Asus EN8600GT TOP - Review

[Doomer D. Great]

Asus EN8600GT TOP Review
By:Hassan "Doomer" Gulzar

Introduction:
Well, Asus decided to two new cards... flavors of the something actually in their already growing family of 8600s: The EN8600GT TOP and EN8600GTS TOP.

With the 8700 family on the horizon or at least on the drawing board, these two-addition would not make much sense as they both were declared a 'serious-cripple-ous' in the original review.

This is either Asus strategy to lure more potential buyers before 8700 (the whole world waits...) or they actually took my advice and decided to show the real potential on Nvidia’s G84 GPU.

We will be focusing on the EN8600GT TOP in this review.

The Technical:
As before, these cards carry the same G84 GPU but Asus has just gone wild overclocking them this time:

So how does the TOP variant outperform there old standard versions? Well, for two major reasons: The new upgrade -1 (1ns) memory modules that give a massive 40% improvement in all directions and secondly, the ability to overclock the stream processors themselves!

With the unified architecture of the GeForce 8 Series, NVIDIA utilizes stream processors to dynamically allocate processing power depending on the workload of the application. Therefore, performance and efficiency upgrades can be achieved by overclocking these stream processors.

Because of this stream processors overclocking feature, you can use the new tightly integrated ASUS SmartDoctor application to further overclock and again up to 10% more power.

In addition, apart from the HDCP Support still lacking in the 8600GT TOP, it will work still work without needing an extra power from a six-pin molex like its close friend EN8600GTS TOP.

What is in the Box?
The contents are essentially same as the original 8600GT & 8600GTS. Just the usual collection of cables, a CD/DVD case, manual, Driver and Support CDs, & the card itself.

The Hardware?

Even though the new Ram still does not report its temperatures, this heat sink and fan provided by Asus has to do something with the efficient cooling of this card.

The Asus Edge:
So what does Asus ship along with these cards that makes them stand out? Well, there is actually a list of specifications and features and they are as follows:

Asus Video Innovations

VideoSecurity Online provides you with various security monitoring modes. Aside from the basic recording mode, you can also specify a particular surveillance area for motion detection. In case a motion is detected in the defined surveillance area, VideoSecurity Online automatically raises an alarm, records a video or take snapshots and save it to your hard disk. You can also set it to either send an email notification with still images or send a phone call with prerecorded voice to notify you of the event. VideoSecurity Online also can stream real-time video of the monitored area to your web browser, allowing you to monitor your home or office when you are away.

Unleash the graphics card's true power without exiting games. GamerOSD enables real-time performance boost by overclocking the GPU clock from onscreen display during games. Watch TV, chat and see your friends via the webcam, adjust GPU clock and fine tune image quality without ever exiting games. You can even record gaming actions and broadcast them live over the Internet. Elevate your gaming experience with GamerOSD.

Splendid is a breathtaking innovation that brings the video viewing experience on PC to the next level. Built into the driver of ASUS graphics cards, Splendid Video Enhancing Technology detects activation and usage of video applications and automatically optimizes image quality for the best visual result.

Missing Link of PC-Based Home Entertainment

Videos played on a PC never look as good as on a TV, because most PCs do not come equipped with the image-processing unit commonly found in consumer electronic display devices. The images lack depth and appear grayish, which is one of the main reasons why many users are reluctant to build a home entertainment system with their computers. The Splendid Video Enhancement Technology is the missing link that improves video display on PCs to satisfy the high visual demands of movie buffs and hardcore sport fans.

Vivid Colors

Splendid takes PC graphics capability to the next level by enhancing depth and color intensity in real time. The advanced Area Pixel Processing Algorithm carefully evaluates each pixel in every frame and adjusts them based on smaller regions without affecting the whole picture. Colors in each regions are dynamically optimized according to conditions most favorable to the human eyes. Splendid is especially effective for human skin tones, green stretches of grass and trees and blue sky and sea.

More Detail Image Even in Dark Scenes

The new feature not only enhances the colors, but also presents more image detail than competing solutions. Like human eyes, which balance the overall brightness and color contrast of the world we see, Splendid is programmed to adjust the brightness output level of the dark areas in each frame to bring out every image detail even during dark and rainy scenes.

