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ASUS' Extreme high-end: ASUS EN6800 Ultra, EN6800 GT, EAX850 XT PE, and EAX800 XLAuthor: Anna TimofeevaDate: 13/06/2005
IntroductionA high-end board itself arouses at least curiosity, and genuine connoisseurs (who you and we certainly are) find it of specific interest. What is we take more than one cards? And not by a noname but one by an eminent manufacturer like ASUS? That's right - that is what we are going to verify in our today's material.
The "elite video accelerators" by both industry leaders - NVIDIA Corporation and ATI Technologies, astounding speeds with more astounding prices, the luxury exterior and package bundle - all that is within ASUS' very close attention. And that is a good job in it - a diamond should have a precious casing which holds true for not only precious stone (I don't see any sense at all in purchasing this stuff, unlike the games so akin to our hearts , of which we are talking about). But let's finish with analogies and prefaces and immediately get down to business.
All the participants of our today's "round" offer recommended core and memory speeds and the specified number of pipelines, there are even no differences in the PCB design as well. Of course, Asus has certainly introduced some "amendments". First, it is the package bundle. For instance, along with the web camera future lucky owners of EN6800Ultra will get DOOM3 on 3 CDs as a bonus item. Of the remaining nontrivial components is only the CD-Case (comes as a bundle item to each board). Along with these, we note the qualitative modernization of cooling systems on all the cards except EAX850XT PE (which in fact is a reference board). On EN6800Ultra/GT, that is a copper radiator on the GPU (instead of aluminum one on the reference), whereas on EAX800 XL the cooling system is made as a copper radiator that cools the GPU and four video memory chips on the board's front side.
Let's turn to EAX850 XT PE once more. We all remember Radeon 9800XT by ASUS, with its own ÐÑÂ design. Unfortunately, at that ASUS' experiments with high-end solutions on ATI chips ended. Both the AGP flagship model AX800XT PE and the previous top-end PCI-E (ÅAX800 XT) card were based on ATI's reference design, with the difference in that the textolyte color was traditionally orange. This time, we have got an absolute reference card. I don't think that is a minus or may seriously hinder the performance. Moreover, the reference cooling system installed on RX850 XT PE has undergone quite substantial changes as compared to the previous flagship solutions (it's the first time ATI uses a dual-slot design for the cooling system) and is rather efficient.
The thing is, manufacturing companies buy from ATI (like from NVIDIA) not merely chips but ready cards, and although the textolyte color differs from the reference, that doesn't mean anything at all. Then, there goes "faceting" the cards with cooling systems, rich package bundle and nice-looking box added, and ... here they are - ready-made "cakes for sale".
In our today's roundup session, only these four boards will take part. Remember that 6800Ultra's direct competitor is X850 XT PE, with X800 XL being positioned versus 6800GT. As regards the prices, the most top-end cards are priced at approximately the same level which starts with $550. As regards the "6800GT-X800XL" pair, the first one currently leads (from 450$ onwards). At that optimistic note, I suggest that we should move on the considering the most vital point on the agenda - the cards themselves.
ASUS Extreme N6800 Ultra LayoutBy default, shipped flagship solutions are supposed to have luxury package bundles, which is especially true for ASUS produce. In this case, among the nice and useful bundled items is the full version of DOOM3 in 3 CDs, and a traditional web camera. In fact, the list is not complete by that - inside the big colorfully arranged box there are many interesting things, namely:
The cooling system generally replicates the reference except that there is a copper radiator on the GPU. In the remaining aspects, the design is the same. A separate radiator on the GPU, a heat-pipe radiator cooling all the video memory chips positioned on the board's front panel, and a lid with the fan. The stabilizers are cooled with a separate aluminum radiator. 
  
In our video card specimen, as the thermal interface the "jewel steel" paint was used for the GPU, as well as heat-conductive spacers (memory chips and stabilizers). Let's look at the GPU of GeForce 6800Ultra (NV45) and the HSI bridge. As we remember, of NVIDIA's PCI-E solutions only cards starting with NV41 (GeForce 6800/LE) offer native support for the PCI-E. The two high-end cards built on NV45 - GeForce 6800Ultra/GT - implement that via the bridge. The chip was made on the 39th week of year 2004 and has revision À1, according to the marking on it. The standard operating frequency is 425 MHz. There are 16 pixel pipelines, and 6 vertex units.
