Awesome bundle

The rest of the card

If the higher clock speeds and improved cooling weren’t enough to sell you on the Extreme X1800 XT TOP, ASUS offers an improved bundle as icing on the cake. Included with the card is a copy of Ubisoft’s adaptation of the hit King Kong movie, as ASUS includes a DVD-ROM copy of Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. This is the game that Alan was raving about a few weeks ago, earning our Ricochet Award and an 87% score.

ASUS also includes a USB gamepad with their Extreme X1800 XT TOP card, the ASUS XitePad. The XitePad is a pretty large gamepad, with eight buttons, an 8-way thumbpad, and two joysticks. The XitePad supports force feedback (with dual motor vibration) and digital and analog modes. A small LED indicates whether you’re running in digital or analog mode.

ASUS XitePad gamepad

Side of the pad

8 buttons

Four of the controller’s buttons can be programmed to perform macro functions, while the controller itself feels pretty solid when resting in your hands. The layout of the controller is similar to Logitech’s Action controller for the PS2, and overall is pretty good. The downside to the XitePad though is its size. While it’s not as uncomfortable as the original Xbox controller was, it’s considerably bulkier than a PS2 or Xbox Controller S, and feels bloated after playing with an Xbox 360 controller.

Controller up close

XitePad compared to the original Xbox controller

XitePad and Xbox Controller S

Fortunately though, the thumbpad on the ASUS XitePad as just as responsive as the Xbox 360’s thumbpad, and it is after all free.

XitePad and wireless Xbox 360 controller

Xbox 360 controller is smaller than the XitePad controller

Controllers combined

Another shot of the controllers

ASUS also includes their latest suite of software utilities with the Extreme X1800 XT TOP. For starters, there’s GameFace Messenger. GameFace Messenger is ASUS’ instant messaging client for gamers. GFM allows up to 8 gamers to talk and even see each other while gaming, making it useful for those of you who are in a clan or guild, meanwhile, with GameReplay, you can record your favorite gaming moments into MPEG4 video files for playback (and bragging rights) later. ASUS also includes a copy of their GameLiveShow software, which allows you to stream your gaming experiences live over the Internet.

Other new software programs bundled with the card include ASUS’ Splendid video enhancement technology (you will need to install the ASUS driver to use Splendid) as well as OnScreenDisplay, which can be used to toggle display settings such as brightness, contrast, and gamma without having to leave the game – in fact you can toggle it via hotkeys with one keystroke.

Also bundled with the card include a leather bound CD carrier, two DVI adapters, a VIVO cable, component cable for hooking the card up to an HDTV, S-Video and composite cables, and an additional power cable. ASUS also includes copies of ASUS DVD XP, Power Director 3, Media Show, Virtual Drive 9, a CD with demos of a few games, and full copies of Project: Snowblind and Xpand Rally.