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Asus V9999 Gamer Edition Graphics Card Review |
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Written by JRd1st
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Wednesday, 20 October 2004 |
X-Bit Labs did a detailed
review on the controversial Asus
V9999 Gamer Edition! A 6800nu on Steroids? Highest performance, six
operational vertex processors, efficient cooling system with a copper heatsink,
beautiful appearance and generous accessories all contribute to making the V9999
Gamer Edition into a wanted product.
 Asus V9999 Gamer Edition Graphics Card Review
While nVidia and ATI are getting over the problem of
small output of graphics processors for expensive graphics cards, their partners
are releasing in-between solutions on available chips, targeting enthusiasts and
gamers who want to have the highest performance in demanding applications right
here and now.
Asus
V9999 Gamer Edition graphics card left a wholly positive impression – we
just couldn't find any defect in it, however negligible. It seems like the
manufacturer gave thought to every small detail, forgetting nothing, which is a
rare thing. Highest performance, six operational vertex processors, efficient
cooling system with a copper heatsink, beautiful appearance and generous
accessories all contribute to making the V9999 Gamer Edition into a wanted
product. The device is free from the main disadvantage of the original GeForce
6800 design – slow memory. Having a higher-clocked memory, the Asus card scored well in our tests,
quite comparably to the most dangerous rival, the Radeon X800 PRO.
The
graphics card from Asus has
truly excellent results in some games, like in the super-popular Doom 3 shooter. The simpler and
sometimes more efficient Radeon X800 architecture was, however, better in
applications filled with complex pixel shaders: Far Cry, Halo: Combat Evolved
and Colin McRae Rally 04, as well as in Half-Life 2 Stress Test and in the
famous Mother Nature test from the Futuremark 3DMark03 suite.
In the eye candy mode (with enabled 4x full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering of the maximum quality) the Asus V9999 Gamer Edition had
good results, too, although mostly not as high as those of the Radeon X800 PRO which is better suited to such operational modes. However, we can't call this an
utter defeat like it was with the ordinary GeForce 6800, which was hamstringed by its slow 350MHz (700DDR) memory.
Thus, the single but fundamental disadvantage of the Asus V9999 Gamer Edition
is its price. This gorgeous graphics card will cost you something like $410-420. The ordinary GeForce 6800 GT – with all sixteen pixel pipelines in operation – is priced at the same level. For comparison: the ordinary GeForce 6800 costs from $269 to $355. That's cheaper, of course, but Asus product is kind of unique, and you always have to pay more
for things exclusive.
Thus, people who are targeting the $270-350 price range won't afford the V9999 Gamer Edition, while those who are considering top-end NV40-based products will probably look at the GeForce 6800 GT. As for the Radeon X800 PRO, it costs $380 and more.
The V9999 Gamer Edition graphics card might be the choice of people who need a high-performance new-generation device with a compact, efficient and low-noise
cooling system and a set of gorgeous accessories. Modders might also want to pay attention to this product – it looks really cool. On the other hand, if you prefer efficiency to effective looks, you may want to consider the humbler-looking GeForce 6800 GT first.
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ASUS 9800GTX+ (DK) PCIe 512MB - Rev 01
