When ATI set the date for the sales of its RADEON 9700 PRO to get started (even though it is a bit doubtful to be true), we automatically ask ourselves: when will they start shipping their professional R300 based graphics card. This solution known as FIRE CL X1 targeted for high-performance workstations, was announced by ATI some time around July 20, however, there hasn’t been much info about the schedule, pricing or features of the newcomer so far. In the meanwhile, there is indirect evidence proving that FIRE GL X1 is to start selling pretty soon, so that we are really likely to see it in retail stores in October already, as they promised us before.

Getting ready for the sales of the new FIRE GL X1, ATI has already reduced the professional graphics solutions prices. As to The Inquirer, FireGL 8700 and FireGL 8800 spread via distributor channel got about 50% cheaper now.

So, FireGL 8800 128MB DDR is now retailing for $260, while the same card shipped in an OEM package may sell to distributors for $225. Also FireGL 8700 64MB got as low-cost as $120 in retail package, and around $116 in OEM version.

Also we came across a nice picture of this solution. Here is a photo of ATO FIRE GL X1 borrowed from this Chinese site.

Unfortunately, they again didn’t report about any specific features of the new product, however FIRE GL X1 will evidently have all the features of RADEON 9700. It is most likely to work at the frequencies higher than those of the RADEON 9700 PRO, support AGP 8x and require an AGP Pro slot. As for the memory, there are 256KB of it.

A really important addition to the new FIRE GL X1 will be a special driver set, which will allow involving the GPU power to the full extent in some professional applications (Aliaswavefront Maya, Discreet 3ds max, Side Effects Software Houdini and Softimage XSI). By the way, at the recently held Siggraph 2002, ATI showcased its Maya plug-in in action. To demo its functioning they rendered the frames from the Lord of the Rings movie with the performance of about 50fps, while without this plug-in the rendering of the same scene could take over 20 seconds.