PowerColor Radeon X800 GT 256MB (PCIe) Review
The card
A technical comparison.
Conclusion
Finally, there is something for ATI fans to rejoice after reading all the positive NVIDIA buzz, while ATI’s CrossFire and R520 have yet to materialize in stores. At least this time, their favorite graphics chipmaker has got it right. The performance and pricing of the Radeon X800 GT shows that it is not just a hors d’oeuvre to whet our appetite for the highly anticipated R520. This is a card that can actually compete against the popular GeForce 6600 GT and holds the best chance among all the ATI cards, of reducing NVIDIA’s market share in this segment.
The Radeon X800 GT 256MB turned in an exciting performance in our lab, beating its main NVIDIA rival, the GeForce 6600 GT on many occasions. It could even give the more expensive GeForce 6800 a run for its money, making us wish that ATI had introduced this viable alternative to the GeForce 6600 GT much earlier. Instead, we had the X700 series to anchor ATI’s mid-range, an ill-fated series that had some production issues and less than stellar performance compared to its NVIDIA competitors. With such shortcomings, the performance-oriented consumers largely overlooked the X700, a fate that the Radeon X800 GT 256MB should easily be able to avert this time round. Take note that we stress the good outcome on the Radeon X800 GT 256MB version only and not the slower clocked 128MB adaptation, which we’ve yet to get our hands on one.
ATI fans can now enjoy the Radeon X800 GT while waiting for the R520.
PowerColor has provided a very competent Radeon X800 GT 256MB for our review, with a design reminiscent of its Radeon X800 XL. By all accounts, it follows the standard design and clock speeds, though PowerColor has included a better than average bundle. The overclocking margin was fairly good and should tempt the enthusiasts to try to improve on our results. The PowerColor Radeon X800 GT 256MB version is very reasonably tagged at US$159 during launch time. For gamers trying to find the elusive balance between price and performance, the competitive pricing of the Radeon X800 GT should be an attractive proposition that’s hard to resist.
Rating: 4.5/5.
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Hehe i hope this makes it to india quickly !
Smith
August 9, 2005, 12:23pm
2
doesnt it have an AGP version? Anyway, i dont want to know! Got my BIG 6600GT 15 mins back
Thanks for the Review Link Blade & Congrats Argus on ur 6600GT.
BTW how much did u get the 6600GT for.
@ Quady
He had posted 9.5 in sme othr thread
An excerpt from a review of another X800GT (HIS) from guru3d.com :
So before we see the launch of the upcoming high-end R520 and R580 graphics cards, ATI released something price competitive and definitely has got something there that can compete with the GeForce 6600 GT really well and in fact mostly is faster. In fact in some cases it can even get close to the 12 pipe GeForce 6800. Then again, still no Shader Model 3 is present as this is once more a refresh product and although I’m not sure on this there’s likely no Crossfire option, which is a very strong point for the 6600 GT SLI. I am getting a little puzzled though. At this point in time there are so many x800/x850 products out there that quite frankly the average consumer does not have a clue anymore what the difference is.
And people here said that I was the only one complaining of too many X800 models!!!
The 256MB card though very good,is overtaken by ATi’s own X800 vanilla model and the steadily depreciating 6800 vanillas.
The 128MB version that will actually be pitted against the 6600GT will be inferior to it,having only 128MB DDR1@700 vs. the GDRR3@1Ghz of the 6600GT.
kev182
August 9, 2005, 9:01pm
6
finally! ATi has something to compete with the 6600GT!
It seems that the X800GT is mostly better…just a bit late to come out
But, isn’t the PowerColor brand raided by filth?
As per the specs, the 128MB model has GDDR3 @ 780Mhz with a 256-bit mem interface. In what way is it inferior to GDDR3 @1Ghz with a 128-bit mem bus?
Honest mistake.;)But the 6600GT is an year old card now ,for Ati to finally come up with an answer(just) to it so late doesn’t reflect too well on it.
And the valid criticism of lack of SM3.0 support and the X800 family being over-populated still stands.
Until ATi come up with an “available” SM3.0 card my advise to Fanatics is to do some serious introspection and ‘nsist on nvidia’ from now on.
For once I actually wish ATi would launch something(i.e the R5XX ‘vaporware’ series) new coz it would make Nvidia launch a top to bottom series of GF7 cards esp. the much-awaited 7600 series soon.
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