VGA Card Buyer's Guide 07/2003

ASUS

The Taiwan-based manufacturer ASUS makes more than graphics cards based on NVIDIA graphics chips; its product range encompasses notebooks, motherboards, barebones, servers, PDAs and much more, making it one of the biggest manufacturers in Taiwan.

ASUS' support services include a large data archive and an international Web forum. The warranty period for ASUS graphics boards is three years.

ASUS V9520/TD

The ASUS V9520/TD is based on NVIDIA's GeForceFX 5200, a.k.a. NV34, chip. The card ships with 128 MB DDR RAM (128 bit) from Mira with an access time of 4 ns. Its clock speed complies with NVIDIA's reference specifications (250/ 400).

A small fan with a pleasantly low noise level cools the board. Thanks to the hardware-monitoring features, ASUS' SmartDoctor software can read the fan speed and the temperature of the 3D chip while in use.