The extras
The bountiful bundles of Chaintech's Zenith motherboard line have given the company quite a reputation when it comes to extras, and the Apogee FX71 doesn't disappoint.

The card comes with a full complement of cables and a DVI-to-VGA adapter, just like it should.

For its next trick, Chaintech includes a fan brush and monitor cleaning ball with the Apogee FX71. At first, I actually thought these extras were a little silly, but I've been using them too frequently over the past few weeks to joke about them now. The monitor cleaning ball does a great job of keeping dust off the many screens that line my benchmarking sweatshop, and the fan brush has proven quite effective for dusting heat sinks fins and fans on graphics cards, motherboard north bridge chips, and CPUs. Props to Chaintech for taking a chance on a couple of odd, but ultimately useful, extras.

Technically, the Apogee FX71's blue LEDs aren't bundled extras, but this seemed like the right place to talk about them. The card gives off a brilliant glow that will no doubt make case modding enthusiasts drool. Those without case windows won't notice that the LEDs are there, which is really a shame. As much as I hate to admit to geeking out over a couple of LEDs, the Apogee FX71's glow has grown on me. I'm not quite ready to rig up all my systems with cold cathodes, glow-in-the-dark accessories, and case windows, but I have to admit the Apogee FX71 has me thinking about it.

Rounding out the Apogee FX71's suite of extra goodies is a modest software bundle that includes InterVideo's WinCinema and WinProducer software, and a full version of MDK2. The bundle includes a CD of dated game demos, too, but nothing recent enough to raise any eyebrows. Honestly, I can't understand why new graphics cards like the Apogee FX71 continue to come with games that are a couple of years old. MSI has started bundling much newer games with its GeForce FX cards, including Battlefield 1942, Command & Conquer Generals, and Unreal II, which makes the Apogee FX71's dated game bundle look all the more lacking.