HOTHardware -- Today at HotHardware, we will be looking at two video cards from Asus. They don't necessarily scream "power user" and they aren't adorned with the flashiest packaging. Instead, these two cards are more like the utilitarian work-horses that one might expect to find in a mid-range PC, or even a DYI build that's catered more to function than fashion. That doesn't mean we won't run any benchmarks with our favorite games to see how they compare to each other, as well as to another mid-level card, but don't focus strictly on the benchmark results in this article. These two cards aren't designed to set records in Half-Life 2, but rather offer some uncommon features not found on many competing products.

 

HOTHardware -- Despite offering stellar performance in its default reference configuration, ASUS realizes that the Radeon X1900 XTX needs something more to compete with the latest offerings from NVIDIA. To that end, the company has released the flagship EAX1900XTX graphics card. Armed with an exceptional bundle that's loaded with software and accessories, there is little room for complaint for those wondering where their hard-earned cash has gone.

PC Perspective -- The NVIDIA 7800 GTX GPU has been out for nearly two months now and is still unrivaled at the top of the graphics market. Since then we have seen the 7800 GT released from NVIDIA as well, lower the entry price of the new GeForce 7 series. ATI has yet to bring out their CrossFire or R520 products and because of this NVIDIA and their partners have a BIG advantage. The 7800 GTX and GT parts have been selling quite well according to NVIDIA's partners and with prices still coming down on them every day I would expect their popularity to continue.

PCStats -- The ASUS EAH4550 is a half-height entry level videocard suitable for small form-factor, book size and home theatre PCs users that desperately want a dedicated HDMI jack on the cheap. To be frank, the only reason PCSTATS is devoting pixels to this $50 dollar, PCI Express videocard is because it offers very affordable HDMI video and audio which is fully HDCP compliant. That's something a DVI-to-HDMI adaptor will not do. Not everyone can afford $600 monster videocards after all.

Overclock 3D -- The 9800 GX2 card is Nvidia's new top end baby. With two G92's in tow, how does it compare to our 3 Way SLI setup? Find out inside...

Lost Circuits -- Currently the undisputedly best bang for the buck in 3D Rendering appears to be nVdia's n7800 GT series. Slightly scaled down from the more than $100 (on average) more expensive GTX offering, the more plebeian "GT" still offers blistering fast performance, besting essentially everything in the ATI camp - with perhaps the exception of the RADEON X1800. Moreover, the cards are SLI enabled, which in some applications effectively doubles the frame rates. Amongst the various manufacturers that are partnering with nVidia, ASUS carries a slightly modified version of the reference design, using a blue PCB, a chrome side bar and - noteworthy here, Infineon memory instead of the dominant Samsung components. Bundled with a number of proprietary software utilities like video security and game face, plus a few games and the ubiquitous video editing and DVD software, the Extreme n7800GT is something definitely worth looking at.

PC Perspective -- Asus is one of those few Taiwanese companies that continue to innovate in the face of stale products. By stale products I am referring to motherboards that no longer have any memory controller on them (ala the Athlon 64 platform) and reference video cards becoming the norm in the industry. For a while most companies were just happy to get SOMETHING out on the market in order to compete. This is no longer the case as more and more competition is flooding into the fields of motherboards and graphics cards.

Benchmark Reviews -- The breakneck pace of product development for graphics cards doesn't always generate bigger, faster, more powerful chips and cards. Sometimes a new product gets developed and introduced to the market that isn't a barn burner. Such is the case with this GTX260-based video card, the ASUS ENGTX260 Matrix. That doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile product, or isn't worth the attention of Benchmark Reviews. Instead, it's usually a more focused design that is aimed at a tighter target market. As if the high end PC graphics card market isn't tight enough, ASUS has carved out a niche in their product line called Matrix, and adopted it into their Republic of Gamers. The hallmarks of the Matrix range so far are enhanced cooling capacity, improved configurability, and unique visual designs. The 9800GT and HD4870 cards that were released in 2008 have a new sibling, the ENGTX260 Matrix, and there is clearly a family resemblance. This isn't the first GTX260 video card that Benchmark Reviews has tested, but let's see what's different about this one.