Asus Extreme AX600XT/HTVD Review --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

ASUS SmartDoctor, SmartCooling & HyperDrive Technologies

The ASUS SmartDoctor is a control center for hardware monitoring, setting cooling levels and an overclocking utility all integrated into one interface for all new ASUS graphics cards. The monitoring subsystem reports the card's various operating voltages, temperatures and fan speed measurement. Within the monitoring properties, you can redefine the bounds and thresholds to better cater to your system usage environment before an alarm is sounded when the boundaries are breached.

The main ASUS SmartDoctor interface.

In the Monitoring tab of the SmartDoctor properties, you can fine-tune the alarm settings.

The SmartCooling technology is about dynamically adapting fan speed settings in relation to the VPU's core temperature. By default the fan speed is automatically controlled, but when SmartCooling is enabled, you have the option to define the five different fan speed settings that would be activated based upon the VPU temperature levels. Finally, there is also a fixed fan speed control if you choose to use this option. Here is a screenshot of the fan control tab within the properties for all these options:-

Fan speed options are plenty, including the SmartCooling option that lets you control how fast the fan operates at different VPU temperature levels.

The final section of the ASUS SmartDoctor is its overclocking controls. Already on the main interface, there are manual controls for you to tweak the graphics card's core and memory speed. However there is another overclocking option that requires no intervention from the user and this is possible with the ASUS HyperDrive technology. It is somewhat similar to the Dynamic Overclocking Technology on MSI's graphics cards, but HyperDrive has a few more interesting options.

The ASUS HyperDrive offers different dynamic overclocking modes.

HyperDrive in 3D mode sets the card to operate at its highest possible clock speeds whenever it enters a 3D game or API and automatically defaults back to the original values when it returns back to the Windows Desktop.

In CPU usage mode, HyperDrive will factor CPU loading in 3D games and will increase GPU clock speeds to help compensate and complete the current tasks. Therefore GPU clock speeds will rise and fall proportionately to the CPU's loading at any point within the 3D game.

The temperature mode of HyperDrive works in conjunction with SmartCooling technology. As long as the VPU temperature is within the medium temperature boundary (defined in the SmartCooling segment), HyperDrive will speed up the VPU clock. Therefore the general rule in this mode is the lower the VPU temperature, the higher the clock speeds. Do note that overclocking via this mode is the most conservative of the three modes since rise or fall in temperatures are not as immediate as the mode and load changes of the above two options.

Many of these features are only possible if you install the ASUS drivers from the CD or downloaded it off their website. Within the drivers, you'll find one more interesting option that's mighty useful for the vast majority of gamers:-

The ASUS On Screen Display (OSD) control provides access to on-the-fly display adjustments while gaming.



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