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- Date:
- Monday , November 17, 2003
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Asus Radeon 9800XT/TVD
Are you contemplating upgrading that GeForce4 or Radeon 8500 but first want to know how much of a benefit you will really get out of the latest video card? Let's find out how upgrading to an Asus Radeon 9800XT can benefit your gaming experience.
Included Applications:
The Asus Radeon 9800XT includes eight CD’s total in a CD carrying case that has extra space for a couple more CD’s.
There are two full version games included in the package, Gun Metal and Battle Engine Aquila and a coupon for Half Life 2 when it is out. There is also a CD with six game demo’s on it that include: Splinter Cell, Warcraft III, Big Mutha Truckers, Breed, Colin McRae Rally 3 and Toca Race Driver.
You will also find some useful applications included. There is a CD from Ulead with Cool 3D SE 3.0 and Photo Express SE 4.0 included and a CD from Powerlink that includes Power Director Pro to edit videos. Media@Show SE 2.0 is also included to create multi-dimensional slide shows to publish on desktops or on the Internet. Asus DVD is also included to use as your DVD playback software. Finally there is the driver CD which includes programs specific to Asus cards.
The Asus Radeon 9800XT has a feature built in called Asus SmartCooling Technology. This is akin to the hardware monitor features the ATI Radeon 9800XT’s posses. On the Asus card the fan automatically adjusts the fan speed according to GPU load and temperature. This means that the fans will only operate at the highest speed when that is needed to keep the card cool enough. You can still enable it so that the fan remains at a constant speed if you wish, or you can let the card automatically choose the speed of the fan and you can even customize those settings.
SmartDoctor II is a hardware monitoring application that controls SmartCooling and allows you to monitor AGP Power Level, Temperature of the GPU and memory and FAN RPM.
The Asus Radeon 9800XT comes with software called Asus VideoSecurity II which can be used to make a monitoring or security system. This software can be setup to detect a visitors and capture snapshots. It can also capture video into an AVI file or even sent a warning message to an email account or a call. It can also be setup to execute a user-defined program when there is an event that triggers the user-defined detective region.
We aren’t done yet, the Asus Radeon 9800XT also comes with Digital VCR software. Thanks to the Rage Theater chip on this card you can input video directly into your computer. With that capability and Digital VCR you can schedule TV recordings and capture video.
There is also an application called Asus GameFace that is included with this video card. This software allows you to talk to and see your friends while playing a game. You do need a video capture device for this to work, like a Webcam or Video Camera hooked up to the video card. Once you get it all setup you can have it to where it shows a small window of your friend while you are playing a game full screen for live interaction in a multiplayer game.
Here are all the utilities that are included on the Asus Driver CD.