X-bit labs

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra against ATI RADEON 9800 XT: Shader Wars (page 8)

Category: Video

by Tim Tscheblockov

[ 10/23/2003 | 03:31 PM ]

The graphics card is based on ATI RADEON 9800 XT video processor working at 412MHz:

And features 256MB of graphics DDR SDRAM in Hynix chips with 2.5ns cycle time:

The graphics memory of ASUS RADEON 9800 XT/TVD works at 730MHz (365MHz DDR).

Like any other RADEON 9800 PRO or 9800 XT based graphics card, ASUS RADEON 9800 XT/TVD requires additional power supply. The card is actually more functional than ATI’s reference solution, because it features not just a Video-Out but also a Video-In. the ports on the graphics card bracket are absolutely the same as those of the reference card, but the Video-In/Out combo on the ASUS card also uses the pins responsible for the Video-In:

The Video-In function, namely, video signal decoding, is implemented via the ATI Rage Theater chip installed on the reverse side of the PCB:

By the way, this is one of the differences between ASUS RADEON 9800 XT/TVD and the reference design from ATI: judging by the looks of the ATI’s reference card I can say that they probably implied to use a more up-to-date Rage Theater 200 chip with a different package type.