Image Quality
Huy's Thoughts
I've worked with a few 7600GT cards, as well as some HDCP ready models. From a gaming standpoint, the image quality is very good across all 7600GT cards provided you're aware of certain limitations. Just because it is fully capable of 16x12 resolution,it doesn't mean that will be ideal with the latest titles at this resolution. Overall, 1280x1024 was the sweet spot in our experiences.
Unlike the last 7600GT Mike had reviewed, HDCP isn't available here. I personally do not think it's adeal breaker here, and I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep not going for one. By the time HDCP displays as well as the HD content really start making an impact, the hardware today is going to be rather unattractive from a performance standpoint.
Game play and overclocking
I have played a lot of games on this card since I received it, both with and without SLI and it has tackled each game head on and came out on top in each case. From first person shooters like F.E.A.R., Doom 3, MMO's like World of Warcraft and RPG's like Oblivion the Asus EN7600GT SILENT/2DHT/256M came out smelling like a rose. The only game play issue was the artifacting in SLI mode, and as I pointed out this doesn't appear to be an issue with the card itself. Drivers seem to be the most likely culprit as some people have posted that going back to any of the drivers prior to 9x.xx resolved the issue for them, but that was at the cost of frame rate.
In all honesty I wasn't expecting much as far as overclocking is concerned. I have never had good results from a passive cooled video card. However the SilentCool 2 technology from Asus provides exceptional cooling for a passive cooled card, and cools even better than the cooling solutions of other 7600GT's. That being said I was able to reach a stable overclock of 620Mhz core and 1575MHz memory speeds. Not an incredible OC, but that's a 60MHz increase on the core up from 560 and a 175MHz increase on the memory up from 1400MHz.
I checked the temperature on both the Asus EN7600GT SILENT/2DHT/256M and the MSI 7600GT during game play and there was never more than 1-2 degrees difference in the two, the SilentCool 2 technology is incredibly efficient at removing heat from the card.
Final Thoughts
Much like the MSI review I did recently, what you plan on using this card for will be a contributing factor to a final buying decision. For the gamer on a budget the EN7600GT SILENT/2DHT/256M is an excellent choice, providing excellent gaming performance as well as decent overclocking potential as well. If your quest is for a silent running rig, you just cant get any quieter than a card with zero moving parts that produces no noise what so ever. HD support via the HD out cables also makes it an excellent choice for an HTPC where you want both silence and great performance.
The only issue I can see that might make you look elsewhere is due to the size of the cooling device on the card it is substantially bigger. While the card itself doesn't take up two slots the additional heatsink along the top edge does. In an SLI set up you almost HAVE to turn the heatsink of the top card 90 degrees upwards in order for both cards to fit without putting any unwanted stress on the PCIE slots. Additionally the extra heatsink on top does make the card significantly taller and should be taken into consideration.
The Asus EN7600GT is the "total package" for a midrange video card, it can be used in any number of situations and performs in all of them quite well, from the gamer on a budget to the media enthusiast building their next HTPC the Asus EN7600GT is an excellent card. If your in the market for a new card, but need something that wont empty your wallet the EN7600GT SILENT/2DHT/256M is a good choice. It is currently in my "daily driver" and is soon to be the driving force behind the video in a silent running, water cooled rig.
If you have any questions or comments on this or other articles here at Viperlair, then please feel free to leave your thoughts in our forums.
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