Every now and again a product comes along that seems to defy reason. Either it offers performance at levels far greater than similar products in its class or it is offered at a price lower than you would expect. Never have we seen a time where both of these circumstances happened at the same time to the same product. Yet here we are describing to you a video card that seemingly breaks all the rules, immune to the economic forces that keep the world moving forward. So what do you do when you have a video card as powerful as the big boys but costs only half as much? You overclock the heck out of it and sell it to the masses, that's what! - Bjorn3D

ASUS Extreme N8800 GT TOP 512MB Version Review

Introducing the Extreme N8800 GT TOP from ASUS. An uncompromising, take no prisoners, deal of the year video card that changes the rules. No longer will you have to choose between cost or performance. Gone are the days of chewing up watts upon watts of power and dumping all that heat into your case. Are you excited yet? Looking at the specifications of this card we see that ASUS has really stepped up the speed on this card. This should provide a nice boost over the already frightening level of performance this card possesses. We wonder how much further we can push this card?

ASUS packages this card in the largest box we have ever seen a video card come in. When we first saw it we burst out with laughter. Most of it was from the excitement of the card but a small portion was also from the size of the box. What is in there that needs so much room? Well, honestly there is just the video card and it's bundle. A lot of the space is empty so we can only assume it is so people know they are getting the TOP edition. AUS includes a very nice bundle with this card, we even like the game. So often, outdated games are included as freebies that they bring little value to the bundle.

The top of the card sports the ASUS logo and image of the included game so you never forget. The fan on this card is the 60mm version which at full speed can be pretty loud. Flipping the card over we see this card is built on top of a green PCB. Some people prefer a black PCB, some people have no preference. In the end all that matters is if the card is fast. Turning to the rear of the card we see the one and only power connector. The amount of performance this card possesses and it only requires one 6-pin power cable is simply amazing. Next we have the SLI connectors which are also protected by the blue plastic cap.

This is one fast card. ASUS brings the big guns with their TOP offering. In terms of performance there is not much out there that can beat this card and not break your wallet at the same time. With that said, things are not all rosy. The fan on this card spins very slow which is a good thing for noise levels but causes the card to run hot, very hot. Perhaps this card is capable of running all day, every day at 90°C. The question is, would you want it to? You can manually speed up the fan with NVIDIA's nTune application though you will get a lot of noise along with it but will have a cooler graphics card in the end.

Nuclear meltdowns and hearing aids aside, ASUS gives a nice bundle with a fun game, should you not already have it. The only question left to answer is how much is this thing going to run me? The standard edition comes in at $300 so expect to pay a slight premium for the factory overclock. Useful for those of you who want the fastest GeForce 8800 GT without voiding your warranty.