Ovo je zadnji dio današnjeg testa, ali ujedno i najvažniji. Rijetko kada se dogodi da nam u redakciju stigne grafička kartica sa nestandardnim rješenjem hlađenja, premda takve, ruku na srce, najviše volimo isprobati. Jedna od takvih zanimljivih kartica je i Asus EAX1600XT SILENT. Asus se odlučio za toplovodne cijevi koje se u zadnje vrijeme implementiraju u sve vrste hladnjaka i napravio puni pogodat.

Karticu krase su vrlo dobre performanse u igrama, pogotovo novije generacije, i odličan bundle kojeg će kupci znati cjeniti. Kartica se također pokazala kao vrlo dobar overclocker, iako to od nije bilo za očekivati. Lijepo je za vidjeti da i kartice sa ovakvim hlađenjem imaju solidan overclockerski potencijal. Jedini pravi nedostatak ove kartice je njena cijena koja iznosi oko 1400 kn što je za oko 300 kn više od ostalih Radeona X1600 XT (doduše, aktivno hlađenih), a nešto niže od najjefinijih modela GeForcea 7600GT koje je pak osjetno brži od testirane kartice.

Drugim riječima, Asusov EAX1600XT SILENT će vam odgovarati ako ste u potrazi za nečujnom karticom s pristojnim performansama u postojećim naslovima. U suprotnom za isti novac možete dobiti osjetno bržu karticu ili pak za manji novac obični Radeon X1600 XT, no s aktivnim hladnjakom.

Conclusion in english:

Altough we prefer testing graphical cards fitted with unconventional cooling solutions, we don’t get to see much of them in our lab. One of these special cards is Asus EAX1600XT SILENT which we had pleasure reviewing in this article. Asus decided to go with implementation of passive heatpipe based cooling and made a right choice.

Asus EAX16000XT SILENT has good performance in current gaming titles and a solid bundle which brings additional value to this card. Altough we didn’t expect it, Asus card finished testing with pretty good overclocking results. Actually, it’s really nice to see that some cards even with passive cooling have solid overclocking potential. The only real problem with this card is its high price. In Croatian shops the price of Asus card is 1400 kn, while standard (active cooled) Radeon X1600 XT cards can be bought for 1000 to 1100 kn. When we take into account similary priced and much faster GeForce 7600GT cards, Asus silent card really has a small market to wiggle in.

In other words, Asus EAX1600XT SILENT is the right card to buy only if you are searching for a completely silent graphical solution that still offers decent performance in modern games. If not, for the same amount of cash you can pick up much faster card or, for less money, standard Radeon X1600 XT which will give you identical performance like Asus card.