The ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 video card is different from most NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video cards as it uses a custom designed PCB and GPU cooler! It also comes factory overclocked for an extra performance boost that most GPUs don't have. ASUS says that the ENGTX460 Top has been sorted to ensure the card can operate flawlessly at above 700MHz and that is critical for those that want to be ensured their card can overclock well. See how it does in our review!
That starting clocks are terrible imo. Only 700mhz starting, and max 800mhz, and 768mb ram. Palit has a 1gb, 800mhz starting, that some sites have gotten over 900mhz stable; for $250. Galaxy has a 1gb version for $260 that starts at 810mhz, and gets above 900mhz as well.
"You are paying a 15% price premium to get the factory overclock, custom designed PCB and of course the ASUS DirectCU GPU cooler. That really isn't a bad price jump to get a sorted graphics card that you know will run well over 700MHz right out of the box."
I have to disagree with that though. They are offering only a 25mhz factory overclock, for a 15% price premium; while most other vendors are offering for similar cost an over clock between 75-135 mhz. Their offering just is not inline with the competition.
Asus does make quality products though and they have that brand name you can trust, which is why I built my last pc using primarily their stuff; but so does EVGA, and their card is clocked 63 mhz past the Asus one.
Hopefully using Evga or Msi's app it can have a stable overclock in the 900 mhz range like the other vendors, which then would redeem it a bit in my eyes, but that factory overclock is just pitiful for the price jump.
Wait by "run well over 700mhz" did you mean, way past 700 mhz, or did you mean it would run smoothly/correctly over 700 mhz? Probably does both anyway.
