ASUS Extreme EN5900/TVD (PCX5900) PCI-Express 128MB and ASUS Extreme AX600XT/HTVD PCI-Express 128MB Graphics Cards

Overclocking and thoughts

Overclocking

Overclocking potential is a mixture of quality of cooling and good luck in receiving a decent yield. Overclocking tests were carried out by re-running DOOM 3 1024x768 high quality, to see what kind of effect extra core and memory speed had on results. I managed to run an overclocked EN5900 at 410MHz core and 770MHz memory, and the AX600XT at 565MHz core and 830MHz memory.

The MHz increases look impressive in isolation, but don't really affect performance in any meaningful way. Can you tell the visual, sustained difference between 23.9FPS and 21.7FPS?. I certainly can't.

Thoughts

PCI-Express, as a viable gaming platform, is taking shape now. The choice of GPU is widening, thanks to ATI and NVIDIA's recent efforts. Check any reasonable e-tailer's graphics catalogue and you'll find that PCIe-based cards are now beginning to rival their AGP counterparts in terms of availability and choice.

ASUS has been a lead instigator in ensuring widespread PCIe adoption. In terms of the review cards today, it's clear that the EN5900, a card directly derived from a premium GPU, is the performance leader. A 256-bit memory bus and dual texture units helps it outmuscle the 128-bit-equipped AX600XT in most cases.

ASUS is to be commended for the cards' stock performance, though, as both utilise RAM that natively runs considerably faster than rivals'. Other commendations include the excellent associated bundles that both feature SmartDoctor, a 3-year limited warranty, and VIVO capability (HDTV for the AX600XT!). Big-name cards and decent bundles usually come at a price. That price is a financial one. The PCX5900-based EN5900 retails at around £165 and the AX600XT/HTVD at around £130. That's between 10-20% above partners such as Sapphire and PowerColor, for example. Whether the extra expense for ASUS-branded cards is justifiable is up to each individual to assess.

The main problem that I see facing both cards is the technology they're based upon. Benchmark graphs also showed the relative performance of a GeForce 6800 GT 256MB card, which was often double or treble either midrange cards'. Cheaper derivatives of the NV40 design, vanilla GeForce 6800 and 6600 GT, as well as ATI's upcoming RADEON X700 XT, will begin to encroach on PCX5900 and X600 XT pricing territory. These newer cards are fundamentally better in almost every regard, so waiting a couple of months may be the prudent thing to do in the £150 graphics card category.