Digital-Daily : Video : asus-radeon9600-xt

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ASUS Radeon 9600XT

We now start running the tests of video cards in question in this very interesting game. Below, we are bringing in a screenshot with settings for the benchmark mode of the game:

We traditionally included maximum possible image quality (which is enabled through the game menu), we also ran our tests with purely 32-bit color.

As was already stated in the interview, no specific optimizations for NVIDIA cards were done, and thus the cards from ATI and NVIDIA are originally in more or less testing conditions. In the "Fast Benchmark" mode (camera flights around one of the game levels) we can see an essential lag of NVIDIA cards based on the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra chip from its competitor - Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro. The results for ASUS Radeon 9600XT are excellent.

In the "Game BenchMark" mode (a demo recording of the gaming process) the picture doesn't change. These results (in the "Game BenchMark" mode) are important primarily for gamers and potential buyers of the game because they display true figure which the gamer should "feel" while playing. Also note the high absolute fps values in the game. Tests were run with a completely closed card, which together with the features of the engine did not apply much load on accelerators. As a result, it gives more than acceptable fps in any resolution for any of the cards tested. Nevertheless, NVIDIA's lag is substantial.

The AA and AF modes (including AA+AF) do not change the general alignment of forces. By the way, even in the maximum quality mode (AA6x + Aniso16x for ATI chips) all the ATI cards give an acceptable frame-rate, which can't be said about the NVIDIA card.

Final Words

Summing it up, we can only praise Asus for a successful debut with ATI chips. We already did that in the review on ASUS Radeon 9800XT. Now we see that in the Middle-End segment as well ASUS has succeeded from the first and made a really good and quality board based on the ATI chip. The decorative cooling system onboard was a bit annoying - radiator on the reverse side of the PCB would be of good use. Among the advantages of the board is the smart exterior design and an excellent package bundle. As usual, at first we can observe the prices for Asus produce a bit overstated. But with time the prices might go down to reasonable levels. Anyway, it's up to the buyer to decide if ASUS produce is worth the money.

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	Content:
	The ATI RV360 Chip ASUS Radeon 9600XT Video Card Features Benchmarks: Synthetic tests Benchmarks: Gaming benchmarks FireStarter: Interview FireStarter: Benchmarks. Final Words

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