As always, ASUS have a nice big annoying box but why is it annoying you might ask? When you go to take a photo of it you have to find a whole lot of desk space so you can clean up the background. There is one thing we can say though and that is ASUS graphics cards are just never all box, they usually come with a bucket load of applications and games.
The front of the box lists the card, along with a list of main features, 512MB DDR3 onboard memory, Dual GPU, Dual DVI and so on. Its a monster product with monstrous specifications.
The box can be opened up and we find a huge description on some of the programs that are included in the package. It does give a good run down on some of the software and its something that you will probably find yourself reading while waiting for the drivers to install.
Turning the box over we have extended specifications on the card and some of the exclusive innovations that are included in the package, we also have a list of awards, what software is included along with a comparison of performance against SLI 6800GT. Like the Gigabyte 3D1, you do need to make sure the graphics card is compatible with your motherboard and we have a list on the bottom right. We will be using the A8N-SLI Premium today which caused us no grief at all.
Opening up the box is where we begin to have some fun. Having a look at whats included within the package we find ourselves with a massive external power supply to help provide enough juice to the card. Some may say a bit extreme others will simply be in awe of how cool it is that they need a separate power source to power the graphics card. Our opinion is the latter, of course.
We have a breakout box for the TV Out, HDTV Out and TV In function and a PCI Express power connector which is no use.
We have also got within the box two DVI to VGA connectors along with a switch card for people who use a motherboard that needs to adjust manually SLI and non SLI.
We have a massive CD pile which includes Xpand Rally, ASUS VGA driver, Virtual Drive 9, ASUSDVD, Project Snowblind, PowerDirector, Multi Language Manual and Media@Show. More then enough to keep any gamer busy.
Also included in the package is the power connector for the card. Such a big card requires a big amount of power and instead of causing unnecessary load on the computer the 7800GT Dual comes with a separate transformer.
Last and what we think is least we have a big fat manual that is only useful for swatting flies in this Australian heat. (Editor Note: You know, you should actually read it just in case and learn to ignore the blowies )
The front of the box also states that QUAD VGA is supported, while it isnt on this particular model there is a piece of paper inside that states that the mass production model will have the two VGA ports so you can make use of quad VGA output.
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