GeForce 9800 GT Roundup (EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte & Palit)

ASUS EN9800 GT Ultimate (EN9800GT U/HTDP/512M)

Product Number: EN9800GT U/HTDP/512M
Manufacturer’s Product Page: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Price: Approx. $180
Warranty: 3 Years


We have finally come to the Big Boy in this roundup in the guise of an ASUS card. Looking at the specs I am sure that you can see that this ASUS 9800 GT Ultimate is the mack-daddy of all the 9800 GT cards we are testing here today. Instead of taking a somewhat mundane 8800 GT and flashing the BIOS, the alchemists at ASUS began their concoction with a ready to rock 8800 GTS 65nm core with 128 shaders, added a massive cup of overclocking and let their creation brew for a good long time. The result is a 9800 GT on steroids which is clocked to within spitting distance of the 9800GTX+ while retailing for about $180 before rebates. From the specs alone, this card is simply drool-worthy as it is built for speed and nothing else since all of the other 9800 GT fluff like HybridPower and HDMI output is kicked to the curb.

While finding this beast here in Canada is a bit hard, our friends to the south can find it in abundance at a number of large etailers. We are told by ASUS that we should be seeing stock of this card soon so the wait won’t be too long. It comes backed by the usual 3-year warranty from ASUS which can’t be classified as long but as we have mentioned again and again: it is a heck of a lot longer than most of you keep your card.


While ASUS may be known for their large boxes, this one is surprisingly compact for such an illustrious card. There is mention of the different utilities such as Smart Doctor which are included as well as giving a bit of a hint as to the performance increases we are likely to see. Let’s be honest here; a 22% increase in 3DMark Vantage scores is no small thing so it will be interesting to see if this actually carries through.


Since this is a special edition card from ASUS, the interior packaging is quite a bit different from what we are used to seeing. All of the accessories and the card itself are packaged separately from one-another in sumptuous black compartments, each bearing the ASUS logo in gold lettering.

No matter how out of the ordinary the box is, the list of accessories is somewhat toned down with just the basics included. You get the usual power adaptor, DVI to VGA dongle and a TV-Out RGB cable. There is also an instruction manual along with driver and software CDs. Like Gigabyte, ASUS includes their proprietary overclocking and monitoring software called SmartDoctor.


When we first alluded to this having nearly identical specifications to a highly overclocked 8800GTS 512MB, we weren’t stretching things at all since for all intents and purposes that is exactly what it is. It seems that while other manufacturers are busy recycling their 8800GT cards into “9800GT” products, ASUS found a few spare cards with 128 Stream Processors sitting around their warehouse and pressed them into service. This suits us just fine since this is what we feel the 9800 GT SHOULD have been.

The dual slot cooler used on the Ultimate is exactly the same one used on the 8800GTS 512MB with a teal-green sticker applied to it for good measure. While this color scheme does make the card look a bit feminine, it’s what is underneath that counts and let me tell you right now: this one is an ass-kicker. Even though it is made of a lot tougher stuff than other cards in this roundup, it still keeps the norm at 9” long.


What distinguishes this heatsink from the others is that it is a full-cover dual slot affair which has a vaulted fan design which pushes cool air down onto a fin assembly and then out the back of the card. You won’t have to worry about higher case temperatures as you will with other cards presented in this roundup.