ASUS' Special Ones
It is a trend universally observed, that graphics cards vendors must eventually produce custom boards that are either overclocked or passively cooled. These are the two common approaches taken and as one of the largest vendors around, ASUS has more than its fair share of such designs that defer from the reference versions from ATI or NVIDIA.
This is especially so when it comes to mainstream GPUs, like NVIDIA's new mid-range GeForce 9600 GT. At last count, ASUS' website lists up to six different GeForce 9600 GT models, ranging from overclocked to varying memory sizes. Two of the more notable and frequent 'themes' used by ASUS is its overclocked TOP edition and the passively cooled Silent edition. These two editions return for the GeForce 9600 GT and we are fortunate to have both in our labs at the same time. Unable to make a choice between total silence or having more performance? Here's our take on the two:
For some reason, the Silent version of the GeForce 9600 GT was found in a much larger package than the overclocked TOP edition.
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ASUS EN9600GT Silent & EN9600GT TOP Technical Specifications
| Graphics
Engine |
- NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
GPU (G94)
- 505 million transistors
- ASUS EN9600GT Silent 3D GPU
clock = 650MHz
- 64 Stream Processors at 1625MHz
- ASUS EN9600GT TOP 3D GPU clock = 720MHz
- 64 Stream Processors at 1800MHz
- NVIDIA Unified Architecture
- GigaThread technology
- Full support for Microsoft DirectX 10
- Geometry shaders
- Geometry instancing
- Streamed output
- Shader Model 4.0
- Full 128-bit floating point precision through the
entire rendering pipeline
- NVIDIA Lumenex Technology
- 16x full screen anti-aliasing
- Transparent multisampling and transparent
supersampling
- 16x angle independent anisotropic filtering
- 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR)
lighting
with anti-aliasing
- 32-bit per component floating point texture
filtering
and blending
- Advanced lossless compression algorithms for color,
texture, and z-data
- Support for normal map compression
- Z-cull
- Early-Z
- NVIDIA Quantum Effects Technology
- Advanced shader processors architected for physics
computation
- Simulate and render physics effects on the graphics
processor
- NVIDIA SLI Technology
- NVIDIA PureVideo HD
Technology
- Dedicated on-chip video processor (VP2)
- High-definition H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 and WMV9
decode
acceleration
- Advanced spatial-temporal de-interlacing
- HDCP capable
- Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
- Noise Reduction
- Edge Enhancement
- Bad Edit Correction
- Inverse telecine (2:2 and 3:2 pull-down
correction)
- High-quality scaling
- Video color correction
- Microsoft Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) support
- Advanced Display Functionality
- Two dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel
display
resolutions up to 2560x1600
- Dual integrated 400MHz RAMDACs for analog display
resolutions up to and including 2048x1536 at 85Hz
- Integrated HDTV encoder provides analog TV-output
(Component/Composite/S-Video) up to 1080i resolution
- NVIDIA nView multi-display technology capability
- 10-bit display processing
- Built for Windows Vista
- Full DirectX 10 support
- Dedicated graphics processor powers the new Windows
Vista
Aero 3D user interface
- VMR-based video architecture
- Designed for PCI
Express 2.0
- Designed for high-speed GDDR3 memory
- Advanced thermal
monitoring and thermal management
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| Graphics
Memory |
- 256-bit memory
interface
- 512MB Graphics DDR3
SDRAM
- ASUS EN9600GT Silent clock rate of 900MHz (effective
speed of 1800MHz
DDR)
- ASUS EN9600GT TOP clock rate of 1000MHz (effective
speed of 2000MHz
DDR)
|
| Display
Capabilities |
- Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
that support resolutions of
2048x1536@85Hz
- Dual-link DVI
capability to drive displays of up to
2560x1600
|
| Connectors |
- 1 x mini-DIN connector
(for Video-out)
- 2 x DVI-I connector
(HDCP Ready)
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| Drivers
& Software |
- Driver support for
Microsoft Windows Vista/9x/ME/2000/XP/XP
MCE/XP Pro x64, Linux and Macintosh OS (including OS X)
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| Other
Information |
- PCI Express x16 2.0 compliant
- Dedicated 6-pin PCIe
Molex power connector required (not
shared or split)
- Power supply rated for
400W or higher recommended by
NVIDIA
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