Asus EAH2900XT

If there is ever a manufacturer which goes all the way with branding a new product it is Asus. In recent times we have seen excellent products such as their Ghost Recon branded 8800 GTX and in the EAH2900XT they have outdone themselves.

Shown above is the Asus box which features S.T.A.L.K.E.R. branding, the reason is (not surprisingly) that the game comes bundled with this card. Considering that we are writing this article in mid May and the game was released on March 22nd (and is still a top ten title on most online stores) this is an excellent addition. The box itself has a reasonable level of information such as the amount of memory and the inclusion of HDCP. The front of the box flips open to reveal more information and on the rear we find further specification information as well as system requirements.

The Asus bundle contains everything we need to get the card up and running. The CrossFire connector and DVI>HDMI (audio and video) dongle are present as are the more traditional DVI>VGA converters. There are also a number of video output cables to ensure that SD and HD displays are fully catered for. On a software level Asus have, as mentioned above, bundled S.T.A.L.K.E.R and this is accompanied by their own software suite comprising of various utilities that are designed, amongst other things, to enhance or create video. It doesn’t stop there though and we have two further items. The first is a nice small CD/DVD wallet and the final item is a voucher to activate 3 games on Steam when they become available, the most notable being Half-Life 2: Episode 2. All in all this is a great bundle however it does lack in one area, that being the lack of DVD playback software … Asus used to bundle WinDVD, however this is no longer the case.

The game branding continues on the EAH2900XT's cooler which really makes the card stand out from others using the reference AMD design. Asus also use a small sticker on the fan however this is where the deviance from the reference design stops. Therefore the card is clocked at 740Mhz core and 825MHz memory. Dual DVI and HDTV out are present along with S-video and composite connectors (VIVO) and the card features the 8-pin and 6-pin power sockets which facilitate the cards 215w rating. Interestingly Asus claim on their packaging that the card will run fine at stock settings with two 6pin connectors attached and it is only when in Overdrive or CrossFire mode that they recommend the use of an 8pin connector.