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ASUS Extreme AX1600 XT Silent 256MB Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Thursday, 13 April 2006 |
Spotted at Reg Hardware is a review on the ASUS Extreme AX1600 XT Silent 256MB graphics card. These days there isn't much difference between one manufacturers graphics card and another, mainly because the standard reference designs from ATI and NVIDIA work just fine. That leaves card makers scrambling around for differentiators, and with ever increasing concerns about noise, some manufacturers are trying to figure out how to make their cards more quiet than their rivals... ASUS is one of many manufacturers that have produced a passively cooled card, its version is the Extreme AX1600 XT Silent equipped with 256MB memory.
 ASUS Extreme AX1600 XT Silent 256MB Review
As the name suggests, it's based on the ATI Radeon X1600XT GPU and 256MB of GDDR3 graphics memory. The GPU is clocked at 590MHz while the memory comes in at 690MHz, effectively 1.38GHz. The memory bus is only 128-bits wide which limits the memory performance when compared to higher-end cards which use a 256-bit bus to double the rate at which data can be passed between the GPU and the memory. The Extreme AX1600 XT also features ATI's Avivo technology. The ASUS designed heatsink uses twin heatpipes that wrap around the card. As a result, the front of the card is unusually clutter-free.
The advantage of the ASUS Extreme AX1600 XT Silent over another Radeon X1600 based board is the passive cooling and this is the main selling point of these cards. This is something most faster cards don't seem to be able to deliver, with each new card being noisier than the previous one. At £118, the ASUS board isn't the cheapest Radeon X1600 XT card around, but then the passive cooling system does increase the manufacturing cost. The Extreme AX1600 XT Silent is a good enough graphics card in its price class, but it's not for the performance hungry user.
However, if you're looking for a low-noise gaming solution you could do far worse, and there's always the option of fitting two cards if you have a CrossFire compatible motherboard and want a little extra performance.
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