Review: Asus EN8800GTS graphics card

The Asus EN8800GTS is the latest graphics card we've seen sporting Nvidia's 8800GTS processor. The chip might be one step down from the king of the hill 8800GTX , but it still packs a considerable punch.

The card is shorter than 8800GTX boards, making it easier to install, and it doesn't draw as much power; Nvidia recommends a 400W power supply.

The graphics processing unit (GPU) runs at 500MHz and has 640MB DDR3 Ram ticking along at 1.8GHz. It's one of the first cards to support DirectX 10, a standard Microsoft is only making available to Vista users, and should improve gaming effects in the same way DirectX 9 did. Games that can take advantage of the technology will trickle in slowly over 2007.

At 1,024x768 the EN8800GTS scored a huge 25,827 and 9,609 in 3Dmark03 and 3Dmark05 respectively. At this resolution it averaged 83.7fps (frames per second) in Doom3, which was disappointing as it was beaten by overclocked X1900XTX cards that cost £100 less.

It's similarly priced to Nvidia's dual-GPU 7950GX2, however, in tests we found the 7950GX2 outperformed the EN8800GTS by a reasonable margin in all games at low resolutions.

The EN8800GTS finally overtakes the 7950GX2 performance-wise when resolutions are set to 1,600x1,200 with 8x FSAA and 16xAA (anisotropic filtering) and above. It had playable frame rates at these stunning resolutions where older cards clapped out. Additionally the EN8800GTS is quieter card than the 7950GX2.

The huge box contains the games GTI Racing and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighters and a full version of 3Dmark06 to see how your system performs with others around the globe. A single DVI-VGA dongle and composite cables are included.

The Asus EN8800GTS is suitable for gamers who have high-resolution monitors, but it will be overkill for many users who would be better off opting for a slightly older and cheaper model.

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