PowerColor Radeon X1900 XT 512MB Review @ Hardwarezone

Vikingod · Jan 23, 2006, 08:09 PM

ATI's Radeon X1800 series should have been out as early as when NVIDIA had their GeForce 7800 series out in the market, but it's just unfortunate that they kept facing manufacturing and yield issues that pushed its launch way back till the last quarter of 2005. Even then, availability was scarce at launch and it wasn't till December when the supply chain had enough to populate most major retail stores. Meanwhile during the delays, NVIDIA was the main profiteer since the GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB was widely available, more affordable and could match up to the Radeon X1800 XT on certain fronts. We stress 'certain' because the Radeon X1800 XT's new architecture and vastly faster clock speeds helped it attain some huge wins against NVIDIA's high-end. However, that lead was short lived as GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB debuted in November with amazingly high clocks as opposed to its 'mainstream' 256MB brother and shattered all performance records held by ATI's Radeon X1800 XT darling. Despite the high performance of NVIDIA's two-slot GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB behemoth, its availability was only barely decent at launch and following which until today, it is difficult to obtain and priced at a high premium. Limited stocks and highly sought after, these are the winning combination for a natural market price hike which has taken place if you consider the SRP of US$649 versus the US$700 and upwards going price currently.
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Read More / Source: Hardwarezone

Erroneus · Jan 23, 2006, 09:56 PM

Well, a day before the NDA lifts and using 5.13 drivers, the results might not be 100% correct...

But it does beats GF7800GTX 512 most of the time and it's cheaper, so i guess it's a pretty decent card, but I'm looking forward to some x1900XTX results to se how much it pulls away and if not much more, well then I'm guessing G71 is going to be king of the hill, if released soon

Oh yeah the OC results are bit dissapoiting.

SFOSOK · Jan 23, 2006, 11:09 PM

I found it a little lacking, I remember when the R520 came out and and everyone was saying Wait for the R580, its goin to blow everyone away. Well its here and I'm still standing. To call it the x1900 is horrible, I thought they were making some true advances with that core and board not just optimizing the old 1800 with new core. Also the cooler on that thing is redicolously ugly and inefficient. It barely beats out the 7800 512 in some games but runs at 70C during a game, wtf is that about?

Would have considered it but its not really special just optimized, I'm waiting for the first team to release something truelly special like the 9800, otherwise I'm waiting for a while.

Edit: Also it is goin to be no where near that price and released late.

davidnsibs · Jan 23, 2006, 11:16 PM

nah, the 9800 was really similar to the 9700, wasnt a massive improvement at launch. anyway, this is the x1900, not the x2800, so was never gonna be a massive redesign

No_Style · Jan 23, 2006, 11:25 PM

Am I reading this correctly?

Quote:

Just as we have mentioned earlier, the Radeon X1900 XT is a more power hungry beast than the Radeon X1800 XT and when running at full load continuously, the temperatures recorded soared past the 70 degrees mark.

More power and hotter? Well, I'm disappointed by that. Where the CPU industry is trying to lower power consumption, the video card manufacturers, don't seem to give much thought about it. In my opinion, the 7800GTX 256 MB (512MB variant is a monster in power consumption as well) is the card to go with if you're looking for a good all around high-end card.

Who's to blame for this skyrocketing of power consumption and heat output? ATI. Who was once the dominant force in elegant hardware solutions.

- NVIDIA releases 7800 GTX 256MB as a kick ass card which consumes much less power than both ATI and NVIDIA's predecessor. (A bit later the 7800GT which consumes even less power and still kicks butt)
- ATI releases X1800XT which raised the bar in power consumption.
- NVIDIA, although in my opinion did not need the 512 MB variant, destroys the power consumption barrier set by ATI with the 7800GTX 512 MB
- ATI releases X1900XT which supposedly is hungrier than the X1800XT according to this review. Just by how much? Let's wait til NDA is lifted and see. Will it consume more than the 7800GTX 512 MB? I hope not.

Source: AnandTech

SFOSOK · Jan 24, 2006, 09:22 AM

The heat on that thing is horrible. I'm still trying to figure out the whole less power consumption but more heat thing with the 7800 256 I have but 70C being a normal temp for any card is completely insane.

Jan 23, 2006, 08:09 PM	#1
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	PowerColor Radeon X1900 XT 512MB Review @ Hardwarezone ATI's Radeon X1800 series should have been out as early as when NVIDIA had their GeForce 7800 series out in the market, but it's just unfortunate that they kept facing manufacturing and yield issues that pushed its launch way back till the last quarter of 2005. Even then, availability was scarce at launch and it wasn't till December when the supply chain had enough to populate most major retail stores. Meanwhile during the delays, NVIDIA was the main profiteer since the GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB was widely available, more affordable and could match up to the Radeon X1800 XT on certain fronts. We stress 'certain' because the Radeon X1800 XT's new architecture and vastly faster clock speeds helped it attain some huge wins against NVIDIA's high-end. However, that lead was short lived as GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB debuted in November with amazingly high clocks as opposed to its 'mainstream' 256MB brother and shattered all performance records held by ATI's Radeon X1800 XT darling. Despite the high performance of NVIDIA's two-slot GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB behemoth, its availability was only barely decent at launch and following which until today, it is difficult to obtain and priced at a high premium. Limited stocks and highly sought after, these are the winning combination for a natural market price hike which has taken place if you consider the SRP of US$649 versus the US$700 and upwards going price currently. __________ Read More / Source: Hardwarezone

Jan 23, 2006, 09:56 PM	#2
Erroneus Get off my lawn! Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,419 Rep Power: 119 System Specs	Well, a day before the NDA lifts and using 5.13 drivers, the results might not be 100% correct... But it does beats GF7800GTX 512 most of the time and it's cheaper, so i guess it's a pretty decent card, but I'm looking forward to some x1900XTX results to se how much it pulls away and if not much more, well then I'm guessing G71 is going to be king of the hill, if released soon Oh yeah the OC results are bit dissapoiting. __________________

Jan 23, 2006, 11:09 PM	#3
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	I found it a little lacking, I remember when the R520 came out and and everyone was saying Wait for the R580, its goin to blow everyone away. Well its here and I'm still standing. To call it the x1900 is horrible, I thought they were making some true advances with that core and board not just optimizing the old 1800 with new core. Also the cooler on that thing is redicolously ugly and inefficient. It barely beats out the 7800 512 in some games but runs at 70C during a game, wtf is that about? Would have considered it but its not really special just optimized, I'm waiting for the first team to release something truelly special like the 9800, otherwise I'm waiting for a while. Edit: Also it is goin to be no where near that price and released late. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Jan 23, 2006, 11:16 PM	#4
davidnsibs 9500pro Forever Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 273 Rep Power: 0	nah, the 9800 was really similar to the 9700, wasnt a massive improvement at launch. anyway, this is the x1900, not the x2800, so was never gonna be a massive redesign __________________ Goodbye 9500pro, you've been a faithful servant through Half life, Deus Ex, Unreal 2, Max Payne 1+2, Nolf 1+2, CoD, Far Cry, Civ IV, F.E.A.R and many more

Jan 24, 2006, 09:22 AM	#6
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	The heat on that thing is horrible. I'm still trying to figure out the whole less power consumption but more heat thing with the 7800 256 I have but 70C being a normal temp for any card is completely insane. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!