Conclusion

So, the tests are over and we now have to analyze the results and see if ATI Technologies’ attempt to fill in the niche between the Radeon X1800 XT and the Radeon X1900 XT with the new graphics card called Radeon X1900 GT is a success. The company has once again come up with a new product that utilizes the existing resources, but does it stand any chance on the market?

Having the results of the gaming tests on our hands, we cannot answer this question with a definite Yes. Following their 3-to-1 concept, ATI’s developing team didn’t take it into account that 12 TMUs and ROPs is insufficient for a performance-mainstream graphics card, especially since the GeForce 7900 GT, the main opponent of the Radeon X1900 GT, has 24 TMUs and 16 ROPs. The competing product from among the Radeons, the Radeon X1800 XT, not only has 16 TMUs, but also high GPU and memory frequencies. So each time you launch an application that requires a lot of texture lookups, the performance of the Radeon X1900 GT goes down, often below the level of the Radeon X1800 XT.

The Radeon X1900 GT generally provides a high enough performance in today’s games. However, it is only in 4 tests out of 19 that it enjoyed a confident victory over its market opponent and in 4 tests more equals the performance of the GeForce 7900 GT. These 8 tests are Battlefield 2, Far Cry (except in the HDR mode), Half-Life 2, TES IV: Oblivion, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, X3: Reunion and both 3DMarks. As you see, Half-Life 2 is the only game in the list that doesn’t use math1ematics-heavy shaders. In other cases the new solution from ATI was hamstringed by its having too few texture-mapping units as we’ve repeatedly said throughout this review.

Being a compromise solution with a graphics processor originally meant for top-end graphics cards, the Radeon X1900 GT is also inferior to its main opponent in terms of size and power consumption, but produces less noise at work. It allows using FSAA and HDR (FP16) simultaneously, supports high-quality anisotropic filtering and features the Avivo video engine.

As far as we know, Radeon X1000 graphics processors permit to flexibly configure the number of the functional subunits, so it’s not quite clear why ATI Technologies didn’t enable, for example, 16 TMUs and 12 ROPs in the Radeon X1900 GT (especially considering that this graphics card is obviously manufactured out of fully operable R580 chips). We don’t know if it’s due to an unwavering adherence to the 3-to-1 concept or some technological issues do not permit to change the number of TMU and ROP subunits relative to the number of pixel processors at will. Anyway, the Radeon X1900 GT didn’t win the battle with the GeForce 7900 GT for the title of the best performance-mainstream graphics card of today, at least in today’s games. The situation may change in the future in view of the tendency towards ever more complex math1ematics in pixel shaders, but the Radeon X1900 GT will have probably been ousted from the market by then with newer solutions.

The market success of the ATI Radeon X1900 GT depends on the company’s ability to keep its price below $299 which is the official price of the GeForce 7900 GT. In its last quarter report ATI Technologies promised to increase its profitability from 30.1% to 31.0-31.5% in the current quarter. This may mean that the company isn’t going to reduce the prices or that it will release something new that can be sold at a high profit. But it may also find some means to lower the prices for its existing products in which case ATI may make its Radeon X1800 XT and Radeon X1900 GT cheaper.

As for PowerColor’s version of the Radeon X1900 GT which we’ve tested today, it is a typical product of this company, i.e. an ordinary “workhorse”. It ships without extra accessories, but may be very appealing in the eyes of users for whom the graphics card itself and its cost are more important than the design and size of its package and free games in the included software pack. If you are interested in the Radeon X1900 GT and want to buy a performance-mainstream graphics card with some reserve of speed for future games, but do not want to pay extra for any designing whims and games you won’t play, consider the PowerColor X1900 GT. It may be just what you need.

Highs:

• High performance in a majority of applications
• Support for transparency antialiasing
• FSAA and HDR (FP16) can be used simultaneously
• VIVO
• Hardware decoding of H.264 and other HD formats
• Good overclockability
• Support for dual-link DVI
• Support for CrossFire without a Master card

Lows:

• Slower than the GeForce 7900 GT in a large number of existing applications
• High power consumption
• Obsolete cooler design
• Long PCB (may make it impossible to install the card into a small system case)
• Poor accessories
• Scanty accessories