Bundle, accessories and warranty
With a box that's larger than most motherboard's, the EN8800GTS/HTDP/640M's bundle is full retail fare.
Other than the card, you receive full editions of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, GTI Racing and 3DMark06. Further, there are the obligatory drivers CD, another CD containing manuals in electronic format. A quickstart guide and a wallet to keep the CDs nice and clean in completes this part of the package.
Hardware-wise, there's only a single DVI dongle (why not 2?), a 6-pin-to-molex connector and HDTV-Out (component) cable. Nothing extraordinary but enough additional items to get you up and running.
Warranty
ASUS' graphics cards are backed up by a 3-year warranty that starts on the date of purchase, as per the customer's sales invoice. The warranty is based on the card and not on the individual initially purchasing it, so as long as the original invoice is kept and handed on over to subsequent buyers during the 3-year period the remainder of the warranty is valid.ASUS quotes a maximum turnaround time of 14 working days for a SKU that's found faulty and guarantees to replace any defective hardware with a part that is at least equal to, if not better than, the original spec. Warranty claims are handled by ASUS U.K. and all returned goods are sent back to a U.K. address, rather than to H.Q. The maximum 14 working days translates to almost three weeks, which, in our opinion, is too long to be without a graphics card.
You always need to factor in the quality of a warranty when evaluating similar products; that's just common sense. ASUS's 3-year transferrable warranty and U.K.-based service centre makes it one of the best currently available, we reckon, although the lengthy turnaround does take some shine off it.
