ASUS Radeon 9600XT/TVD

It was about that time... games were coming out fast, and with each new game, my old Ti4400 seemed to be dropping a few FPS, and we hadn't even really seen the introduction of any fully DirectX 9 compliant games yet. So, after seeing the "XT" launch featuring the Asus cards and then reading later reviews on both of the new XT cards, I decided I would go for a 9600XT. When I saw the ASUS 9600XT at my favorite online retailer at just about my "spending limit," I did a little more research and then decided to order it.. This particular card comes at the stock speeds of 500MHz core and 600MHz RAM, but that's where the similarity to the reference ATI design ends. Built on a nice orange PCB and adorned with an impressive shiny aluminium heatsink, this card definitely stands out and is definitely not a vanilla ATI graphics card

Now I'd like to reiterate that I personally purchased this card, so I will therefore be giving it a very thorough set of tests to find out if I made a wise decision buying it. I'm looking to find out just how fast this card is in comparison to my Ti4400 and FX5600 non-ultra. I am expecting to find that the Ti4400 outperforms both of the DX9-based cards in DX8 games and benchmarks when no AA (anti-aliasing) is enabled, but I expect it to fall behind both DX9 cards once AA is enabled (this is why I bought the card and for playing future and present day DX9 based games). I also expect the DX9-based cards - especially the 9600XT - to perform better than the Ti DX8 based card in more modern titles and tests.

When I received the card, I was not shocked at the size of the box - actually it is about the same size as the Ti4400 box. What really surprised me was when I opened the nice packaging and got the white card box out and opened that. What did I find? Well, what I found was a box that, although similar in size to most graphics cards packages (which generally only have the card and few sparse accessories and take up only 1/4 of the box), was full and needed every square inch to fit all the goodies in.

The packaging is very tasteful. The front lets you know the features you'll be getting along with info telling you that you get Half Life 2 with the purchase of this card, while the back shows you what the card looks like and goes into a little detail on the different technology, software and hardware you get with it.

• 500 Mhz VPU Core
• 600MHz (300MHz DDR) Memory
• 400 Mhz RAMdac
• Microsoft® DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.0 support
• Shader 2.0
• DirectX 9 compliant
• AGP 8X/4X/2X support
• S-Video/RCA in/out
• DVI and VGA connectors
• Max Resolution 2048 x1536 32bit

ASUS Radeon9600XT/TVD equips with newest ASUS-specific award-winning features and ATI®'s Radeon 9600XT Visual Processing Unit(VPU), which owns both ultimate excellent cinematic resolution and fierce graphics computing power. Incorporating various state-of-the-art technologies such as ATI's SmartShader 2.1, SmoothVision 2.1, Hyper Z III+, VideoShader, and unique ASUS innovations such as "ASUS Smart Cooling" ,"ASUS GameFace", "ASUS VideoSecurity", and "ASUS Digital VCR"make ASUS Radeon 9600XT /TVD a complete solution for the 3D market.

• SMARTSHADER 2 expands advanced abilities of vertex shader 2.0 and pixel shader 2.0
• SMOOTHVISION 2.1 generates the sharpest and clearest images by up to 6x Anti-Aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering
• FULLSTREAM removes blocky artifacts from streaming Internet video
• VIDEOSHADER integrates shader features to provide unprecedented support for digital and high definition video.
• HYDRAVISION provides multi-monitoring management
• 128-bit, 64-bit & 32-bit per pixel floating point colour formats

You can see the real differences between the 9600XT and the 9800XT are in the clock speeds but more importantly the 9800XT has 8 pixel pipelines to the 9600XT's 4. The difference between the 9600XT and 9600Pro is strictly in the clock speeds. Also, there is no need for an external power connection to the 9600XT/Pro; the AGP bus provides all the power the card needs.

For more detailed specs, please check out the ASUS 9600XT/TVD web page.

Once again an excellent package from Asus -- three full games with a value of around $70-$80; software to use the card to its fullest potential, from editing and correcting your photos to creating and editing your own movies and burning them to DVD; a very nice orange plastic CD case that can hold up to twelve CDs (and the orange ties into the PCB colour theme); break-out VIVO cable of a good length (56" or just over 4.5 feet); and last but not least, a DVI-to-VGA converter.

