ATI Radeon X1950 XTX Video Card

A great card, if you're willing to pay the money and not get DX10

Strengths: Great performance, direct heat exhaust.

Weakness: Price, non-DX10, temps run high, ATI software/drivers, size.

For various reasons, I decided to spend the money on this card now, even knowing the DX10 cards are very close in the pipeline. But in terms of functionality, the card is great... I did a comparison of this card (on its own) versus two EVGA 7950GT's in SLI mode (all of them at stock settings). In 3DMark06 at 1920x1200, the X1950XTX produced scores SM2.0 scores of 2144 and SM3.0 of 2067. The SLI'd...
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For various reasons, I decided to spend the money on this card now, even knowing the DX10 cards are very close in the pipeline. But in terms of functionality, the card is great... I did a comparison of this card (on its own) versus two EVGA 7950GT's in SLI mode (all of them at stock settings).

In 3DMark06 at 1920x1200, the X1950XTX produced scores SM2.0 scores of 2144 and SM3.0 of 2067. The SLI'd 7950GT's scores were 3221 and 2904. So the X1950XTX performes at about 66% of the SM 2.0 scores with the 2 7950's, but the big news is that it's closer to 72% of the SM3.0 score. Not bad for a single card versus two fairly new SLI'd cards at all.

The cons: it runs hot (high 80's on the GPU under the 3dMark run); ATI's "automatic overclocking" utility in its drivers returns settings that are not stable (in fact locking up 3DMark06 right after "auto adjustment").

If you're willing to spend this sort of price on a card that's not DX10, this is the way to go. In terms of my compro, this card cost about 2/3 of the 2 7950's, but performed slightly better than those two combines, so bang-for-the-buck it's a good buy if the price tag doesn't scare you off.

By geo442 - Nov 8, 2006

X1950XTX Mis-advertised

Strengths: Fast

Weakness: Cannot set speed

The advertised GPU core speed of 650MHz and memory speed of 2000MHz appear to be attainable only in certain circumstances. Catalyst Control Center reports actual speeds of 506MHz and 1192MHz respectively. The higher speeds are "requested" by ATI Overdrive, but when do they acheive them? I cannot answer, and neither can the manufacturers, as they do not answer my emails. I have tested 2 different...
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The advertised GPU core speed of 650MHz and memory speed of 2000MHz appear to be attainable only in certain circumstances. Catalyst Control Center reports actual speeds of 506MHz and 1192MHz respectively. The higher speeds are "requested" by ATI Overdrive, but when do they acheive them? I cannot answer, and neither can the manufacturers, as they do not answer my emails. I have tested 2 different cards made by Powercolor, and Diamond, and both behave exactly alike.

By teeekay - Nov 5, 2006

Sigh

Strengths: Almost none.

Weakness: Ati. Poor company support + poor video cards = a bad place to buy.

ITs Nvidia for me. this is my first ati and i am very dissapointed. Please save your time and go to nvidia because they offer the best support and performance

By Forkinator - Nov 18, 2006

WORKS GREAT! ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4

Strengths: LOTS OF POWER AND PLAYS ALL GAMES. NO REASON TO PAY TWO AND THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY. THIS CARD WILL LAST FOR YEARS FOR MOST USERS. THE PRICE WAS AROUND $500 WHEN FIRST RELEASED, NOW ITS ONLY $200-$300AT

Weakness: TO FAT FOR OLDER COMPUTERS. CAN ONLY BE USED IN COMPUTERS WITH LOTS OF ROOM. THE COST WAS HIGH WHEN FIRST CAME OUT. ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4AT

I HAVE TWO.ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Ed 512MB GDDR4

By anonymous; - Oct 4, 2008

Zero problems

Strengths: Great images/speed, stays cool under pressure, REALLY quiet

Weakness: None so far

Having a blast with this card onboard my new rig (Core2 Duo E6600). Price was a bit to swallow, but haven't looked back. Looking forward to going Crossfire by the end of the year.

By anonymous; - Jun 15, 2007