Variety modes make images more splendid

Splendid provides 4 different viewing profiles to fit different video viewing conditions. You can choose the most suitable system preset for their viewing environment. Below are a list of profiles:

Enriched (Standard):
Standard settings for normal home entertainments

Vivid Color (Color Enhance):
Enhance saturation and contrast for those who prefer more saturated color

Theater (Cinematic Effects):
Softer contrast for those who are in theater like environments

Crystal Clear (Enhanced Contrast):
Detail enhancement, for those who prefer more details in dark region

Splendid Video Enhancement analyze the video data, and fine-tune the properties according to human's perceptive favor. Video will then be output through ASUS VGA Cards, and of course, the result is made more vivid, lively and Splendid!! Go for Splendid, bring each pixel come to life.

Asus Features & Specifications

The specification you should be excited about is HDCP. However, it is available on the GTS model and not the GT.


The Rig:
Our rig has a motherboard from Asus and it is an Intel + Nvidia combo. Specification are as follow:

Processor: Intel Pentium D 2.66GHz (Stock)
Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe (Latest drivers + BIOS)
Memory: Corsair 2GB DDR2 RAM

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition + Service Pack 1, v.249
Direct X: Direct X 10
ForceWare: v163.11 (Asus driver CD)

This maybe not the 'NextGen' setup but it the specs on which Asus claims the huge 5889 3DMarks.

The EN8600GT TOP will rest nicely in just about any kind of casing. Here, we used a server casing with loads of headspace.

The Benchmarks:


3DMark 2006
Now, with 40% improvement, Asus claims to have achieved 5889 3DMarks. I, however, under extreme default conditions, could not get that high... maybe because of DX10 under vista. Also, 3DMark 2006 does force vista to switch the ‘old’ theme instead of Aero upon starting...

Still not bad, the score I got is close and I think after some tweaking, a healthy score of 5900 is possible.

Now, we proceed to the games testing and benchmarking. All games were set at their best settings. If there were exceptions, it is mentioned under the game’s name. However, two things are certain here:

1. Only ‘1024 by 786’ and ‘1280x1024’ resolutions are used
2. Antialiasing (AA) is not used.

The Elder Scrolls: Shivering Isles
Still regarded as the most beautiful game, Oblivion can really put the newest generation GFXs through their paces.

This card has no issue while playing this game on Ultra. The framerates indoors sometime goes up to 75 with shadows turned all the way up.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Another ‘great outdoors’ title, this one is set in near future unlike the medieval Oblivion. If you have a weak GFX, this game will lag.

As we can see, EN8600GT TOP is not a weak card.

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Now here is our first DX10 capable title. In the previous review, the DX10 results were withheld and now you are going to know why...

Under DX10, at heavy action, which is plenty in this game, the whole thing still becomes a slide show... either there is something wrong with this game (likely) or maybe its DX10 feature is reserved for 8800 and likes.

Again, these were the highest spikes recorded. This game is still unplayable under DX10.

Bioshock
I love this game. Thanks to EN8600GT TOP, you can play it in DX10 and it run descent and it actually looks good!

I just love this game!

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
Extremely fast-paced FPS game, this one. I could not understand who was shooting me and kept getting my ass kick for like 2 hours before finally learning to cope with this game.

Medal of Honor: Airborne
Yet another Medal of Honor and were still in D-Day. This is a good game so long as you play it once and forget it. Nevertheless, the new parachute landing ‘anywhere’ on the map is cool... each time it a different experience. This one is not DX10 but still offers very detailed visuals.

It is just the WWII theme that really drags it down plus it’s very short lived.... Ended in 4 hours.

World in Conflict
This *has* to be the most addictive and graphically gorgeous strategy game ever. All units are based on actual present in the world and the story line is good as real. The voice-overs, cutscenes, & storyline are perfectly blended. Each mission will have you on the edge of your seat and you will be living it! And it’s all in DX10!

The built in benchmark tool is somewhat less forgiving... these numbers are from actual gameplay.

The Verdict:
The bottom line will remain the same: Yes, it offers you DX10 but it is not a future proof thing... The EN8600GT TOP is without HDCP so that is what makes it not future proof. DX10 performance was useless overall...

The price is higher than a 7900GS and hence, the recommendation would be to wait for the 8700 series.

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