- GeCube RADEON X1300 256MB AGP
- Sapphire RADEON X1300 256MB AGP
- Sapphire RADEON X1600 PRO 256MB AGP
- Leadtek WinFast A7800 GS TDH (GeForce 7800 GS) 256MB AGP
GeCube RADEON X1300 256MB AGP has demonstrated good results for its price, outperformed only by the GeForce 6600. I hope that price comparisons will be in favor of our product under review, or it will be of little interest. Though old models from the same camp are utterly defeated. However, core and memory frequencies speak for themselves as well as a more efficient architecture. I'd like to remind you that the product fully supports Shaders 3.0, so it can compete well with NVIDIA products. But the bundle is bad. I understand that it's a Low-End product and the manufacturer doesn't want/need to bundle it with various software. But if it's retail, be so kind not to save on trifles. The bundle does not even include necessary adapters!
Assemblage quality is up to the mark, we had no gripes with its operation. 2D quality is good up to 1600õ1200 (we speak of the analog output, of course).
Sapphire RADEON X1300 256MB AGP - considering so great frequency differences, we can say that the card has the same results as the previous. Thus, our conclusions are the same as well. Except for the bundle: Sapphire did great here. No matter whether Low-End or Middle... That's nice. The problem is that the memory frequency in this card is too low. Why equip it with 2.8ns memory and set the frequency to 500 MHz? It's a strange way to use fast memory.
Assemblage quality is excellent, we had no gripes with its operation either. 2D quality is good up to 1600õ1200 85Hz (we speak of the analog output, of course).
Sapphire RADEON X1600 PRO 256MB AGP is a more welcome product than the other ATI cards, because it grants AGP users a Middle-End accelerator for $130, which fully supports SM 3.0 as well as competes well with GeForce 6600/6600 GT (except for a number of tests). And even GeForce 6800LE is outperformed in some tests.
What concerns the quality, there are no differences from the previous product. Even PCBs are similar as well as their elements.
Leadtek WinFast A7800 GS TDH (GeForce 7800 GS) 256MB AGP - many users have been impatiently waiting for this product. Though they had expected much more from it (judging from forums), the 7800 title means something. That is this card is at least on the level of the 7800 GT. But as I have already mentioned, they are based on G70 rejects, so the number of pipelines and frequencies are reduced. So we got an architectural level of the 6800 Ultra, and something in between the 6800 GT and the 6800 U in frequency terms. Though this card is equipped with very fast memory. Thus it's not limited to the 1200 MHz, as 1.4ns memory can operate at 1400 MHz.
But as the tests revealed, this product is not a transient model between the 6800 GT and Ultra. It often demonstrates better results than the 6800 Ultra! Thus it can be called nearly the most powerful AGP accelerator from NVIDIA for today! Yep, it's not absolutely the best, as the X850 XT PE is often faster (and cheaper, according to the mid March prices). But the X850 XT AGP is already hard to be found. So the 7800 GS may become the truly fastest card that is available for today (in the AGP segment). Of course, this card should cost no more than $350, but its prices are currently raised higher.
Quality. I have always liked Leadtek, because there is even no need to touch upon this issue! It's quite clear that the quality is excellent, including 2D!
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