I had seen a few photos on the Asus web site and around the web, but they did not prepare me for the card in person. In looking at original pics of the 9800XT and the 9600XT, I thought that the cooling solution for the 9800XT looked much better, but once I got my 9600XT/TVD in my hands, I found that in person it is a very good looking design that suits the card. The cards construction is top notch as are all the components on it. I did however find it strange that there are no heatsinks on the RAM on the back of the card, but to my surprise after feeling it while running benchmarks, it felt very cool so there was no real need for them.

Another determining factor for my purchase of the XT was its VIVO capability. Below you can see the ATI Rage Theater chip -- this is the same chip as you get on the AIW cards, but there is no TV functionality incorporated into this card :-( . The memory is 3.3ns Samsung. Doing the math, we see that it's ....1000 / 3.3 = 303, which is equivalent to 606MHz DDR, so technically it is running right at its "correct" speed of 600MHz. Unfortunately, this doesn't give it much headroom for overclocking.

As with all cards I have tried to install into my SFF (small form factor) system, it isn't so easy. This is no fault of the card manufacturer, but rather just a limitation due to the very small confines of the SFF system and all the hardware crammed into it. This is a "one slot" cooling solution, but you still (in my humble opinion) can't put a PCI card in the adjoining PCI slot as it would starve the VPU's fan of air. Installing into my full tower PC-Toys CaseMAX 610 case was a breeze; none of the problems that faced me in the SFF case were present, and with the added room in the case, temps went down by a couple of degrees. You still can't really put a PCI card in the first PCI slot, though.

You can see how nice the 9600XT looks installed in the SFF system (a Biostar iDEQ 200N with added windows), and it matches the red PCB of my MSI K7N2 Delta-L in my full tower case. It certainly looks better than a boring green "standard" PCB as evidenced by my modem below it...and it looks even better when I turn on my UV cold cathodes. :-)

Definitely not your reference ATI cooler... Asus has most assuredly made its card stand out from the rest with this change. Made of aluminium, it covers the entire VPU core and the BGA memory. The fan is controllable through the included Asus Smart Doctor software and has a max RPM of about 6,600, which produces a slightly annoying "whine." I have found the VPU runs very cool and have therefore set the fan to a manual-controlled setting of 70%. You would expect that this corresponds to a RPM of 4620 (6600 * 0.7 = 4620) but strangely according to ASUS this means about 6100 RPM. Conveniently, this also takes care of the "whining" problem. Since I am using this card in my Biostar iDEQ 200N SFF system, which runs very quietly, noise is a factor for me (something I've only recently become annoyed by, thanks to the iDEQ 200N). No matter what, it's still nice to have the ability to either manually or automatically adjust your video card's fan speed.

Size does matter, but in this case smaller is better. Below is a photo showing the size difference between the PNY Ti4400 and the Asus 9600XT. The 9600XT is over 1 1/2" shorter. Also you will note that there's no external power supply connection required for the 9600XT, a welcome fact since I'll be using the card a lot in my SFF system, which only has a 200W PSU.

Installation of the ATI Catalyst drivers was a snap. I inserted the provided CD and installed the VGA, control panel and the WDM drivers and rebooted as prompted. That was about it. I then decided that it would be best to download the newest catalyst 3.9 drivers as the CD had only come with version 3.7, and just before I started this review, I downloaded the 4.10 drivers and used them for all benchmarking and tests.

You can click on the image of the ATI control panel below to see an animated GIF that steps you through all the tabs. If you've never seen the ATI panel, then it might be of interest. After being accustomed to an nVidia panel, this is a bit overwhelming at first, but you soon grow accustomed to it. This is where all adjustments are made for your video card: color, anti-aliasing, anistropic filtering, etc.

The Asus Smart Doctor 2 Utility was also included in the package, and the install went without a hitch. In no time at all, I was viewing my VPU temps, RAM temps, fan RPM and board voltages. I also had the ability to set warning levels for voltage, temperature and overheat shutdown features. Below, you can see an animated GIF of the Smart Doctor panel and setup panel.