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ASUS Extreme AX1300 PRO 256MB PCI-E Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Friday, 16 June 2006 |
Virtual-Hideout comes with a review on the ASUS Extreme AX1300 PRO 256MB PCIe graphics card. If you are looking for a graphics card with a punch but can't afford the hit to your wallet, the Radeon X1300 series of cards may be the choice for you. The ASUS Extreme AX1300 PRO comes with 256MB of RAM, and will run just about every game on the market. Of course, don't expect to crank all the settings to high levels on the current popular games and have it run like a Radeon X1900. But its GPU, an ATI Radeon X1300 PRO, is a downscaled version of the Radeon X1800 GPU, so it shares many of the same capabilities and performance attributes.
 ASUS Extreme AX1300 PRO 256MB PCI-E Review
Sitting on a red printer circuit board, the ASUS Extreme AX1300 PRO doesn't look all that impressive. Don't let the looks fool you. This budget card has some nice features that allow you to play almost any game. The heart of the Extreme AX1300 PRO is the RV515 graphics processing unit. This GPU runs at 600MHz while the RAM clocks at 800MHz. You may be thinking that the GPU is 100MHz on the Radeon X1600, so why should I consider this one? This is perhaps true, but the GPU's are different, namely the RV515 versus the RV530. The RV515 features 4 pixel pipelines compared to the 12 pipes on the RV530.
This can make a big difference when playing games. The more pixel pipelines, the faster the video card can process pixels and will be acting in the current game titles. The memory used on the ASUS unit are Infineon 2.5ns. The eight RAM chips, four on each side of the PCB, are rated for an 800MHz operating frequency and have a combined capacity of 256MB. The memory chips on the back side of the card are not cooled though. By the way, these are the same RAM chips used on the Radeon X1600. So, at least they are not skimping on the RAM for the lower end card.
From my point of view, this card played Doom 3, Far Cry and Quake 4 with no issues and really looked sharp at the same time. Based on the fact that it shares similar attributes to the Radeon X1800, it's no wonder why. Just remember that every setting can't be cranked all the way up. Overall, this card is a great value and certainly an excellent buy. If you are looking for a budget card or just can't afford a high-end graphics card, the ASUS Extreme AX1300 PRO is your ticket to enjoying the games you love.
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