Thoughts
ASUS ripped up NVIDIA's suggested vanilla GeForce 6800 spec. sheet with its V9999 GeForce 6800 Gamers Edition card. There's little basic resemblance - 256MB GDDR3 RAM, rated at 1GHz, a 350MHz core and dual Molex connectors make it, on a purely physical level, more akin to the GT/Ultra variants. In fact, it's far closer in internal specification to a GT model. On the face of it, a lack of a fourth quad (4 pixel pipelines, so 12 vs. 16) and lack of a sixth vertex shader is all that stands between it and fully fledged GT status. Dual Molex connectors kind of infer failed Ultra status, too.That's precisely why ASUS' 256MB-equipped GeForce 6800 behaves so much like the more expensive 6800 GT and Ultra designs, right down to decent performance with high resolutions and AntiAliasing/Anisotropic Filtering applied. The gap between it and a regular 128MB-equipped GeForce 6800 can increase from around 25% at 1024x768 4xAA/8xAF to almost 100% at our highest setting of 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF. Just that fact puts ASUS' card into a different league than most other plain 6800s.
ASUS understands the need to match both hardware and software elements of its graphics card packages. A 9-CD bundle encompasses decent full gaming titles and excellent utilities (SmartDoctor, in particular). Hardware is complemented by a reasonable USB-powered webcam. The only aspect that ASUS has overlooked, really, is VIVO functionality.
ASUS' GeForce 6800 V9999 Gamers Edition successfully straddles the gap between vanilla 6800 and full GT performance. It's no wonder, then, that it's also priced between these two cards. £260 isn't quite enough to buy a retail 6800 GT and around £50 above the mark of most 6800s. ASUS, I feel, has successfully bridged the gulf between vanilla 6800s and GTs in both price and performance. If £250 is absolutely burning a hole in your pocket ASUS' GeForce 6800 Gamers Edition 256MB card is a fine choice.
Bottom line - Imagine a softmodded Gamers Edition - top performance on the cheap!.
