When it comes to overclocked cards, there are only a few companies that really take it to the max. Zotac go pretty hard with its AMP! edition line-up while Palit get some pretty mean speeds with the Sonic models. The only other company that really takes the time to test the cards and get into the high overclocks would be ASUS with its TOP line-up. Today we're looking at the latter of the bunch. The ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX TOP which carries quite a menacing core and memory clock that makes it stand out from the pack. While the GeForce 9800 GTX might not offer the leaps and bounds performance increase that we thought it would, it has brought performance computing down in price. - TweakTown

ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB TOP Version Review

Combine this with the fact that you can have up to three of these bad boys running side by side and you've got a pretty mean setup going on. While we do only have one on hand today, we've tested SLI and 3-Way SLI in the past and we would probably avoid the latter due to the limited increase with the third card installed. One thing that we've always liked about the GTX is just how close it performed to the GeForce 9800 GX2 while being considerably cheaper. Today we will have a look at how much closer the TOP version from ASUS gets us and see if it can put the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card out of a job.

In typical ASUS style we have a huge box that really does seem like overkill. They're really one of the only graphics card companies to use such a big box, and with companies talking about how to save the trees you think that ASUS could save a few of their own by making some normal sized graphics card boxes. The front of the box gives us the standard run down of information including the brand up the top and the model across the bottom. Above the model we have a run down on some of the main features, and in the middle of the box we find a bit about the overclock and just what kind of performance increase you get from it.

Unfortunately, unlike a lot of other TOP models from ASUS we simply have the standard reference cooler. ASUS has done the general pimp up of the cooler with a sticker covering the whole fan along with a little ASUS logo. Since the card carries with it the reference cooler, it's no surprise that we have the standard two PCI Express connectors across the top of the card along with the two SLI connectors close to the output side of things. What it also means is that ASUS has really kicked it up a notch with a 755MHz core, 1850MHz shader clock and a 2350MHz effective memory clock on the 512MB of GDDR3 memory.

The GeForce 9800 GTX TOP edition from ASUS doesn't disappoint at all in the performance department and with it really able to nip on the heels of the more expensive GX2 in most places, bar 3DMark06. While we understand that it's possible to get most GeForce 9800 GTX's to the speeds ASUS has given us out of the box here, some people simply aren't interested in mucking around with overclocking programs to achieve the clocks. Sometimes it's just easier to get a fast card out of the box and know that if something happens with it, you can just turn around and get another with the same high clock speeds.

It would have been nice for ASUS to include a game with such a high-end card, but really, what the TOP series is all about is performance and it knows what it's doing in that department. On that aspect we can't erally complain much as you are opting for a faster card than the competition and to keep the pricing in check, the extra game is left out. While it's one of the more expensive brands with a three year warranty versus two that some of the cheaper brands offer, along with the massive out of the box overclock settings, the ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX TOP purchase isn't going to be too difficult to justify to some people.

While the more enthusiast orientated person will prefer to go for the cheapest card on the market and overclock it themselves, people who don't want to have to worry about messing around with overclocking software will find the GeForce 9800 GTX TOP version a treat. With great availability, a justifiable price and the performance of the dual GPU GX2 in some cases, it's going to be an easy pick up for people who want to get a good bang for their buck.