|
ASUS Extreme N7600 GS TOP 512MB Silent Review |
|
Written by Mavke
|
|
Monday, 31 July 2006 |
Hardware Zone brings out a review on the ASUS Extreme N7600 GS TOP 512MB Silent video card. Since it was launched together with the faster GeForce 7600 GT, the GeForce 7600 GS has been overshadowed by its more powerful compatriot. A quick glance at the market reveals more variations for the GeForce 7600 GT. Both vendors and consumers alike seem to have arrived independently at this preference for the faster product, aided by the initial price of $199 for the GeForce 7600 GT, which probably hits the sweet spot for those looking for a mid-range graphics card. Many potential buyers of the GeForce 7600 GS probably felt more comfortable topping up their budget slightly for the GT instead.
 ASUS Extreme N7600 GS TOP 512MB Silent Review
However, not all vendors have given up on the GeForce 7600 GS yet. ASUS at least has made quite an effort to bring to market a rather unique version of this GPU. Its latest Extreme N7600 GS TOP Silent is overclocked, like so many other graphics cards now and it also comes with its special ReverseCool system with a passively cooled heatsink and up to 512MB of DDR2 memory. Intrigued? ASUS has experimented with quite a few passively cooled heatsinks in its time, including some rather exotic looking ones with heat pipes and adjustable radiators. Hence, the ReverseCool system didn't seem that radical to us.
So what did ASUS mean by ReverseCool? Basically, the idea was to reverse the usual cooler from its traditional side to the other side of the PCB. To make sure that the ReverseCool technology actually works a grade better than hanging a cooler on the reverse side of the graphics card, ASUS has actually re-engineered the PCB to relocate the GPU core and memory modules together with the heatsink. The reason for this unconventional layout is such that the passive heatsink can take advantage of the airflow generated by the nearby CPU cooler for increased heat dissipation.
Another deviation from the standard GeForce 7600 GS has to be its 512MB of DDR2 RAM, twice that of the original. We are not too sure what ASUS intended with this. Granted that the memory clock has also been increased from 800MHz to 950MHz DDR but the relatively limited 128-bit memory bus doesn't seem to deserve such a large amount of video memory. These DDR2 memory modules were from Infineon and rated at 2.0ns, meaning that they are already running close to their limits. In our opinion, faster GDDR3 memory would have been the more logical choice to improve performance, not by doubling its frame buffer size.
Costs of production would likely be higher and that's probably why ASUS chose to increase its memory. After all, 512MB sounds more impressive to the average consumer than GDDR3, but technical folks will quickly see through this as a marketing advantage. Finally, the core is also running at a higher clock than the default 400MHz. ASUS has overclocked it to 550MHz, bringing it close to that of a GeForce 7600 GT which is set to run at 560MHz. From the increase in frequencies for both core and memory, we should find the ASUS Extreme N7600 GS TOP Silent performing better than the average GeForce 7600 GS.
The bells are already tolling for the GeForce 7600 GS. With limited uptake of this GPU SKU in the retail scene since launch, there's a probability that it might be eclipsed once the mainstream GeForce 7300 GT gathers momentum and more vendors pitch in with their versions. ASUS has tried to stave off the probable impending obsolescence by outfitting its GeForce 7600 GS with a host of features. Some work while others just have a gimmicky feel to them. We were rather pleased that ASUS has stuck with the passive cooling approach found on the NVIDIA reference design.
This would make the card useful for systems where silence is golden, like small form factor systems and HTPC's. ASUS went one better with its own unique ReverseCool system, where the entire card was engineered the other way around with the cooler and most of the important components like RAM and GPU are on the rear side of the PCB, contrary to conventional graphics card design. We don't really care much as long as it works and the combination of its special layout, the heatpipe and adjustable radiator kept the temperatures lower, which was a plus point and proves that ASUS' cooling technique does help.
The extra 256MB boost in onboard memory that makes the ASUS a 512MB DDR2 card however is unconvincing in its usefulness. We doubt that the GeForce 7600 GS has enough memory bandwidth to utilize the additional memory effectively. In short, this memory increase would probably not do much for your performance and ASUS would have achieved more with faster GDDR3 memory instead. From a marketing perspective though, the 512MB may have the desired effect of attracting users who think that increasing graphics memory would have the same impact as upgrading system memory.
While the overclocking does have its intended effect of pulling the ASUS Extreme N7600 GS TOP Silent away from the customary GeForce 7600 GS standards, the only problem is that an overclocked GeForce 7300 GT like the Gainward BLISS 7300 GT can more than match the ASUS in performance and probably has very competitive pricing too by virtue of its lower ranking in NVIDIA's hierarchy. As for the ASUS, it's retailing at $170, which rightly places it between a standard GeForce 7600 GS and the GeForce 7600 GT. On that level ASUS has positions their TOP version at the right spot.
Considering the market outlook now, this pricing is quite sensible but with the better GeForce 7300 GT cards eating into the lower mid-range segment and the GeForce 7600 GT still maintaining an excellent price to performance ratio at the top, the ASUS Extreme N7600 GS TOP Silent may just find itself being squeezed into obscurity.
Related Articles
ASUS Extreme N7600 GT 256MB Silent Review
XFX GeForce 7600 GT 256MB XXX Edition Review
BFG GeForce 7900 GT, GTX and 7600 GT OC Review
|
PNY 8800GT PCIe 512MB - Rev 04
