Introduction
It has been months down the road since the Radeon X700 launch, and still no X700 XT. At this point, it is very likely that the new mid-range X800 part will push the non-existent X700 XT off the map altogether, but we have other ideas about what ATI needs to do with it. If performance is lower than the newly announced X800 line, ATI have an opportunity to offer a greater variety of price points. What is shipping in volume now is the little brother of the X700 XT, the X700 Pro.The ATI Radeon X700 Pro, clocked at 425 MHz at the core and running 2ns GDDR3 at 432 MHz (864 effective data rate), is ATI's current $200 PCI Express graphics part.
While ATI currently lacks an equivalent mid-range AGP part, we are hearing that they are working on a bridge chip that should be ready sometime next month. It is unclear what parts will make it onto the AGP platform.
Today, we will be taking a look at four different Radeon X700 Pro vendors: ABIT, HIS, PowerColor, and Sapphire. We will also take a quick look at the X700 Pro vs. the 6600GT, just to get everything in perspective before we begin.
UPDATE: The card we received from HIS was apparently an engineering sample. The final version of this board does have the thermal sensor on board. The fan switch is also not included in the shipping product, but is software controlled via their overclocking software which the X700 Pro IceQ will ship with.
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Gaia Hunter - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link
@11:Dont forget most 6800 vanillas can easly be softmoded with rivatuner:
-All will get the 6th vertex unit;
-Good chance of getting the additionall 4 pixel pipes too.
I was able to go to 16,6. That gave me a 25% boost in 3dmark03 and 33% bost in 3dmark05.~
Also consider 6800 LE (around $250). Most can get 12 pipes and 5 vertex. If u get lucky u can get to 16,6.
While u cant always do this, consider that nvidia is implementing a new way to mask the Pipilines! think about that :)
Questar - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link
>>Mid range and PCIe dont mix right now. who would get mid range card if they were dishing out big bucks to get a PCIe setup??Me. Assuming 3Ghz is midrange.
Alphafox78 - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link
Mid range and PCIe dont mix right now. who would get mid range card if they were dishing out big bucks to get a PCIe setup?? AGP still has 98% market share, but I guess the 2% high end stuff is worth forgetting agp over.DerekWilson - Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - link
#18the wildcat is a professional card, not a consumer level card. the wildcat realizm 200 competes with the quadro, not the geforce.
nurazlanshah - Monday, December 13, 2004 - link
im just wondering, why dont people just use 3dlabs wildcat realizm 200 if they really want the best computer and if they have the money? i would do that.http://www.3dlabs.com/products/product.asp?prod=29...
skunkbuster - Monday, December 13, 2004 - link
#16, i think they do that in order to eliminate the cpu as being a bottleneckalexlck - Monday, December 13, 2004 - link
nice review but there is something that i don't understand.When people is looking for a mid-range video card, they are usually having a medicore setup. so what's the point to test a mid-range card with a
$1,000+ CPU?
can you please retest those cards with 3Ghz/3000+ cpu?
Which, i think, will give some more realistic results.
ShadowVlican - Monday, December 13, 2004 - link
i can confirm #12 statement about the "2004 Performance" cause i see that too.. stoopid ad :/too bad ati... better bring out the new X800s now and lower the price too :D cause ur X700Pro can't touch the 6600gt :P
DerekWilson - Monday, December 13, 2004 - link
Thanks Pete. Corrected the typo.Pete - Monday, December 13, 2004 - link
Hey Derek, slight typo in the Doom 3 benches. I think you mwant to say AA rather than aniso in the first sentence, as HQ mode in D3 uses 8xAF by default.Sorry, I can't get as excited about this article as the last simply b/c the cards are uninspiring. Better luck next SKU, ATI.