Seven of NVIDIA's Latest and Greatest Cards Tested

Noise

The fan speed remains consistently high, so the card is rather noisy even after the driver has loaded in Windows. The noise level in DOS mode, as well as in 2D and 3D mode, was a very audible 54.3 db(A).

Noise gradient across the audible spectrum.

Tools And Software

Asus has created an ingenious solution with its Enhanced Driver for Display Settings. Many games don't let the player change the brightness directly, or force you to quit the game and configure the brightness through the Windows graphics driver. This leads to problems when it gets dark in a game; for example, when entering a dungeon or when playing a level set at night. After all, if the screen is too dark, you can't see anything, and that's not much fun! That's where the Display Settings tool comes in. It can be launched using a hotkey and is then overlaid as an OSD (on-screen display) independently of the game, allowing the player to change the game's brightness, contrast or gamma level as needed through the menu.

The Enhanced Driver also includes Splendid, a feature that improves video playback. Asus includes several profiles for enhancements such as stronger colors or higher contrast.

The tools Game Live Show, Replay and Game Face Live are primarily of interest to the network and online gamer. If you've always wanted to see what your opponents look like in real life, Game Face Live is the right tool for you, showing you their faces right in the game. It uses an overlay, making it completely independent of the game - all you need is a webcam and a headset for live chat, to round out the experience. Live Show allows you to broadcast a network or online match in real time, giving clients a highly immersive experience. The third tool, Replay, saves the match to your hard drive as a movie.

The driver bundle also comes with a WDM capture driver for the video interface. Power Director 3DE is included as the video editing application. Mediashow SE lets you create slideshows for Windows or the Internet. Finally, three games round off the bundle: Project Snowblind, Joint Operations Typhoon Rising and Xpand Rally.