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ASUS ENGTX280 TOP

Prices continue to drop on GeForce GTX 280 video cards, and the ASUS ENGTX280 TOP is now priced very competitively; but is it a great value? We'll compare it to a stock GeForce GTX 280, a Radeon HD 4870 X2 and a Radeon HD 4870 in real-world gaming scenarios to find out!

Introduction

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. is one of the largest and most successful computer hardware manufacturers in the world. A Taiwan-based company, they manufacture a wide variety of computer hardware, including motherboards, video cards, optical drives, notebooks, networking equipment, and barebones desktop and server systems, among many others. In 2006, their products received 2,168 awards from various enthusiasts and IT related media outlets. Their over 100,000 employees shipped 55 million motherboards in 2006; that means one in three desktop PCs sold in 2006 were powered by an ASUS motherboards.

Today we are going to be taking a look at one of their flagship video cards: The ASUS ENGTX280 TOP.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 GPU

Launched on June 16, 2008, the GeForce GTX 200 series of GPUs is the first real upgrade to NVIDIA's enthusiast class lineup since November of 2006. Built on a 65nm manufacturing process and encompassing a massive 1.4 billion transistors, it boasts 240 stream processors, 32 render back ends units (ROPs), and 80 texture units. For this GPU, NVIDIA’s reference design calls for a 602 MHz GPU core, and 1.296 GHz stream processors. The GeForce GTX 280 uses the same GDDR3 technology they’ve been using for several years now, with 1024MB of the old memory technology on a 512-bit wide bus. Clocked at 2.14GHz, that memory gives us 141GB per second of throughput.

Of great concern to many of our readers, and rightly so, is the maximum power consumption and thermal threshold of this new GPU. It is rated by NDVIDIA to consume 236 Watts at full load and reach an operating temperature of up to 105 degrees Celsius, or 221 degrees Fahrenheit. That is a lot of power and a lot of heat, so gamers will need to make sure not only that their power supplies are up to the task, but that their cases are well cooled and offer plenty of ventilation.

ASUS ENGTX280 TOP

ASUSTeK’s “TOP” branding graces their highest performing factory overclocked video cards. As such, the ENGTX280 TOP is their fastest video card based upon NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 280 GPU. Out of the box, the GPU core is overclocked by 68MHz to 670MHz, the streaming processors are overclocked by 150MHz to 1.46GHz, and the memory is overclocked by 290MHz to 2.43GHz, giving us 155GB per second of memory throughput. This is a respectable overclock to have on a warrantied video card, but it’s not the highest out there. This video card comes with ASUSTeK’s standard video card warranty, which lasts for 3 years.

ASUS did an exceptional job packaging this product. The outer carton is somewhat standard. The front of the box displays all of the information most people are looking for. Lifting up the front box panel, we find detailed information about their Splendid video enhancement software and their GamerOSD dynamic overclocking software. The Splendid software is used for tone control and color correction of SD and HD video sources. The GamerOSD software allows gamers to adjust clock rates on the video card while in-game, without restarting or even exiting their game.

Inside the outer carton, we see the reason that this video card is so well packaged and presented. A single large black box bearing the ASUS logo and motto in metallic gold contains several smaller packages. Opening the inner box, there is a wide black box on the left, and a narrow black sleeve on the right, both of which are also labeled in gold. Lifting the smaller sleeve-box on the right, we find part of the bundle, including items such as DVI and HDTV adaptors. Opening the box on the left, we find the rest of the bundled accessories, including the video driver CD-ROM and software packages. By removing the box on the left, we gain access to the video card, which is very snugly secured in a white plastic foam brick and a silver static bag. This packaging system is very clean and presents the video card in an exceptional light. It truly makes you stop and take notice when you remove the outer shell.

The video card itself is of the standard NVIDIA reference design. It sports a glossy black plastic shell which covers nearly every square millimeter of the video card, leaving only the PCI-Express interface edge exposed. It is a dual-slot card design, so it does cover the adjacent PCI or PCI-Express slot and I/O backplane slot. The ASUS ENGTX280 TOP requires the use of an 8-pin auxiliary power connector and a 6-pin auxiliary power connector.

On the front face and top edge of the video card, ASUS has affixed decals with a purple camouflage pattern background, featuring a familiar Asian female heroine.

The back side of the video card is also completely covered by the plastic shroud, with only narrow vent slots offering a peek at the black and brown PCB beneath. For connectivity, the ASUS ENGTX280 TOP offers the now-standard pair of dual-link DVI-I connectors and a single HDTV output port.

The software bundle is quite standard. It includes a driver CD-ROM disc and a separate applications disc, which contains the Splendid and GamerOSD tools. Alongside the software bundle is placed an installation guide, a brown vinyl mouse-pad with a faux leather grain, and a small CD/DVD wallet of the same color and texture.

For adaptors, ASUS has bundled a single DVI to VGA adaptor, an HDTV output dongle, a dual-Molex to single-6-pin auxiliary power adaptor, and a dual-6-pin to single-8-pin auxiliary power adaptor.

The Competition

With the recent launch of AMD's ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, NVIDIA again has some real competition in the enthusiast space. For this evaluation, we are including a retail boxed Radeon HD 4870 X2 and a Radeon HD 4870, as well as a reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280.

Today, gamers can purchase the ASUS ENGTX280 TOP from Newegg for $429.99 USD after a $30 MIR. A standard NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 can be bought for $389.99 USD after a $30 MIR. You can buy an ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 right now for $569.99 USD and finally, an ATI Radeon HD 4870 will cost you $249.99 USD after a $30 MIR, and comes with free shipping.