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Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A Videocard Review
Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A Videocard Review - PCSTATS
As an incentive to move towards the more advanced PCI Express technology, virtually all manufacturers are releasing the coolest graphics cores and technologies almost exclusively in PCI Express flavours.
 78% Rating:   
Filed under: Video Cards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: ASUS May 18 2006   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Video Cards > ASUS EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A

Did you know that the smallest PCI Express connection, the PCI Express x1 slot, offers peripheral dedicated bandwidth that is almost the same as what the entire PCI bus had to offer? The videocard friendly PCI Express x16 slot dishes out four times the bandwidth that the 8x AGP bus provided... that's four times. If your PC is still powered by any graphics card with the words AGP emblazoned on it, it really is high time you upgraded.

As an incentive to move towards the more advanced PCI Express technology, virtually all manufacturers are releasing the coolest graphics cores and technologies almost exclusively in PCI Express flavours. While the odd AGP videocard will surface once a year, it is really is a retired technology with no guarantee of upgradability. PCI Express is much more versatile, and there are all sorts of high bandwidth peripherals like Serial ATA RAID controllers, Gigabit NICs and SCSI cards hitting the market to take advantage of.

My personal favorite are PCI Express videocards, and particularly 100% silent videocards. Devices like the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A videocard won't eat up the 8GB/s worth of bandwidth the PCI Express x16 bus has to offer, but this passively cooled graphics card strikes a good balance between price and 3D rendering power. With a retail price of $193 CDN ($175 US, £94 GBP), the EAX1600XT Silent is a very versatile videocard thanks to its silent cooling system and ATi Radeon X1600XT graphics processing unit.

Asus EAX1600XT SIlent/TVD/256M/A Videocard



Includes:

SpeedSetUp Book, VIVO Break Out Box, DVI to Analog Converter, Leather CD Wallet, Misc CDs.

The Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A is supported with 256MB of GDDR3 Infineon memory, which is only located on the front of the videocard. Asus equips the EAX1600XT Silent with a DVI/Analog combination output and should users want to use dual analog monitors, a DVI converter connector is bundled in. The EAX1600XT Silent supports standard definition VIVO (thanks to the Rage Theatre chip) however component output (Y, Pb, Pr) is noticeably absent.

ATi Radeon X1600 XT videocards like the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A are refreshingly compact. The passive heatsink juts out on the rear of the videocard somewhat, but you shouldn't have problems installing this card into most cramped cases.

One area where the Asus EAX1600XT Silent may have problems is with motherboards that use large Northbridge heatsinks close to the PCI Express x16 slot. Since the heatpipe heatsink on the rear of the videocard extends out some distance, it's possible that there could be some interference. The heatsink doesn't extend all the way to the base of the videocard, so most Northbridge heatsinks should have plenty of clearance no matter how close they are to the videocard slot.

The heatpipe heatsink that keeps the Radeon X1600 XT core cool on the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A videocard looks quite nice and works very well. The VPU comes in contact with an aluminum heat spreader which transfers the heat to two heatpipes. The heatpipes are attached via a black heat spreader with the Asus name on it. The heat is moved to a 38 fin aluminum radiator on the rear of the videocard. There are no fans used to cool the videocard, it's design is intended to take advantage of exhaust air from the the CPU heatsink, and system airflow to keep temperatures within acceptable range.

If you're contemplating equipping your system with the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A, it's vital that you have good air circulation in your computer system! With no air passing on top of the aluminum radiator, VPU temperatures eventually broke the 100 degree Celsius mark which is a bit too hot for videocards to run at. With a bit of airflow, VPU temperatures quickly settled down do the low 40s while under load.

The software package that comes with the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A is strong; four full version games (Xpand Rally, Savage, Billy Blade and Mashed) are bundled. Asus also seems to have forgotten any multimedia editing software, probably a good idea to include since the EAX1600XT Silent supports VIVO.

Up next, Crossfire and the ATI Radeon X1600XT videocard core overclocked...

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Contents of Article: ASUS EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A
 Pg 1.  — Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A Videocard Review
 Pg 2.  Radeon X1600 XT Graphics Core
 Pg 3.  Benchmarks: 3DMark05, 3DMark06
 Pg 4.  Benchmarks: AquaMark3
 Pg 5.  Benchmarks: FarCry
 Pg 6.  Benchmarks: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
 Pg 7.  Benchmarks: Doom 3
 Pg 8.  Benchmarks: Quake 4
 Pg 9.  Benchmarks: FEAR
 Pg 10.  Benchmarks: X3: Reunion
 Pg 11.  Advanced Benchmarks: FarCry, Doom 3
 Pg 12.  Conclusion: Mainstream Gaming at Moderate Resolutions

 
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