Radeon X800 Pro Card Roundup --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

Gigabyte GV-R80P256V

Unlike other RADEON X800 PRO cards we showcased thus far, Gigabyte has mounted a custom designed cooler for the GV-R80P256V. On first looks, we bet you can't tell the difference since the basic design differs little from the previous three graphics cards.

A frontal view of the Gigabyte GV-R80P256V (RADEON X800 PRO VIVO) graphics card.

Compared to ATI's reference cooler units seen on other cards, Gigabyte's cooler is extended to actively cool the forward facing memory chips. As a result, it achieved better memory subsystem overclocking and the outcome of which will be made known in the respective section later in this shootout article.

Thermal pads were used on the memory chips to achieve contact with the enlarged main cooler unit.

Gigabyte too uses 1.6ns memory parts.

An ATI Rage Theater ASIC assists the Gigabyte GV-R80P256V to perform video capturing.

Like the GeCube product, Gigabyte's GV-R80P256V is also capable of VIVO and more interestingly, its VPU too had full 16 rendering pipelines activated. Performance gain over usual RADEON X800 PRO cards was equally outstanding as seen in this performance chart:-

Within the enormous box packaging of Gigabyte GV-R80P256V, we found one of the most extensive software/game bundles among the shootout participants and the complete contents are as listed:-

DVI-I to VGA adapter

Component-output cable dongle

VIVO dongle (S-Video & Composite connections)

Y-Power cable splitter

Gigabyte GV-R80P256D/V User Manual

Driver CD

Software: CyberLink PowerDVD 5.0, CyberLink Power Director 3 ME, 3D-Album DE ver:2.03, Gigabyte V-Tuner 2

Games: Counter Strike: Condition Zero (2 CDs), SpellForce: The Order Of Dawn (2 CDs), Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (2 CDs)

Software for Video editing, photo management/manipulation, video and DVD playback and even an overclocking tool in the form of Gigabyte's V-Tuner 2 are present in the package. Most other cards do not bundle custom overclocking utilities, so this is a small bonus in addition to the handy applications provided.

In the gaming section of the bundle, you'll find three full games.

The cable package is as follows: VIVO cable dongle, Component-output cable dongle, Y-Power cable splitter and a DVI-I to DB15 VGA adapter.

The colossal box package houses the Gigabyte GV-R80P256 and its gamut of software, games and accessories.

It looks as if the GV-R80P256V has all the grounds covered and should prove to be a fierce contender in this shootout. We'll find out if Gigabyte achieved its goal as we put up comparisons accounting all the various aspects at the end of this article.

Here?s another look at the Gigabyte GV-R80P256V. When the card is in operation, super bright LEDs beneath the fan light up with strobe effects.

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