Presentation, bundle, and warranty
Packaging
ASUS promises an 11 per cent increase in performance, as evaluated via 3DMark06, with the AquaTank version. The box is the usual ASUS size, meaning you can fit a small country inside and still have room to spare.
| Bundled items |
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter GTI Racing Futuremark 3DMark06 Drivers CD (XP/Win2K) Drivers CD (Vista) Manuals CD Speed Setup guide AquaTank user's guide 1x DVI dongle 2x PEG-to-molex power connector HDTV-Out (component) cable |
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Futuremark's 3DMark06 is included to highlight just how fast this card is, should you forget. We like that fact that two decent (full) gaming titles are included in this deluxe bundle.
The rest is pretty much standard fare for any graphics card. ASUS could have included a second DVI dongle, we suppose. The company sensibly includes a separate AquaTank manual.
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.
