ASUS' TOP Dog

The recent introduction of the GeForce 7800 GT cements NVIDIA's grip on the high-end graphics segment. ATI has conceded that its equivalent chip, the R520 has been delayed to the September/October period from its initial July launch, and that its other middle to lower range products, the R515 and R530 may end up being released around the same time; this is contrary to the usual ATI practice of launching the high-end part first with a bang, before gradually scaling down for the middle and low end.

While ATI is still sweating it out with its production 'demons', there has been no lack of developments in the graphics scene. For the past few weeks, we have seen the launch of two GT-class products, ATI's Radeon X800 GT and NVIDIA's GeForce 7800 GT (Ed:- Anymore of these apparently meaningless and arbitrary model names and monikers and even we would start to get confused). We have covered the competitive performance and price of the Radeon X800 GT and we will be featuring the performance of the GeForce 7800 GT in a review shortly. However, we have just received an exciting product from one of the leaders in the field, ASUS, that we feel should get TOP billing instead. After all, this is none other than ASUS' highest end enthusiast level graphics card, the appropriately named ASUS Extreme 7800 GTX TOP.

As the latest in ASUS' line of factory overclocked performance edition (hence the TOP name, which means Top Overclocking Performance), the ASUS Extreme N7800 GTX TOP has quite a task to match the standards set by the previous TOP cards. ASUS claims to select only the best performing graphics processing unit (GPUs) capable of handling the stresses of overclocking for these cards. Together with the fastest memory chips and a customized cooling solution, the TOP edition is the fastest graphics card produced by ASUS for any particular GPU. Add that to the solid reputation ASUS has built up over the years with both enthusiasts and mainstream consumers alike and that says a lot of the TOP series. So does the ASUS Extreme N7800 GTX TOP truly lives up to its status? Read on as we reveal to you if this card is as good as its specifications suggest.

ASUS' Extreme N7800 GTX TOP goes all out to impress the enthusiasts.