Asus Engtx280 Top Graphic Card

NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 graphics cards on June 17, 2008. Both are based on the NVIDIA GT200 GPU which uses NVIDIA's improved, second-generation unified architecture. The new GT200 GPU,

features amongst other things :

• 240 stream processors
• Twice the number of registers
• Fast local 16k shared memory (per cluster of 8 stream processors)
• New texture scheduler
• Double precision accuracy
• 3X ROP blending performance

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Right now, the ASUS EN280GTX TOP—the overclocked version of the ASUS ENGTX280 (the two cards look identical except for a sticker on the TOP version)—represents the fastest single-GPU card you can buy. ASUS has boosted the core and shader clocks 11.0 and 12.6 percent, respectively over the reference clocks, which is a pretty beefy margin. On top of that, the DDR3 memory clock got an equally impressive 9.7-percent kick. While the price/performance ratio doesn't match that of the Diamond Radeon HD 4850, the adapter will be able to run just about everything you throw at it, and its performance is top-notch for this class of card.

ASUSTeK’s “TOP” branding graces their highest performing factory overclocked video cards. As such, the ENGTX280 TOP is their fastest video card based upon NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 280 GPU. Out of the box, the GPU core is overclocked by 68MHz to 670MHz, the streaming processors are overclocked by 150MHz to 1.46GHz, and the memory is overclocked by 290MHz to 2.43GHz, giving us 155GB per second of memory throughput. This is a respectable overclock to have on a warrantied video card, but it’s not the highest out there. This video card comes with ASUSTeK’s standard video card warranty, which lasts for 3 years.

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ASUS did an exceptional job packaging this product. The outer carton is somewhat standard. The front of the box displays all of the information most people are looking for. Lifting up the front box panel, we find detailed information about their Splendid video enhancement software and their GamerOSD dynamic overclocking software. The Splendid software is used for tone control and color correction of SD and HD video sources. The GamerOSD software allows gamers to adjust clock rates on the video card while in-game, without restarting or even exiting their game.

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Following are the Configuration details along with the Accessories

Models
• ASUS ENGTX280 TOP/HTDP/1G (with HDCP support)

Graphics Engine
• NVIDIA GT200

Graphics Memory
• 1024 MB GDDR3

Graphics Memory Clock
• 1215 MHz (2.43 GHz DDR)

Memory Bus Width
• 512-bits

Bus Support
• PCI Express 2.0 x16

NVIDIA SLI Support
• 2-Way SLI
• 3-Way SLI

Card Size
• 11.12 cm (4.376 inches) tall
• 26.67 cm (10.5 inches) long

Warranty
• 3 Year Warranty

Bundled Accessories
• DVI-to-VGA adaptor
• HDTV-out cable
• PCI Express power cable
• 8-pin power cable adaptor
• Faux leather CD wallet
• Faux leather mouse pad

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The ASUS ENGTX280 TOP comes in a big cardboard box. Typical of all ASUS graphics cards, the box was well-designed with excellent print quality. The ENGTX280 TOP is only available without HDMI support but ASUS has other GTX 280 models with HDMI support. The differences between HDMI and non-HDMI models are quite minor though, amounting only to the inclusion of a DVI-to-HDMI adaptor and an S/PDIF audio cable in the HDMI kit, so you can easily add HDMI support to a "non-HDMI" model.

Provided Accessories

The kit comes with virtually everything you need to hook up the ENGTX280 to all kinds of display options, from CRTs to LCDs and HDTVs. The left-most cable is the HDTV component cable, followed by the DVI-to-VGA adaptor for those still using the dinosaurs we fondly remember were called CRTs.

Then you have the PCI Express power cable, which is actually a Y-splitter that allows you to use a standard Molex power cable to power the ENGTX280 card. This is great for those with power supplies that only have a single PCI Express power cable. Finally, ASUS included an 8-pin cable adaptor that allows you to convert two 6-pin PCI Express power cables into a single 8-pin power cable.

The manual is the standard ASUS manual for NVIDIA graphics cards, which is useful if you are a newbie who do not know how to install the card or the driver. ASUS also provided a CD with a multi-lingual e-manual and a driver and utilities CD. Of course, the graphics driver was already old and outdated so it is only useful if you were not able to first download the latest version online. As a bonus, ASUS threw in a CD wallet and a mouse pad. They are made from faux leather (read : PVC) but are really quite nice.

Conclusion

The ASUS ENGTX280 TOP attempts to improve the GTX 280's advantage by running the NVIDIA GT200 GPU at much higher clock speeds right out of the box. Instead of the standard 602 MHz core and 1107 MHz memory, the ENGTX280 TOP runs them at 670 MHz and 1215 MHz respectively. That gave it 11% more fillrate and 10% more memory bandwidth. The result is a much more competitive GeForce GTX 280 card.

As our benchmark results show, the ASUS ENGTX280 offers an average performance boost of about 3-9% over that of a regular GeForce GTX 280. Even in CPU-limited games like Supreme Commander, it was able to deliver significantly better performance. More importantly, it was faster than the Radeon HD 4870 in 3D games.

Pros :

• Excellent performance, especially in Crysis!
• Excellent anti-aliasing performance!
• Good build quality.
• Quality packaging.

Cons :

• The GPU cannot be overclocked much further.