Overclocking:

We overclocked all three video cards to give an indication as to how well these cards overclock past their specification. This is only an indication, as we cannot guarantee that video card manufacturers are not sending us ?cherries? With all three video cards based on the same core, and running at the same clock speeds, we should be able to establish how well the Radeon X800 XL overclocks in general.

The Club3D X800 XL overclocked to 455/1112MHz which was a pretty impressive overclock, especially when both the MSI and Sapphire Radeon X800 XL's both topped out around the same clock speeds. The former clocked to 430/1094MHz, while the latter topped out at 429/1092MHz. We get the feeling that the Club3D Radeon X800 XL either benefits from the additional power connector or the cooling solution is just more efficient.

We asked Sapphire whether they would ever consider using an additional power connector on their Radeon X800 XL, but they said that they did not think that it was required. If you do not plan to overclock this video card, then an additional power connector is not required, but those of you who do wish to gain the best possible gaming experience from your video card would be wise to consider a Radeon X800 XL with an additional power connector if the X800 XL suits your price point.

Game Experience Recap:

Without a doubt, the Radeon X800 XL, in general, represents a very solid competitor for NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 GT, at a price point that makes the product even more attractive to the gaming enthusiast who does not have ?50+ to spend on a video card. Before we establish which of the three Radeon X800 XL's is the best of this encouraging bunch, it would be good to summarise how it fits in against the GeForce 6800 GT - the video card that ATI have targeted with the introduction of the X800 XL.

In Doom 3, we found that the GeForce 6800 GT was the faster card, edging out the three Radeon X800 XL's by a considerable margin. With the GeForce 6800 GT, we were able to achieve a smooth gaming experience at 1600x1200 2xAA 8xAF with High Quality in-game details, whereas the Radeon X800 XL's could only manage 1280x1024 with 2xAA 8xAF and High Quality textures. We did try 1600x1200 with 0xAA 8xAF, but found that the performance deficit was too much for the gaming experience to remain smooth.

The Radeon X800 XL was strong through Half-Life 2, FarCry and Need For Speed: Underground 2. The GeForce 6800 GT delivered a smooth gaming experience at the same settings as the Radeon X800 XL, but the Radeon X800 XL achieved a considerably higher average frame rate in both the "Follow Freeman!" and "Water Hazard" chapters. This is not to say that the GeForce 6800 GT did not deliver a smooth gaming experience - in fact, the GeForce 6800 GT delivered a smoother gaming experience in the "Follow Freeman!" run through due to the higher minimum frame rate that was consistently recorded. Need For Speed: Underground 2 was much the same as Half-Life 2, both video cards delivered a smooth gaming experience at 1024x768 with 4xAA 16xAF and maximum in-game detail settings. The Radeon X800 XL's delivered a higher minimum and average frame rate, which resulted in a smoother gaming experience.

Since the performance gains that ATI made with Catalyst 5.2, FarCry has become one that they can almost rely on as a strong performer. FarCry is a game that benefits from Anti-Aliasing at higher resolutions, and we found that the GeForce 6800 GT just did not have quite enough performance to deliver a smooth gaming experience at 1280x1024 with 2xAA - we ended up settling on running at 1280x1024 0xAA 8xAF with maximum in-game detail settings. The title is very heavy on the pixel shader engine inside the GPU, and this is something that ATI are typically very strong in - the Radeon X800 XL displayed it's pixel shader prowess, and was able to deliver a smooth experience at 1280x1024 2xAA 8xAF with the eye candy turned on.

