ASUS EN8800 GTS/HTDP/320M

While they are easily best known for their motherboards, over the years ASUS has established itself as a manufacturer of equally compelling graphics cards. If you recall, it was ASUS who first began offering Radeon cards with built-in VIVO support, at the time this feature was exclusive to ATI’s All-In-Wonder line. Nowadays all of ATI’s board partners ship their high-end Radeon cards with VIVO. During the GeForce 6 generation, ASUS offered a line of silent graphics cards that were cooled with heat pipes. Going even further back, ASUS was also the first to offer a single-slot GeForce FX 5900 Ultra card.

ASUS’ Smart Doctor software was also the first to offer dynamic overclocking based on load/temperature, in addition to hardware monitoring and dynamic fan speed control. Today these features have now become a staple in the reference board designs and drivers from ATI and NVIDIA.



With such a rich pedigree of graphics cards, we expected a lot from ASUS’ GeForce 8800 GTS card, the EN8800 GTS/HTDP/320M; instead of focusing on the card itself though ASUS seems to focus on the software bundled with the card instead. Let’s explain.

For starters, the ASUS EN8800 GTS/HTDP/320M is built entirely on NVIDIA’s reference board design for the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB. If it weren’t for the sticker on the top of the card’s fan, the board would be an exact 100% replica of the NVIDIA reference board.


Of course, keep in mind that this is not ASUS’ fault, in fact all of the cards included in this roundup use NVIDIA’s reference board design. Card manufacturers usually stick with the reference board design to get their cards to market as quickly as possible. After all, developing a custom board design takes time and money, and with a card that’s priced so closely to the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB, you run the risk of pricing your board too closely to the 640MB card if you throw in too many features such as a custom board design and cooling. It’s easier for board manufacturers to just overclock the card from the factory and/or ship the card with a custom game/software bundle.

Because of this, we have a feeling it will be awhile before you truly see custom GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB boards – it’s just priced too closely to the 640MB card right now, making such a board a risky proposition for any card manufacturer that would take on the challenge.


In any case, ASUS has also chosen not to overclock the EN8800 GTS/HTDP/320M. The board ships at the stock GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB clock speeds of 500MHz core/1200MHz on the stream processors and 1.6GHz for the memory. Instead of spicing up the hardware, ASUS has elected to focus their efforts on the software bundle the card ships with.

Inside the card’s packaging you’ll find ASUS’ suite of utilities including GameFace Messenger (GFM). 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 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.

Besides the custom ASUS software, also included with the card is a copy of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Race: The World Touring Car Championship, both on DVD-ROM. ASUS even includes a copy of 3DMark 06 Pro, so you can run the full gamut of tests and check out all the demos inside 3DMark 06.


Hardware accessories bundled with the card include a leather-bound CD wallet, two DVI adapters, S-Video and component video cables, and a power adapter. The EN8800 GTS/HTDP/320M carries a 3-year warranty from ASUS.