The card is equipped with 256 Mb of GDDR3 memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus assembled of eight Samsung BGA memory chips of 1.6 ns access time, which is equivalent to 625 MHz (1250 MHz DDR) operating frequency. On EN6800 Ultra, as is compliant with the specifications, the operating frequency of the video memory is 550MHz (1100MHz DDR). All the eight video memory chips are located on the boards's front side.
The board is also equipped with a connector for additional power (one versus two on the AGP version of GeForce 6800Ultra!), 
with a connector allowing to merge two EN6800Ultra video cards into SLI, 
two digital outputs, and a TV-OUT.
ASUS Extreme AX850 XT PE LayoutThe package bundle slightly differs from that in the above described for EN6800 Ultra. No web camera is included in it, but there are much more interesting and important items, namely:
Like in the previous material where we reviewed RX850 XT PE by Gigabyte, this card is in fact an ATI's reference board. Apart from the package bundle, its belonging to ASUS product line is seen from the respective sticker on the cooling system. 
The cooling system is made up of the copper radiator directly contacting the GPGU, and aluminum plate cooling the four memory chips on the board's front side. The structure is fastened on board with two screws and a plate on the reverse side. To prevent the small components from damage upon direct contact of the screws with the textolyte, there are protective elastic "washers" placed between them. To cool the remaining memory chips positioned on the reverse side of the board, a separate aluminum plate is used. The fan takes air, runs it through beneath the lid and blows it outside through holes in the cap. In our video card specimen, as the thermal interface the "jewel steel" paint was used for the GPU, as well as heat-conductive spacers (memory chips).   
The graphic processor R480 was made on the 48th week of year 2004, also offers 16 pixel pipelines, 6 vertex units, the way it is on NVIDIA's flagship model, and runs at 540MHz which is standard for Õ850ÕÒ ÐÅ cards.
The card is equipped with 256 Mb of GDDR3 memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus assembled of eight Samsung BGA memory chips of 1.6 ns access time, which is equivalent to 625 MHz (1250 MHz DDR) operating frequency. The memory originally runs at 590MHz (1180MHz DDR), which is equivalent to frequencies recommended for this card. The memory chips are positioned in four along each side of the PCB. The card is also equipped with a connector for additional power supply, 
It offers support for VIVO features implemented on the ATI Rage Theater chip,
and is equipped with two digital outputs. 
ASUS Extreme N6800GT LayoutThe package bundle of the card is identical to that for EN6800Ultra, except DOOM3.
The cooling system is essentially identical to that installed on EN6800 Ultra except that the one on EN6800 GT is of single-slot design. A separate radiator on the GPU (also made of copper), a heat-pipe radiator cooling all the video memory chips positioned on the board's front panel, and a lid with the fan. Note separately the highlighting with bright blue LEDs. The stabilizers are cooled with a separate aluminum radiator. The radiator cooling the GPU is fastened on board with two screws and a plate on the reverse side. The radiator on the memory chips and the lid are fastened separately with a number of spring-loaded screws running through the board.
In our video card specimen, like in the previous boards, as the thermal interface the "jewel steel" paint was used for the GPU, as well as heat-conductive spacers (memory chips and stabilizers). The card is equipped with 256 Mb of GDDR3 memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus assembled of eight Samsung BGA memory chips of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) operating frequency and fully complies with the memory operating frequency recommended for 6800GT. All the eight video memory chips are positioned on the boards's front side. 
The graphic processor of 6800GT (NV45) offers 16 pixel pipelines, 6 vertex units and runs at 350 MHz. The chip was made on the 38th week of year 2004 and has revision À1. Also note the HSI bridge made within the same housing with the GPU with which support for the PCI-E on NV45 (6800Ultra/GT) is effected. 
The board is also equipped with a SLI connector, 
a connector for additional power supply,
with two digital outputs, and a TV-OUT.
ASUS Extreme AX800XL Layout
This time, not only the sticker on the lid of the cooling system (unlike EAX850 XT PE) tells that we have a product by ASUS. This is also seen from the orange color of the textolyte (ASUS' standard version for solutions on ATI chips), and the cooling system itself which is a fully copper radiator with a heat-pipe cooling the GPU and four memory chips on the PCB's front side, with the fan taking the left-hand half of the structure. In fact, cooling of the memory chips is practically a decorative item because the remaining memory chips positioned on the board's reverse side are not equipped with heat-spreaders. The cooling system is fastened with five screws. In our video card specimen, as the thermal interface the "jewel steel" paint was used for the GPU, as well as heat-conductive spacers (memory chips).
