However its not all bad news as the plain XT versions
have higher availability as well as more competitive pricing
and most generally can overclock to the more expensive
PE speeds. Pricewatch
shows decent availability and pricing around the $480
mark which is good value, especially considering the X800XT
AGP is still listed on Visiontek's site for the same
price.
Features:
*256MB of GDDR3 memory
*256-bit memory interface
*16 parallel pixel pipelines
*PCI Express x16 lane native support
*Dual display support
*Dual integrated 400MHz DAC's
*2048x1536 @ 85Hz Maximum Resolution
*S-Video TV-out port
*Full support for DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL®
2.0 functionality
*SMARTSHADER™ HD technology
*SMOOTHVISION™ HD technology
*3Dc™ High quality 4:1 Normal Map Compression delivers
beautiful scenes without the performance hit.
*Unique VIDEOSHADER™ HD engine uses programmable
pixel shaders to accelerate video processing and provide
better-looking visuals
*HYPER Z™ HD is optimized for performance at high
display resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions.
The difference between the plain XT and the XTPE is quite
minimal, with the clocks on the XT being 520 core and
540/1080 ram, while the PE version is 540 core and 590/1180
ram. Im not going to bore you all with detailed technical
information on the XT card as we have been over the X850
series cards before, if you want more details go to our
X850XTPE
review or this
reference page.
As you can see from the pictures above, the box has all
the necessary cables as well as a convertor - but it is
unfortunate to see Visiontek reverting to a VGA and DVI
output, not the more expensive dual DVI system now enjoyed
on all high end X850's. As some of you will remember the
R3xx and R4xx chips have a VGA, DVO (digital video out)
and a TMDS out (DVI, single TMDS). To get dual DVI you
need to get a DVO - TMDS convertor chip - this is not
included on the Visiontek X850XT card. Another omission
is the ATI Rage Theatre Chip, generally this wont be an
issue if you are just purchasing the card for gaming but
its worth mentioning.
The Visiontek cooler is quite substantial with a nice
deep copper plate being used over the core, its a reference
design with the Visiontek "name" on it. which
is very capable and does not get uncomfortably loud at
any time, apart from system power on. You will be pleased
to know even after hours of stressing in an overclocked
state the cooler never reaches the insane levels of initial
boot up.
Removing the rear mounting plate shows
the memory to be Samsung K4J55323QF-16
which is rated to a possible 600/1200mhz, this
is a good sign and should hopefully aid overclocking past
the default speeds of 1080mhz, but more on that later
in the review.
