Product Listing

ASUS EN7900GS TOP (GeForce 7900 GS)

By Vincent Chang - 12 Oct 2006

Conclusion

Conclusion

Appearances can be deceiving and we admit that the ASUS EN7900GS TOP had us fooled for a while, with its innocently conformist exterior. Deep inside though, it was a raging beast that overran the competition in all our benchmarks. Thanks to its record high out-of-the-box clock speeds, the ASUS EN7900GS TOP simply demolished the scores of its competitors in our benchmarks, leaving us with no doubts about its prowess. ASUS has certainly achieved its goal of topping the GeForce 7900 GS charts, without any detrimental side effects besides having slightly elevated temperatures.

For those who require guaranteed high clock speeds for a GeForce 7900 GS, ASUS has the answer. But are you willing to fork out the premium?

One could argue that the overclocked frequencies are within the reach of most enthusiasts and while we would generally agree with that, it does seem to be very close to the limits for the GeForce 7900 GS core. Only the Palit GeForce 7900GS Sonic managed higher so not all GeForce 7900 GS cards may maintain the high clock speeds found on the ASUS EN7900GS consistently and over a long period of time. After all, the whole point of buying an overclocked version is not that you can also get these speeds yourself, but that you are now guaranteed such clock speeds, with the usual warranty terms. This is a boon for those who desire the performance but are less confident of the card's limitations or their own.

However, as you can expect, there is a price to be paid for this. For the ASUS EN7900GS TOP, this has been set at US$270 (S$429). Compared to its rivals, which hovers around the US$238 mark, the ASUS represents a significant premium. The extras included, especially the new Ghost Recon game probably contributed to some of the cost. It is up to the individual to decide if the included bundle is worth paying for. Compared to some of the more affordable variants, the ASUS card commands a premium of up to S$100. While it may seem like an expensive GeForce 7900 GS card, if you turn the perspective the other way, the ASUS EN7900GS TOP ends up as a very enticing alternative to a full fledged GeForce 7950 GT graphics card. With great speed, comes great price, but the ASUS EN7900GS TOP manages to justify its price-to-performance ratio. In the end, it's your choice of how future-proof you want your next card to be, what price points are comfortable and what plans of usage you've in mind.

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