The card is equipped with 256 Mb of GDDR3 memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus assembled of eight Samsung BGA memory chips of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) operating frequency. The memory operating frequency in ASUS EAX800 XL fully match that. The memory chips are positioned in four along each side of the board. 
Let's look at the graphic processor RX800 XL (R430). The chip was made on the 52nd week of year 2004, and its standard operating frequency is 400MHz. There are 16 pixel pipelines, and 6 vertex units.
Note that X800XL does not require plugging in additional power. That is one of the advantages of the solution as compared to its direct competitor - GeForce 6800GT. The card is equipped with two digital outputs
and offers support for VIVO features implemented on the ATI Rage Theater chip.
Note separately the highlighting with bright blue LEDs. 
Now on to benchmarking.
Test configuration
To test EN6800Ultra and EN6800 GT we used beta drivers ForceWare 71.81, and for EAX850 XT PE with EAX800 XL - Catalyst 5.2 WHQL. Synthetic benchmarks
  
Gaming benchmarks
      
Final Words
In terms of performance, the cards haven't proved any surprise because we repeatedly explored and compared all the top-end solutions versus the PCI-E interface in the synthetic benchmarks and, what is especially important, in gaming applications. So, we'd better not repeat - it's good that the graphic shows the picture quite distinctly, and we'd better talk about the traits of ASUS' boards. ASUS Extreme N6800 Ultra  The first advantage that you get on purchasing 6800Ultra by ASUS is the royal package bundle including the popular DOOM3 on 3 CDs. Another pleasant bundled item is a web camera. As regards the board itself, installation of a copper radiator on top of the GPU, instead of one made of aluminum which is normally fitted in reference cards, hasn't come tracklessly - during the tests, the maximum temperature reached 63 C, which is very good for a card like that. The overclocking capability - 450/1130 MHz. In fact, high-end cards normally demonstrate performance of such level at default frequencies and overclocking in this case is no more than a "ritual" practice - of course, except those points when we mean the extreme overclocking, or the overclocking for the sake of results. ASUS Extreme AX850 XT PE  The reference card which proved a true champion among the boards based on Õ850 ÕÒ è Õ850 ÕÒ ÐÅ tested by us for the overclocking capability of the core. Reminding it again that we were able to overclock Gigabyte RX850 XT PE to 570/1180MHz, and the overclocking capability of GeCube's X850 XT amounted to 570/1160MHz. This time, we were able to overclock the Canadian PCI-E flagship to 585MHz for the core. It would be useful here to note that the overclocking results relate only to the card specimen tested by us and does not extend to all the other boards based on R480 (even similar ones). Coming back to the topic, we also note that the package bundle is worth being sold separately from the card (a special note by the author for ASUS: by no means take this suggestion for guidance!). ASUS Extreme N6800 GT  First, of note is the superb overclocking capability of our specimen of the card. The 400/1100MHz bar (frequencies of 6800Ultra) were overcome without effort, with the maximum frequencies amounted to 420/1145MHz. Note that the temperature has not exceeded 60 C, which is a contribution from the well-made cooling system with a copper radiator on the GPU. Needless to say, the package bundle deserves high praise, like it is for the above solutions, with the only difference in the EN6800Ultra package bundle being the lack of DOOM3. A nice bonus item is the bright blue illumination. ASUS Extreme AX800 XL  Here is the last representative of extreme high-end by ASUS. Like in all the remaining representatives of this product like of ASUS, this card is advantageous for its superb package bundle, very well made cooling system in the form of a copper radiator with a heat-pipe and thus a normal operating temperature - maximum 56 C. As regards the overclocking, we can again ascertain a quite worthy result - the 440/1060MHz bar was overcome without effort. Of the nice traits of the board is the bright blue illumination. SummaryAll ASUS' cards demonstrate a perfect performance combined with the traditionally royal package bundle and quite decent overclocking capability. When choosing a high-end board, your eyes are caught by ASUS' colorful boxes, you can stay assured - inside the package the contents is no less worthy.  Anyway, we did find a couple of flies in the ointment. First, all these cards are of the PCI-E interface. All remember it quite well what the percentage between AGP and PCI-E is. On the other hand, the percentage of owners of PCI-E systems albeit slowly but going up. We presume that is a great contribution of manufacturers who are producing more and more tempting PCI-E novelties. The "fly" number two, although conventional for now. The final retail price for all these cards is currently unknown. What is left to hope is that it will be adequate and not only we will be able enjoying these ASUS faceted diamonds of the video card market.
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