Conclusion

The X1650Pro card is not the fastest card on the market by a long shot, and it’s bigger brother – the X1650XT is the card you should be looking for if you want to enjoy your games with a “middle-class” graphics card. This is missing the point of the PRO Ultimate however. The passive cooler makes it clear that this card isn’t intended for the average gamer, but for people who want their PC to be totally noiseless. Enthusiast gamers will prefer higher framerates over silence however, so they can easily ignore this card for their main system.

People who are building a multimedia PC for their living room (or are looking for an upgrade for one) would be well advised to give this card some serious consideration. The card runs cool courtesy of the well designed cooler and thanks to ATI’s AVIVO technology it is just as capable of rendering HD video as any of ATI’s recent higher end cards.

This is indeed the card’s greatest strength - via a High Definition Television, as the AVIVO powered video quality at 720p or 1080p is magnificent. This combined with the fact that for a secondary gaming system hooked up to a HDTV, it can comfortably power most games at 720p resolution while enveloping you in total silence.

The icing on the cake is the competitive £70-£80 asking price online, earning it a clear Editor’s Choice Award.

What do these awards mean?