SUMMARY: Today we are looking at the two top dogs from both ATi and nVidia in the form of the Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5950 Ultra from ASUS. We pit them directly against a reference 9800 XT and an older 9800 Pro to find out who is the king of the hill in the VGA department.
As previously mentioned, one must truly stand out in this market in order to prevail in their marketing campaigns. ASUS has correctly done this; offering external TIVO options and the largest range of included software and games I’ve ever had the pleasure of using, ASUS’s overall packages truly fulfill any costly accessory necessities.
Included in ASUS’s V9980 Ultra package are the following components: GeForce FX 5950U card, Multi-Video in/TV out adaptor, DVI-to-2nd VGA adaptor, Black Hawk Down, Battle Engine Aquila, Gun Metal, 6 in 1 Game Pack, Power Director Pro, ASUS DVD XP, Media Show and the ASUS Utilities & Driver CD.
Included in ASUS’s Radeon 9800 XT package are the following components: the Radeon 9800 XT card, Multi-Video in/TV out adaptor, DVI-to-2nd VGA adaptor, Black Hawk Down, Battle Engine Aquila, Gun Metal, 6 in 1 Game Pack, Power Director Pro, ASUS DVD XP, Media Show, ULead Cool 3D/Photo Express and the ASUS Utilities & Driver CD.
Unfortunately, a problem that I’ve ran into quite a few times in the past reoccurs with the Radeon 9800XT: It comes encased in plastic outside of an anti-static foil bag. While the card cannot build up a charge due to its isolation from other parts in the packaging, it can however immediately be damaged upon opening due to no surrounding anti-static protection. The GeForce FX 5950, on the other hand, does come neatly packaged inside an anti-static foil bag.
ASUS has taken the liberty of providing the end-user with enough software to last his or her a lifetime. From the latest games, utilities, software and various applications, we feel rather well fed. Instead of just including the generic outdated game and PowerDVD, ASUS has included some truly interesting software. In their bundle are applications such as Game Face, which allows one to video conference whilst playing an online round of one of their favourite games. It does not stop there however; ASUS has additionally included various security applications operable with the card; such as Video Security II.
Contrary to the accessories found in the V9980 Ultra, ASUS’s 9800XT takes a slightly different path of unique applications, and replaces a few with the addition of ULead Cool 3D and Photo Express.
