X-bit labs

PowerColor X800 GT Graphics Card Review: Worthy Competitor to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (page 26)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 09/30/2005 | 12:05 PM ]

Conclusion

ATI’s new product, represented by the PowerColor X800 GT graphics card in this review, came up to our expectations. The GeForce 6600 GT has really got a worthy opponent. As you have seen in this review, the RADEON X800 GT can even challenge the GeForce 6800 which has more pixel pipelines, in some cases! As we had anticipated, the new mainstream graphics card shows its best in high resolutions and/or with enabled full-screen antialiasing. It works somewhat worse in OpenGL applications and in games which use GeForce 6/7-oriented special effects like stencil shadows.

As a side effect, the RADEON X700 PRO is fully discredited since the new RADEON surpasses it in every test. The ill-fated X700 PRO will soon probably get finally and completely forgotten. Maybe the RADEON X800 GT will have a short lifecycle, too, but it will be successfully opposing the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT until ATI’s new-generation mainstream solutions come to the shops. The RADEON X800 GT doesn’t support Shader Model 3.0, but this functional limitation is not a serious drawback since there are few games available (two games, to be precise) that use this rendering mode as yet.

As for the particular version of this graphics card, the PowerColor X800 GT model left us pleased with its quiet operation and excellent overclockability. You can’t find anything exceptional in this product, though. It is in fact a RADEON X850 XT with half the pipelines disabled, working at reduced frequencies and equipped with a simplified cooling system. The accessories aren’t as gorgeous as some other companies, like ASUS and MSI, usually offer. A sturdy mainstream product, the PowerColor X800 GT may become an excellent choice for users who want to have some gaming performance, but do not play such resource-consuming games as Doom 3, The Chronicles of Riddick or Pacific Fighters. Owners of two monitors with DVI interfaces should also appreciate the card’s having two DVI outputs. The card will give an ideal-quality image to both your panels.

The PowerColor X800 GT may also be considered as an overclocking opportunity. We think most samples of this card will reach as high as 500-550MHz GPU and 550 (1100) MHz memory frequencies or even higher. You won’t even have to use any extreme measures like water cooling to reach the mentioned memory clock rate. It is unlikely that the eight disabled pipelines can be turned on again by reflashing the graphics card’s BIOS – they seem to be disabled in the chip’s registers. The PowerColor X800 GT would make a real gift for any overclocker otherwise, yet anyway overclockers can achieve almost the same performance as the 16-pipelined RADEON X800 XL offers by experimenting with this card.

The most conspicuous flaw of the PowerColor X800 GT is the lack of thermal interface between the memory chips on the face side of the PCB and the heat-spreader. Hopefully, the manufacturer will soon correct this single but annoying defect which may lead to overheat if your system case is ventilated poorly.

Highs:

• Quiet operation
• High performance in FSAA modes
• Good overclockability
• Doesn’t require additional power
• Two DVI-I connectors
• Good accessories

Lows:

• Doesn’t support Shader Model 3.0
• The memory chips on the face side of the PCB have no contact with the heat-spreader