expensive to produce. A series of thin fins surround the fans, effectively increasing the surface area of the heatsink, and thus improve thermal transfer.

The fans themselves are quiet, and don’t exhibit the higher pitch of NVIDIA’s reference fan for the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra/GeForce FX 5900 XT. Basically, just because the card has two fans, noise level isn’t high at all and should not be a concern for those of you who were potentially turned off by this aspect of the card.

Power circuitry up close

Twin fans here

Close-up of the heatinks fins

By incorporating the same cooler design as their previous product, ASUS is able to bring their V9980 Ultra to market quicker. They’re able to integrate this cooler so easily because as we previously noted, they’re essentially dealing with the same graphics core.

The upside is that they can service their latest flagship NVIDIA-based product to all users, including the space-constrained small form factor market. However, the downside is that NVIDIA’s stock cooler is pretty potent for a reference design. NVIDIA’s 5950 Ultra cooler still relies on an aluminum heatsink, but it differs from the previous 5900 Ultra design in that it blows fresh air from outside the system chassis over the heatsink, supplying it with a constant supply of cool air. This air then exits out the right side of the card. Critics have pointed out that the system could potentially increase case temperatures, which is probably the reason why ASUS has elected to pass on implementing a similar design. We’d still like to see someone take a shot though, although with a copper heatsink rather than aluminum of course.

So how effective is the cooler ASUS has implemented for the V9980 Ultra? We recorded idle temperatures as low as 41 degrees Celsius, while temperatures peaked as high as 55 degrees Celsius under load. This compares very favorably to the stock NVIDIA cooler used by eVGA for their 5950 Ultra card, which clocked in with temps of 37 degrees at idle and 53 degrees Celsius under load.

Card's backplate

DVI and video encoder

One welcome addition ASUS has added to the V9980 Ultra is video input support. This capability is provided by the Philips 7108AE encoding chip. ASUS elected to omit this feature on its V9950 Ultra, putting it one step behind other GeForce FX 5900 Ultra cards, as most manufacturers implemented the Philips encoder. After all, the card is a high-end, no comprises product, meant for the hardcore user. A VIVO (video-in/video-out) breakout box is included in the packaging with composite and S-Video inputs and outputs.

Software

ASUS software bundle from the V9950 Ultra is largely carried over for the V9980 Ultra. It includes full versions of Gun Metal, Black Hawk Down, and Battle Engine Aquila and ASUS’ own DVD playback software ASUSDVD XP. Also included is a 6-in-1 bundle of game demos consisting of Splinter Cell, Warcraft III, Big Mutha Truckers, BREED, Colin McRae 3, and TOCA Race Driver.

Since the V9980 Ultra offers video input support, a copy of CyberLink’s PowerDirector 2.5 ME is also included in the packaging (for creating your own home movies) as well as Media Show SE 2.0. Finally, ASUS continues to provide its GameFace software with the V9980 Ultra. This feature allows you to videoconference with your opponent (or ally) while you’re gaming. You can also overclock your graphics card with ASUS’ Smart Doctor software, although hardware monitoring functionality isn’t available in the versions we tested with (4.0 and 3.10)