The bundle and presentation
At least ASUS hasn't gone with reference packaging, which normally consists of a DVI dongle and driver CD. No, sir, this is a regular ASUS oversized box that borders on the ridiculous. As a guide, click here to see a Sony Ericsson K700i on top. That gives you some idea of just how large this package is.
GeForce 6800 Ultras have amongst the largest PCB of any current consumer-level graphics cards; just look how small it seems inside this gargantuan box.
A full retail version of DOOM 3 catches the eye immediately. ASUS' orange-coloured clamshell holder contained NVIDIA's ForceWare 66.93 driver set, webcam capture drivers, ASUS' Video Security Online (used in conjunction with the webcam), and GameFace Live. Further gaming fun can be had with Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising, and ASUS also adds in, bizarrely, PowerDirector 3DE for a card that's bereft of VIVO functionality. As you can see, ASUS only provides a fold-out colour sheet; the main manual is contained on a supplied CD. CyberLink's Medi@Show SE 2.0 and a rebadged PowerDVD software player complete the software package. Hardware-wise, there's a couple of DVI dongles, a molex-to-PCIe adapter, and S-Video-to-composite cable.
The reference nature of the card is highlighted by the limited functionality of ASUS' SmartDoctor utility
One would normally expect to see control over the GPU's fan contained within this utility. As it is, SmartDoctor functions as an overclocking utility, with maximum clocks of 450MHz core and 1200MHz memory, respectively.
The bundled webcam has a maximum resolution of 640x480 and captures at around 10FPS at this setting. More of a gimmick than anything else, really.
