X-bit labs

Mainstream PCI Express Graphics Cards Review: PowerColor X600 XT vs. Albatron Trinity PCX 5750 (page 2)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 12/06/2004 | 06:29 PM ]

PowerColor X600 XT

First Impression

PowerColor’s card comes in a rather small package of a sober design. Some people like such design more.

There’re no redundant things in decoration – just an official combination of black and blue with a small patch of color in the center. The special texture on the black-blue background looks like the package is made of carbon fiber rather than of ordinary cardboard. The back side of the package contains all the information about the technical characteristics of the product. You find the following inside the box:

• PowerColor X600 XT graphics card;
• A multi-lingual user manual;
• DVI-I-to-D-Sub adapter;
• S-Video-to-RCA adapter;
• S-Video cable;
• RCA cable;
• Drivers CD;
• CyberLink CD (PowerDirector SE+, MediaShow SE, PowerDVD, PowerProducer DVD, Power2Go);
• Two CDs with Hitman: Contracts.

The discs with software are packed into a special envelope labeled ProPack. The accessories to the PowerColor X600 XT are truly rich, but let’s take a look at the graphics card proper.

Closer Look

The crimson-red coloration of the printed circuit board of the PowerColor X600 XT looks cute, but the cooling system can astonish anyone: a roughly-processed aluminum heatsink, fastened to the board with two traditional spring clips, carries a queer-looking disc with narrow slits. There are strange rubber tendrils and a rubber ring in the center, too.

We are quite at a loss thinking of a meaning this thing may symbolize. This disc doesn’t seem to add any beauty to the device; moreover, it almost blocks airflow to the fan that blows at the heatsink. The only thing this rubber disc can do is prevent the overall efficient cooling system from working normally.

The heatsink sits tight on the memory chips – the thermal pads have an appropriate thickness, but the memory chips on the back side of the PCB get no cooling at all. Moreover, two pads out of four are smaller and don’t wholly cover their chips, which may result in a worse heat takeoff.