Asus ENGTS 250 Review

The video card is a very interesting component. Many people, when purchasing, will go in thinking that they’ll upgrade within a year. However, most do not. A year can easily go by without experiencing any problems or performance drops. When these naughty things happen you will probably decide to keep your video card longer and spend the money on something else. Let’s face it. If you’re still using a 7600GT and consider yourself a hardcore gamer/enthusiast, it’s time for an upgrade. If you’re just using your computer for basic photo editing, word processing, and Web browsing, then even a 7600GT will be overkill.

I’m assuming most of you are not just using your computer for the basics. But, how exactly do you decide upon which video card to upgrade? Bigger numbers do not always equal better, and this is true if you’re comparing cards from ATI and NVIDIA, or if you’re just looking at two cards from NVIDIA. A 7XXX series NVIDIA card is not better than a 4XXX series card from ATI. A 9800GT is not better than an 8800GTX. The way NVIDIA renames cards does not help this confusion at all. On the contrary – it is like feeding a two year old buckets of sugar, giving him a can of spray paint, and then letting him loose in an art museum. The result is that we get a 9800GTX, which is really just an 8800GTX covered in blue paint, vomit and marketing dollars. Luckily NVIDIA is finally putting an end to this mess. That is correct, NVIDIA has developed a new way of naming their cards. There will be two series: the GTS and GTX. The latter being for enthusiasts. In this new naming scheme, the bigger numbers will actually be the better cards. But, what is a new name scheme without re-branding a few older friends?

Introducing the ASUS ENGTS 250, also known as the 9800GTX +. Spec wise, ASUS’s ENGTS 250 is the exact same as the 9800GTX +. In fact without actually testing the card, the only noticeable difference is the price tag. For about $20 less you can get what seems to be the exact same card, but with an older name. Hopefully your $20 will get you a performance increase as well as a revised G92 card. The only way to find this out is to test the card. Let’s stop the talk and find out just how ASUS’s GTS 250 performs. Will this card destroy it’s competitors, or are you just paying for a name?

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