There were differences in image quality between ATI and NVIDIA's drivers in this title, specifically with the over-exposure of the light emitted from the roof of the Factory on the GeForce 6800 GT. We highlighted this problem a long while back now, and the bug remains unfixed - it's not a big glitch that is a key part of the title, but it is a bug nonetheless. In this day and age, with the massive bump in the achievable quality of gaming experience that came about after the release of the GeForce 6800 and Radeon X800 series of video cards, we expect a high standard of image quality through all titles - we feel that this is a bug that NVIDIA need to work towards fixing.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a title that benefits more from increasing the resolution than it does from adding masses of Anti-Aliasing to a slightly lower resolution. The Radeon X800 XL achieved a playable and smooth frame rate at 1280x1024 with 0xAA 16xAF, while the GeForce 6800 GT delivered a smooth gaming experience at 1280x1024 2xAA 16xAF. We did not find that the Anti-Aliasing made a great deal of difference to the texture quality, but we found that 1600x1200 0xAA 16xAF was not quite as playable as we would have liked - the average frame rate was a mere 40 frames per second, but the minimum frame rate did not drop below 28 frames per second. It was playable, but not quite as smooth as the gaming experience we had at 1280x1024 2xAA 16xAF.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was an interesting title in many ways - first off was the sheer quality of the gaming experience achieved with nothing more than DirectX 8.1 technology. The Radeon X800 XL is forced to use a Shader Model 1.1 path, as Ubisoft decided against a Shader Model 2.0 path. When we look at the image quality differences between Shader Model 1.1 and Shader Model 3.0 in this title, you will realise that they probably made the right decision. There is slightly improved lighting with the Shader Model 3.0 path, but the additional features were of no use with the GeForce 6800 GT - the card was simply not fast enough to make good use of HDR Rendering, Parallax Mapping, and High Quality Soft Shadows.

We could not get the GeForce 6800 GT to deliver a smooth frame rate at 1280x1024 with 0xAA 8xAF enabled, so we found that 1024x768 2xAA 8xAF delivered the optimal game performance. The Radeon X800 XL was capable of delivering a good gaming experience at 1280x1024 0xAA 8xAF using the Shader Model 1.1 path. There is a toss up between the increased resolution and the improved lighting quality delivered by the Shader Model 3.0 path, but it is impossible to make that decision on the basis of one level - we will have to wait and see whether the full version of the title brings more benefits to running the Shader Model 3.0 path before we can make a quantitative decision on whether the reduced resolution and higher lighting quality is worth it or not.

Final Thoughts...

ATI have finally established themselves with a serious competitor for the GeForce 6800 GT, and what a fantastic competitor it is. Looking around at prices for PCI-Express GeForce 6800 GT's brings us numbers in the region of ?80 for an OEM XFX GeForce 6800 GT, the full retail package is another ?8, but out of stock at the moment. For NVIDIA to compete with the Radeon X800 XL - the price of the GeForce 6800 GT must drop significantly. Unless you are an avid Doom 3 or Riddick fan, or want the option to add a second video card at a later date to run two GeForce 6800 GT's in SLI, we see no reason as to why you would want to look a much further a field than any of these Radeon X800 XL's.

MSI have put together a sterling bundle again, with very little wrong with the product as a whole. The only thing wrong with the package is the lack of the second DVI to VGA converter - the lack of an additional power connector could be considered a downside if you are looking to get the most out of your Radeon X800 XL. The card is not available with the bundle at the time of writing, but the OEM card-only package is priced at ?18.49 - we expect the full retail product to retail around the ?30 mark, which puts it in a similar price bracket to Club3D's X800 XL. If you are after a comprehensive bundle, and VIVO functionality, this may be the right choice for you.

Sapphire's implementation is a pretty good one for those of you who are on a budget and not looking for a video card with the additional features that come with the Club3D and MSI implementations. We didn't particularly like the cooler, but if you already have a watercooling loop or are looking to change the cooler for something like an ATI Silencer 5 (rev. 2), then this may well be the deal for you. However, if you have high hopes for overclocking this video card past the clock speeds that we achieved, you may come away disappointed. In our opinion, the card would really benefit from an additional power connector when overclocking.

Club3D's Radeon X800 XL really was the star of the show - the games bundle is not quite up to the standards of the other two cards we have looked at here, but there are a number of things that just made the card stand out above the pack. The cooler is an old tried and tested design that works a treat - it's quiet, looks good, and is very efficient too. The inclusion of an additional power connector makes this card stand out from the competitors when we overclocked it. We're sure that those of you who are looking to get the most for your money will not be too bothered about the additional power source ?after all, we have come to get used to this with ageing AGP video cards.

With both MSI's and Sapphire's cards both topping out at around 430/1090MHz, we can make the assumption that the Club3D X800 XL benefits from the additional power source and it is quite possible that it also benefits from using a tried and tested cooling solution. The power consumption is something that is of great interest, and we will endeavour to visit that subject again at a later date. We are awarding Club3D's Radeon X800 XL 's award for excellence for their vision to create something that is not too far short of a masterpiece in 3D technology - this is one seriously kickass video card, that comes with a competitive asking price.

- Tim Smalley

Club3D Radeon X800 XL 256MB