VGA Card Buyer's Guide 07/2003

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ASUS V9560 Video Suite

The ASUS V9560 is based on NVIDIA's GeForceFX 5600, a.k.a. NV31, chip. The card ships with 128 MB DDR RAM (128 bit) from Samsung with an access time of 3.3 ns. With the chip clocked at 325 MHz and the RAM at 600 MHz, the V9560 starts out with a faster clock speed than NVIDIA allowed for in its reference design (325/ 550). This extra touch enables it to outperform standard FX 5600 cards somewhat. More on this topic below.

A small fan cools the board with a high noise level (humming noise). However, you can reduce the fan speed to get a very low noise level in the ASUS SmartDoctor software (dynamic fan control). The memory chips on the front of the card get extra cooling from passive heat sinks, although ASUS chose not to apply this virtually useless tactic to the back of the card. The hardware-monitoring features of SmartDoctor allow you to read the fan speed and the temperature of the 3D chip while in use.