Conclusion

The era of the R5x0 is coming to an end and the X1950XTX Toxic is its finest representative. It chewed right through every test we threw at it, barely twitching at the HD resolutions used. While a claim like this doesn’t mean much in games like HL2: Ep1 or GRAW, being able to enjoy Tomb Raider Legend or Oblivion at such settings is certainly a welcome addition. Another big plus for the Toxic card is its huge overclocking potential. The self-contained water-cooler unit does a tremendous job of keeping the card really cool while being almost noiseless and looking cool to boot (the blue lit fan certainly helps).

There are certainly no question marks hanging over the card’s performance and it will without doubt appeal to those people wanting to build the quietest performance enthusiast system possible, however a key question needs answered, that being “is it too little too late?” To answer this we need to address several points.

Firstly, the one thing going in favour of a standard X1950 card right now is the price, however with the addition of the Toxic’s sophisticated cooling solution the price is equivalent to a 8800 GTS which also has DX10 compatibility. So while the Toxic is the pinnacle of X1950 development it really is hard to recommend when the competition from the guys in green is so fierce. Everything considered, if you really want to stick with an ATI powered solution then the Toxic card will deliver great framerates at even better temperatures without raising the noise levels in your system. Highly recommended.

What do these awards mean?

Available from Pixmania for £336 Overclockers £352