Asus Extreme AX1800XT TOP

The Asus Extreme AX1800XT TOP generally stands toe-to-toe with the tested 580/865 XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 512 but just loses on balance. In our, admittedly limited, suite of tests, the GeForce only lost at 1920 x 1200 in F.E.A.R. Both boards are factory-overclocked, 512MB versions of the basic reference SKU, and both cost just the wrong side of £450. Therefore, given the money to spend on either, it comes down to a weighing up of peripheral options, given the performance levels.

This reviewer has a hard time choosing between them. The Asus definitely wins in the bundle stakes, giving you a good selection of software, a new top-title game and a gamepad to make the most of it. The XFX, while also bundling the component output cable raved about earlier in the Asus commentary, doesn't give you much more than copies of Tenomichi 3D Edit and Far Cry.

With better display output options from the Radeon, a nice quiet cooler and provision to avoid a possible PSU upgrade caused by a hungry 695MHz GPU, those are all facets of the product performance to have us smiling and nodding our approval.

However (as always), the great bundle and PSU don't come anywhere near free, the product is very hard to find, and it could be a real git to site in your chassis. At the start, we wondered if the EAX1800XT TOP might attain board perfection - alas, it doesn't.

Verdict

The Asus Extreme AX1800XT TOP is a fast, quiet graphics card with a great bundle, but Asus is pricing it out of the market by charging £100 more than XTs from other board makers. The bundle and performance aren't worth it at the time of writing, versus the cost of a bare board with reference clocks from another vendor, with the user having a stab at overclocking themselves if they wish.

It's appealing, but not at £460 - especially staring right in the face of upcoming new hardware. The product would have worked much better at, or at least a month closer to, launch.

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