Price: $339

Available: March 8th

Recently we took a look at ASUS' then-flagship GeForce 256 SDR card, the V6600 Deluxe. With more features than the competition, faster performance and exceptional versatility, our only qualm was the price.

Since then, ASUS has released their rendition of the tune "GeForce 256 with DDR RAM," and we thought you might like to know how it sounds. Named the V6800, this new addition to the fleet promises to pack more of a punch than the V6600 we reviewed not so long ago.

With the competition among GeForce-based cards as stiff as three quarter inch plywood, ASUS has released two versions of the V6800 hoping to gain favor with variety. The V6800 Pure is a basic GeForce DDR card, without any frills and rather blasé in comparison to its big brother. Heading up the fleet is the V6800 Deluxe, which furnishes all the bells and whistles we praised in the V6600 Deluxe review.

Adhering to the cliché, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," ASUS has left the design of the V6800 Deluxe alone (compared to the V6600), merely replacing the 5ns SDR SGRAM with the higher performing 6ns DDR SGRAM. Like all other DDR-based boards, the V6800 is clocked with a 120MHz core and 150MHz memory (150*2=301MHz), meaning the performance will more than likely deviate very little from the other GeForce cards. What has been carried over from the V6600 is S-video out, S-video in, RCA out, and an output for ASUS' 3D VR glasses.

Hoping to enjoy the same pleasant experience the V6600 provided, we introduce to you the V6800 Deluxe.