ASUS Radeon A9800 XT/TVD

...isn't bad - it's an ASUS badged version of PowerDVD. The games are quite old, and the utlitites either didn't work or were not things I'd need.

The main inclusion of interest was a voucher for Half Life 2. Even this is a disappointment because the deal is that you have to cut the bar-code off the box the card came in and post it to America! For this you would get only a single player version of Half Life 2 so if you wanted to play ...
.../>
I contacted ASUS support and they emailed me back about a few issues I had with the card. One was that the monitor would actually switch off or hibernate during start up. Another was to do with a DVD recording package that should have worked in tandem with my tv tuner card but didn't.

I was directed to their website and a file designed to fix the start-up glitch but it didn't work. Only after a week of hunting did I track ... more

I bought this card on the strength of an excellent review in PCHome magazine.

It's a nice card in many ways, available in 128Mb and 256Mb flavours, capable of running the latest games with ease.

Sad to say, the fans started to get noisy during bootup. They sounded awful. I was fortunate enough to get a replacement. But guess what? A couple of months later and that noise has started on the replacement! Overclockers UK are happy to replace the replacement luckily.

Postage with insurance costs nearly £20 so I'm going to end up paying around £40 for the two times this has happened.

Software: the DVD software isn't bad - it's an ASUS badged version of PowerDVD. The games are quite old, and the utlitites either didn't work or were not things I'd need.

The main inclusion of interest was a voucher for Half Life 2. Even this is a disappointment because the deal is that you have to cut the bar-code off the box the card came in and post it to America! For this you would get only a single player version of Half Life 2 so if you wanted to play online you'd have to go and buy it anyway!

I contacted ASUS support and they emailed me back about a few issues I had with the card. One was that the monitor would actually switch off or hibernate during start up. Another was to do with a DVD recording package that should have worked in tandem with my tv tuner card but didn't.

I was directed to their website and a file designed to fix the start-up glitch but it didn't work. Only after a week of hunting did I track a file down that could sort out that problem.

I haven't experienced any excessive amounts of heat. I didn't like the 'Smart Doctor' software (temperature monitoring, fan speed, overclocking) that came with the card and quickly found a less intrusive alternative.

It may well be that my unfortunate experiences with this card have been pure bad luck and a complete coincidence.

Still - don't throw that guarantee away when you buy the ASUS 9800XT as It may well turn out to be the most important component!

I'd like to be as upbeat and enthusiastic about this card as PCHome were in their glowing review of it. Maybe my third one will be better than the previous two? 

...less