Among all the candies inside my new computer, the Asus Extreme AX550 graphics card is probably my biggest mistake. Not just that it is slower than my previous HIS Radeon 9550 graphics card, the fact that the X550 chipset is just a slight modification of the basic X300 chipset really got me so upset. Some of the diagnostic program that I used also reported that the chipset is X300SE, not X550. Means, with a little overclocking on the clock speed of the X300-based graphics card, you might be able to obtain the X550. Bad mistake… I should have researched first before jumping on the horse seat and buy the card.

Here’s the X550/X300 chipset features taken from ATI’s official site:

• Powered by the powerful PCI-E VPU – ATI Radeon X550/ ATI Radeon X300
• MARTSHADER ™ 2.0 and SMOOTHVISION ™ 2.1 :
  Proprietary ATI graphics technologies which deliver an exceptionally realistic gaming experience.
• FULLSTREAM ™
  Delivers smooth streaming media playback, eliminating choppy internet video
• HYDRAVISION™
  Plug two monitors into your PC and get access to easy to use features that help you to see more and do more.
• Full Microsoft® DirectX® 9 and OpenGL® support
• PCI Express™ x16 lane native support

As for Asus Extreme AX550 GE/LD graphics card itself, here’s the key features (from Asus website):

• ASUS GameFace Live for real-time video/audio communication.
• ASUS VideoSecurity Online for building a private security system.
• ASUS OnScreenDisplay (OSD) allows adjusting various display settings without leaving the game.
• High-Quality TV output for big screen gaming or presentations ASUS GameReplay
• DVI output for easy connectivity to digital flat panel display

Unlike HIS, Asus is not generous enough to add any CD games on the package. The included software for overclocking the graphics card is excellent though, but I haven’t tried it as I planned to replace the card next month. Maybe with any Radeon X850-based chipset. What do you think?