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Although not the fastest card in every test and even with NVIDIA's questionable driver debacle I like this card. For one thing it is so much quieter for instance than say, the original reference cards that were extremely noisy units that in comparison it is almost silent running a fact all users would agree on. The unique fan design pay off for ASUS and kept the card running cool even under the duress of a full load of graphics tests (some ran continuously for twenty four hours in an endless loop cycle for stability endurance) without fail. I have used about seven different versions of the 5900 Ultra cards and only two really stand out as being better than the others and the ASUS stands on top, being a par better than the Leadtek card which also is a good card just not the best, that crown goes to ASUS as overall the card and bundle just rock. Games looked great and with the delay of Half Life 2 till mid next year this card is still a contender for high end gaming. This is bad news for ATI who invested large amounts of cash to have the release date of this game coincide with the release date of their 9800XT and shows bad form for the hackers who stole the code forcing back the final release date and drastically screwing over many in the tidal effect. I had no problems with any software or games I tested this card with, not to mention many games come with the made to play on NVIDIA logo right on the box so compatibility should never become an issue in the foreseeable future as far as that arena goes. Visually I could not really tell the difference between one card or the other during testing as the cards all run at default with almost identical balanced settings. At higher resolutions such as 1600X1200 the RADEON 9800 Pro pulls away and performed better but at the 1024X768/1280X1024 resolution the cards were pretty close and this is where almost all gamers will set their monitors to. Since usually one can afford only one video card and even then it still is personal choice as to ATI or NVIDIA. For the NVIDIA card of merit I would go with the V9950 as my choice of FX Ultra card if buying one for my system so it is an Editors Choice product, but personally I use the ATI 9800Pro for my main VGA card. How long can NVIDIA still remain a major competing factor is still up in the air at the moment as ASUS now makes ATI cards as well giving users maximum choice in which VGA chipset manufacturer they prefer. Good Job ASUS can't wait to see what you do with ATI! Doc out
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