Features

As their name implies, the ASUS RADEON 9800 XT/TVD and RADEON 9600 XT/TVD are based on ATI’s two newest graphics cores, the RADEON 9800 XT and RADEON 9600 XT VPUs. The XT chips are basically higher clocked versions of their predecessors; ATI hasn’t introduced any new technology in either chip at the hardware level.

Tamer cooler on the 9600 XT card

5700U dwarfs the XT boards

In the case of the RADEON 9800 XT, this graphics core sports eight pixel pipelines (twice the number found in NVIDIA’s 5950 Ultra) with one texture unit per pixel pipeline, as well as ATI’s SMARTSHADER 2.1 and SMOOTHVISION 2.1 technologies for pixel/vertex shading and anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing respectively. The graphics core operates at 412MHz and is equipped with 256MB of DDR memory running at 365MHz (730MHz effective).

XT size comparison

XT boards pose with the V9950 Ultra

To help reduce costs, the RADEON 9600 XT sports half the number of pixel pipelines as RADEON 9800 XT at four, also with one texture unit per pixel pipe. The memory interface is also reduced to 128-bits, versus the 256-bit memory interface the 9800 XT boasts. From a technology perspective, the 9600 XT supports the same 2.0 pixel and vertex shaders as the 9800 XT and retains floating point data format support. This means that the 9600 XT is capable of pushing out the same visuals as the RADEON 9800 XT, only at a reduced frame rate. The graphics core operates at 500MHz while the memory clocks in at 300MHz (600MHz effective).

Unlike the Ti 4200-based V9280S, ASUS sticks with the reference clock speeds for their RADEON 9800 XT and RADEON 9600 XT cards, so performance should be comparable to ATI’s latest offerings, but ASUS does usurp ATI on the hardware and software front. Lets start with the software side first.

Smart Doctor

ASUS’ Smart Doctor software brings full hardware monitoring functionality to the RADEON 9800 XT/TVD and RADEON 9600 XT/TVD. If you’re familiar with ATI’s OVERDRIVE feature, which brings built-in overclocking support to the XT line, you’ve got the basis for what Smart Doctor does, but ASUS’ Smart Doctor goes several steps beyond that.

Smart Doctor - defaults

Overclocking to the max

Settings menu

For instance, Smart Doctor constantly monitors critical functions such as voltages and temperatures of the graphics core and its memory, a feature OVERDRIVE doesn’t offer. Smart Doctor also monitors the status of the graphics card’s fan(s). If any one of these devices falls out of spec (say for instance, a fan fails or the graphics core begins to overheat), an alarm can be triggered, alerting the end user to the problem immediately. ASUS Overheat protection can then kick in, automatically lowering the speed of the graphics core to prevent the temperature from increasing further. These steps can protect your graphics card from being permanently damaged.