Home page » Graphics

Search Graphics:

Refine search for Graphics

Each time a new graphics card is released, the model number seems to get closer and closer to a car model number. However, this is the first time when looking for prices for a card that I could only find the prices for Golf, Alfa Romeo and Mustang cars. I personally find it particularly confusing as X1900 GT and 7900 GT seem to get mushed up in my mind in both audio and visual terms. A one may be six away from seven but the characters are all too similar for my liking – thank Jebus for the added X. It is rather apt then, that this sub £200 card is squarely aimed at competing with the 7900 GT.

The card tested here was supplied by Connect3D and as this was one of the first in the country it is just an ATI reference sample. This means there isn't anything particularly Connect3D specific (such as overclocking) but it does still tell us what we need to know about stock performance. Interestingly, although briefed to me as an X1900 GT, on the back of the card it is called an X1900 GTO so we may well see both product names marketed.

In the ATI line up, the X1900 GT is designed to replace the X1800 XT. It is a slightly cut down version of the X1900 XT. Like the X1900 XT it has eight vertex shaders, but it has only 36 pixel shaders, compared to the 48 on the XT and XTX parts. This equates to only 12 pixel output engines, instead of the 16. Naturally, it has ATI's ring bus memory architecture and improved efficiency over the X1800 series.

As you can see above, the cooler has changed somewhat from the previous single slot design. It's actually considerably better too, without the annoying pitch changes we saw in the X1800 XL and X1800 GTO cards.

This card has 256MB of memory running at 600MHz (1200MHz effective) which is strange as the memory modules are the same 1.4ns Samsung parts that are on the nVidia 7600 GT and 7900 GT cards. These are technically rated to 715MHz despite only running at 600MHz, in fact on the nVidia cards we squeezed speeds as high as 915MHz out of them when overclocked - it's always good to know that you've got some headroom to play with. The core is running at 575MHz, compared to the 625MHz of an XT.

Connect3D's unique selling point is cheap prices and minimal bundles. No software is included, but you do get ViVo breakout cables, S-Video and composite cables, component output, DVI adapters and a Molex to 6-pin PCI-E connector.

Add your comment

© 2003-2008 TrustedReviews | About Us | Contact Us | Legal | Privacy | RSS