The Card
With their 8800GT, nVidia decided to make 512MB RAM as the default probably not wanting to compete with the higher priced 8800GTX with its 768MB RAM. However, with textures getting larger and more complex in games, higher amount of RAM on your VGA card can help. ASUS thus decided to take matters In their own hands and release a 1GB version of their 8800GT based graphics card. Today, we find out if that extra amount of RAM helps by looking at the ASUS EN8800GT-1GB graphics card.
Packaging
Asus packs their EN8800GT-1GB inside a huge box that lists details on the back side. Inside the box we found the drivers CD as well as a CD carrying pouch, user manual pages, and power and video cables. The power cable coverts Molex to PCI-E type. A DVI-DSUB converter is also included.
The Card
The ASUS EN8800GT-1GB is based on a dark blue PCB with a huge Heatsink on the top. The heatsink has an 80mm fan attached to it to cool off the GPU and we feel is better than the stock heatsink that nVidia provides on an 8800GT. ASUS also uses a rather large heatsink on the power regulators which should also provide better cooling for the card overall.
The disadvantage is that the cooling solution that ASUS uses occupies two slots. Not only that but the screws on the back are quite large which might make the slot above the PCI-E slot where you install this card useless as well.
The two DVI ports on the back are color coded- the yellow color is for primary display while the white one is for the secondary display. A video-output connector is also present to connect the card to your TV.
ASUS uses the Qimonde memory chips with model number HYB18H1G321AF-11 for their 1GB card and these chips are rated at 1.1ns. We’re not sure why ASUS chose to not cover the memory chips with a heatsink which will certainly make them run hotter unnecessarily.
Testbed
| CPU: | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz |
| Memory: | 2 x 1GB OCZ DDR3-1600MHz Memory Modules |
| Motherboard: | ASUS P5E3 |
| Optical/Hard Drives: | Generic 8X DVDRW, Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM/8MB Cache SATA |
| Monitor: | BENQ 24" LCD with 1920x1200 Resolution
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| Operating System: | Windows Vista Ultimate - 32bit |
| Drivers: | Latest Intel Chipset and nVidia Forceware Drivers |
For comparison, we've used a stock 512MB 8800GT as well as an overclocked ECS 8800GT to see what helps more- extra RAM or faster clock speeds. A stock 8800GTX is also thrown in to see how the GT cards compare to the more expensive GTX. The following are the applications/games that we used for testing
Future Mark:
| Latest versions of 3DMark 2003, 3DMark 2005 and 3DMark 2006 running at default settings
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| Company of Heroes: | Direct-X 10. Using built-in benchmark |
| Crysis: | Direct-X 10: Built-in benchmark |
| Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: | Direct-X 9, using Custom timedemo
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| F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate: | Direct-X 9: Built-in benchmark |
| Half Life 2 Episode 2: | Direct-X 9: Custom timedemo
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Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions:
| Direct-X 10: Built-in benchmark
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:
| Direct-X 9: Using timedemo
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| Unreal Tournament 3: | Direct-X 9, Using custom timedemo |
| Word in Conflict: | Direct-X 10 built-in benchmark |
If you would like for us to add any additional benchmarking software, please email us at suggestions@tbreak.com
FutureMark 3DMarks
 | 3DMark 03 (Build 3.6.0) - Default |
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| 3DMark 05 (Build 1.3.0) - Default |
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| 3DMark 06 (Build 1.1.0) - Default |
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CoH: Opposing Fronts
| CoH: Opposing Fronts (1680x1050- 0X AA) |
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| CoH: Opposing Fronts (1680x1050- 4X AA) |
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| CoH: Opposing Fronts (1920x1200- 0X AA) |
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| CoH: Opposing Fronts (1920x1200- 4X AA) |
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Crysis
| Crysis (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| Crysis (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| Crysis (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| Crysis (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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ET: Quake Wars
| ET: Quake Wars (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| ET: Quake Wars (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| ET: Quake Wars (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| ET: Quake Wars (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
| F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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Half Life 2: Episode 2
| Half Life 2: Episode 2 (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| Half Life 2: Episode 2 (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| Half Life 2: Episode 2 (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| Half Life 2: Episode 2 (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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Lost Planet: XC
| Lost Planet: XC (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| Lost Planet: XC (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| Lost Planet: XC (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| Lost Planet: XC (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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Unreal Tournament 3
| Unreal Tournament 3 (1680x1050- 0X AF) |
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| Unreal Tournament 3 (1680x1050- 16X AF) |
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| Unreal Tournament 3 (1920x1200- 0X AF) |
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| Unreal Tournament 3 (1920x1200- 16X AF) |
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World in Conflict
| World in Conflict (1680x1050- 0X AA/AF) |
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| World in Conflict (1680x1050- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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| World in Conflict (1920x1200- 0X AA/AF) |
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| World in Conflict (1920x1200- 4X AA/16X AF) |
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Conclusion
Conclusion
Unfortunately for ASUS, the extra 512MB on the 8800GT doesn’t help. The only game where we saw performance improvement was Crysis with 4X AA and 16X AF. Crysis is a very demanding and popular game but we’re not sure if one game is enough reason to buy a graphics card priced at AED 1350/- (US$ 365/-). An overclocked 512MB version of the 8800GT is definitely a better idea.
On top of that, the EN8800GT-1GB takes up quite a bit more slots than a stock 8800GT card and ASUS doesnt provide a cooling solution for memory chips either which makes us think that this card should be skipped. If you’re an ASUS fan looking for an 8800Gt card, look for the TOP edition of the EN8800GT.
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