Asus EN9800 GTX Review

Testing:

At OverclockersClub.com, we use a series of benchmarks to stress the graphics card. We will use a series of newer, as well as a few more seasoned, gaming benchmarks to show how well the Asus 9800GTX compares to some of the other enthusiast video cards on the market, using both single and dual GPU models to show the performance that can be gained from that type of solution, if any. To see how an 8800GT fares in this comparison, take a peek at the review of the Asus EN8800GT TOP. All driver settings and clockspeeds will be left at factory default settings on both the CPU and GPU to minimize or eliminate any variables from impacting the results. The test system used in this review is listed below. After testing the card at stock speeds, I will overclock the video card to see what kind of performance can be gained. All testing is done with the default settings in the respective control panels as well as default settings in the BIOS of the motherboard used in this test.

• Processor: Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad 266x9
• Motherboard:Abit IX38 Quad GT
• Memory: Mushkin XP2 Redline 8000 2 x 2GB 5-5-5-12
• Video Card(s): Asus EN9800GTX
• Power Supply: Mushkin 650watt Modular Power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 320GB SATA
• Opticals: NEC DV5700
• O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Comparison Video Cards:

• Asus 8800 GTS G92
• Asus 8800 GTX
• XFX 9800GX2
• Asus EAH3870X2

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

• Asus EN9800GTX 852/1250/2130

The Asus EN9800GTX went straight up to 852MHz on the GPU core, 1250MHz on the memory and the shader clock topped at 2106MHz. Regardless of the utility used (Smart Doctor, Riva Tuner 2.08, Ntune), I achieved the same result. All of these results are significant gains over the stock speeds. An increase of 177MHz on the core equates to a 21% increase in core clockspeed. A 20% increase in shader clockspeed (442MHz), as well as a 12%, or 150MHz, increase on the memory is nothing to shake your head at either. The performance potential is huge with the 9800GTX series of cards. With increases in clockspeeds like this, the expectations are high, so let's see how well it performs.

Benchmarks:

• Video:

1. Crysis
2. Knights of the Sea
3. Bioshock
4. Call of Duty 4
5. World in Conflict
6. Call of Jaurez
7. 3DMark 06 Professional