Once again ATi have refreshed their Radeon X800 series by adding another product to the mix. The latest inclusion to the product line-up is the Radeon X800GT and it is a rather interesting addition. The Radon X800GT is an interesting product because it is much like any Radeon X800 product with the only limiting factor being the 8 pipeline design. However, a core clock speed of 475MHz and a memory clock of 980MHz places this one right up there. Being the only 8 pixel pipeline X800 graphics card does not make the X800GT all that slow, but it does make it quite cheap.
Priced at roughly $150 US, the Radeon X800GT is designed to go head to head with the GeForce 6600 GT form NVIDIA. The mid-range performance segment has been troublesome for ATi over the past year as the GeForce 6600 GT has dominated in the sales. The Radeon X800GT is a late attempt to try and re-capture some of this market. Despite coming onto the scene nearly a year after the GeForce 6600 GT the Radon X800GT really struggles to give it the beating required. The recent ?NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT vs. ATi Radeon X800GT?article posted here at Legion Hardware showed just how similar in performance these two products are.
Given the Radeon X800GT is slightly more expensive at the moment, I was disappointed that it did not defeat the GeForce 6600 GT more convincingly. The Radeon X800GT has a total memory bandwidth of 31GB/s, which is extremely impressive for a sub $200 US graphics card. The GeForce 6600 GT on the other hand, produces just 16GB/s of memory bandwidth. Both cards only have 8 pixel pipelines in which to utilize this memory, the GeForce 6600 GT is also clocked slightly higher. However, the Radeon X800GT does have an additional 3 vertex units favoring it when compared to the GeForce 6600 GT.
Today's Radeon X800GT review item features a very elaborate cooling design known as IceQ II Turbo. There are few manufacturers that have fitted their Radeon X800GT graphics cards with such unique cooling setups. The HIS X800GT IceQ II Turbo (256MB PCI Express) graphics card is a member of the well known IceQ II series, meaning it features a massive cooling setup. This design has already proven itself time and time again, so there will be no surprises here.
However, the ?Turbo?part of the naming indicates that the card can be overclocked using official software. The card ships with iTURBO software that can drastically improve the cards performance at a click of a button. The concept of overclocking is nothing new, nor is it difficult. However, the fact that it will not void the warranty when using the iTURBO software is an invaluable feature to have. The card does receive a reasonable boost in performance which should help it overcome the GeForce 6600 GT in a wider range of games.
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