The majority of consumers out there are always on the look out for a good value graphics card. Previous products such as the NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 or GeForceFX 5900XT are perfect examples of this. The GeForce4 Ti4200 was an excellent overclocker and was able to offer flagship performance at the price of a budget card. The GeForceFX 5900XT was the previous generation budget hero, though it came very late and did not last all that long. Generally, these budget cards come about after months of competition between ATi and NVIDIA.
Already this current generation of graphics cards has seen some excellent buys, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT and now the ATi Radeon X800XL. The Radeon X800XL price tag places it between the Radeon X800 Pro and Radeon X850 Pro graphics cards, which are both 12 pipeline cards. Given the price tag of the Radeon X800XL, this product removes the urge to go with the 12 pipeline cards. The Radeon X800XL also features a 0.11-micron process, making it the only X800 product to feature this fab process. Currently, the 0.13-micron process has been better optimized for high frequencies and has been able to achieve 590MHz, as witnessed with the Radeon X850XT PE.
However, by using this newer, cheaper process the Radeon X800XL has been brought to us with a much more user friendly price tag. Furthermore the memory frequency is set at 490MHz which is quite conservative amongst the X800 clan. Nevertheless, even with these clock speeds given the card does sport all 16 pixel pipelines, it will deliver an impressive peak texel fill rate of 6,400 Megatexels/second. This impressive peak texel fill rate exceeds that of the GeForce 6800 GT by 12%. Given that the Radeon X800XL graphics cards are available for the same price as the non-GT (GeForce 6800) cards, they are quite exceptional products.
Theoretically if a Radeon X800XL was able to achieve 140MHz core overclock, it would deliver the exact same performance you would find from a Radeon X850XT PE. Unfortunately, this kind of overclock will be near impossible given the design of this graphics card. However, Radeon X800XT core frequencies should just about be possible. If this is even close to being possible at over a $100 US saving, when compared to the Radeon X800XT the X800XL is going to be a highly sort after product. Overclocking aside the Radeon X800XL is still going to be a killer product at $350 US regardless.
While there are currently five Radeon X800/X850 products featuring 16 pixel pipelines, eventually we will end up with just three. The Radeon X850XT will replace the X800XT, as will the Radeon X800XL. The Radeon X800XT PE will of course be phased out by the Radeon X850XT PE, once availability improves. Given the Radeon X800XL is retailing for just $350 US, it offers better value than the Radeon X800 Pro and can deliver Radeon X800XT like performance. This means unless you are prepared to spend over $500 US, the Radeon X800XL will offer the best performance in the Radeon line-up.
