X-bit labs

ATI's 0.11 Micron Chip on the Run: ATI RADEON X800 XL Review (page 10)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 03/21/2005 | 09:14 AM ]

Half-Life 2

The speed on the Canals maps of Half-Life 2 directly depends on the pixel shader performance of the graphics card, so it’s no wonder that the ATI RADEON X800 XT and XL win here. The difference between the two is negligible, not more than 5%.

The RADEON X800 XL is still excellent in the “eye candy” mode, delivering the performance of the GeForce 6800 GT in the hardest 1600x1200 resolution – but the RADEON delivers it without much noise and heat!

The speed of the game mostly depends on the CPU rather than graphics card performance on the d3_c17_12 map, but the RADEON X800 XL shows its best all the same, being second to the RADEON X800 XT only.

As might have been expected, the RADEON X800 XL feels at ease in the “eye candy” mode, even in highest resolutions. The gap between the new solution from ATI and the GeForce 6800 GT diminishes in high display modes, but the RADEON is still slightly ahead.