Asus 2600XT and 2600Pro - ATI mid range performance
Asus EAH 2600 XT
Published: 17th August 2007 | Source: Asus | Price: |
NOTE: As both Asus cards are very similar I will cut these two pages a little shorter than usual.
Packaging
Asus have done a nice job packaging up their 2600 XT (and indeed 2600 Pro), the box is in the usual subtle Asus style, but with an added CGI rendered young lady. Advertised well is the fact that a non-standard cooler has been used on the card "10°C Cooler" apparently...
Good work inside though a little room to slide around.
Package
Asus haven't put a whole load in with their 2600 XT as is usual with mid-range cards, certainly nothing on the 2900 XT package.
We have:
* "Speed Setup" manual
* CD-based manual
* Driver CD
* ATI Internal Crossfire dongle
* DVI to VGA connector
* S-Video to component cable
Package
Asus haven't put a whole load in with their 2600 XT as is usual with mid-range cards, certainly nothing on the 2900 XT package.
We have:
* "Speed Setup" manual
* CD-based manual
* Driver CD
* ATI Internal Crossfire dongle
* DVI to VGA connector
* S-Video to component cable
Hardware-wise not a bad lot of kit, but nothing to give you any High Definition viewing like DVD player software, which is a slight shame.
The Card
The card itself is a nice looking bit of kit. Coloured in red, one of my favourite PCB colours, initial impressions are good.
The Card
The card itself is a nice looking bit of kit. Coloured in red, one of my favourite PCB colours, initial impressions are good.
The card is pretty small in height and length but it is the cooler that dominates the picture here. The cooler is a Zalman-esque GPU cooler with a fairly large fan in the middle.
Side on we can see that a solid base then dissipates the heat with fins fanning out from the base.
Caps are a mixed bunch with some solid capacitors and a few high quality normal Japanese caps mixed in. This is Asus saving a little on cost, but the caps are still high quality and shouldn't give you any hassle.
Four screws attach the cooler to the PCB, although as you will see below this isn't the only fixing mechanism.
Double Dual-link DVI and a TV-out on the card complete outputs with HDCP-ready...ummm...ness :)
The Cooler
The cooler as I have said above is a pretty nicely done affair and smacks of Zalman to me (although ThermalTake and others have similar models). It's effective in getting rid of the hot stuff: with a pretty hot ambient of 23.4°C it sat at 37°C idle and topped out at 58°C load. None too shabby.
Double Dual-link DVI and a TV-out on the card complete outputs with HDCP-ready...ummm...ness :)
The Cooler
The cooler as I have said above is a pretty nicely done affair and smacks of Zalman to me (although ThermalTake and others have similar models). It's effective in getting rid of the hot stuff: with a pretty hot ambient of 23.4°C it sat at 37°C idle and topped out at 58°C load. None too shabby.
The whole affair is as quiet as I've heard on a GPU active air cooler with barely a whisper escaping at full load. Perfect for media PCs.
Now usually at this point I'd give you some money shots of some "nekkid" R630 chips and show you what kind of thermal paste has been applied. Unfortunately I simply couldn't get the cooler free of the card. The screws were undone easily enough but it wouldn't budge despite some not-so gentle persuasion. Beware of this if you want to change the cooler at some point...it won't come off. I can only assume the paste had dried on or that thermal glue was used.
Now usually at this point I'd give you some money shots of some "nekkid" R630 chips and show you what kind of thermal paste has been applied. Unfortunately I simply couldn't get the cooler free of the card. The screws were undone easily enough but it wouldn't budge despite some not-so gentle persuasion. Beware of this if you want to change the cooler at some point...it won't come off. I can only assume the paste had dried on or that thermal glue was used.
Most Recent Comments
The first thing I thought was, Ouch...
That's a nice review kemp, and i'm pretty surprised by it.
That's a nice review kemp, and i'm pretty surprised by it.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='MikeEnIke'
The first thing I thought was, Ouch...
That's a nice review kemp, and i'm pretty surprised by it. |
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='Kempez'
Surprised at the performance?
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poor AMD lolThey suck hard.
Shame really.
Edit: I'd just like to add this came as no supise considering this whole 2900 fiasco. This generation of gfx card ahs been a failure for AMD.
Shame really.
Edit: I'd just like to add this came as no supise considering this whole 2900 fiasco. This generation of gfx card ahs been a failure for AMD.
When the words Bad, Shame and Awful are in a review it cant be good.
Lol ok gonna have to read this review just for kicks now :P
thats depressing tbh
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='markkleb'
When the words Bad, Shame and Awful are in a review it cant be good.
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No one is mentioning the fact that the 2600 is available in AGP and the 8600 is not. I dont use AGP but if you go to Valves system information page you will see that close to 40% of all the people using Valve still use a video card plugged into an AGP slot.
The fact that the 2600 comes in AGP is a HUGE advantage that Nvidia is simply overlooking.
The fact that the 2600 comes in AGP is a HUGE advantage that Nvidia is simply overlooking.
Honestly? I'd prefer an older DX9 card over the 2600 series
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Tell us what you think. ATI not done enough on this gen or are we overstating the case?