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Conclusion

Overall, the first spawn of the marriage between ASUS and ATI could hardly have come out any better. The ASUS RADEON 9800 XT offers an ioncredible wealth of features, starting with the dual fan design and the smart regulation of their rotational speed to allow almost completely silent operation. The extra features like DVD recording (including "Time Shift"), Game Face and Vide Security are noteworthy but, especially the latter two are extremely specialized and may not find use with everybody.

That still does not mean that the features are useless, keep in mind that it is not only the hardcore gamer who might be targeted here. From my personal experience I can see instant use of especially the security feature in all kinds of application that usually require specialized hard and software orders of magnitude more expensive than what the RADEON 9800 XT costs.

In addition, there is the gaming performance, which is naturally where the 9800 XT is positioned to begin with. It is true that in quite a few of the benchmarks shown, the nVidia GeForce FX5900 took a lead, however, keep in mind that there is also a sacrifice in image quality involved here, regardless of how small it may be. There are other benchmarks like Shadermark and specific DX9 tests that we did not run, after all, you cannot play Shadermark and this is still meant to be more of a product review than a reiteration of the ATI vs. nVidia battle.

ALL in all, the verdict is in and it is very simple: If you can afford it, go for the ASUS RADEON 9800 XT, it is bold, it is fast, and it is beautiful, even as collectors item in a showcase, in case it becomes obsolete.

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