More Goodies

SmartDoctor and Tweaking

Now in its second generation, Smart Doctor is quite the handy program. Useful for monitoring just about everything on the video card at steady intervals, it is quite the tool for those looking to overclock their equipment. And instead of having to search the web for a utility to unlock the core and memory frequencies of the card, ASUS provides you with a handy little program with which to accomplish this. With core frequency settings running all the way up to 320 MHz, and the memory setting going up to 710MHz, we’re sure you won’t be left out in the wind should you have the supreme sample of what a video card should be.

The goggles, they do nothing!

We’ve played with the 3D glasses quite a few times. While it is a nice touch, this whole scene is just not ready to be an actual product that brings value. It looks nice on paper but chances are you’ll treat it like we do – toy around with it, and then just slide it back in the box.

ASUS Drivers

For a card that has so many proprietary features, all the video inputs and outputs – you are almost required to use the ASUS drivers in order to get full functionality out of the card. As you will see, we’re glad to say that their drivers are in tip-top condition. It’s only natural for them to be a little bit behind NVIDIA in their driver release schedule, but they aren’t lagging by miles. Their drivers are utilizing version 28.80 of NVIDIA’s reference. NVIDIA is currently on version 29.42. Aside from bringing functionality to the card, there isn’t too much to note about the ASUS drivers. The occasional logo change and menu rearrangement were the only things readily apparent.

nView

While certainly not limited to the ASUS card, the nView functionality, dual monitors, is rather limited in comparison to the Matrox lineup. Although, Matrox hasn’t really been a contender in the 3D gaming arena until now, with the release of the Parhelia – which boasts triple monitor support on the desktop and in gaming. We encountered a few quirks with the nView software that just seem to happen randomly. If we had two identical monitors to test on, the results might have been different. But we were limited to resolutions below 1600x1200 with both monitors enabled. In single monitor mode we could crank it till our eyes bled from trying to make out the text. So basically, don’t expect miracles from NVIDIAs first attempt at dual monitor support.