w00t - the new dustbuster is here!

[fedz]

The latest and greatest from ATi is here, but it's big, intrusive, a massive power hog and LOUD. (That doesn't prevent it from being the best card out now).
"If the (X850XT) fan has to spin all the way up, you may get the feeling you've got a Civic with an aftermarket exhaust racing around in your box."

Review:
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2290&p=1

Card spinning up on startup:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/ATI/X850/x850xtpe.mp3

X800XT doing the same:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/ATI/X850/x800xt.mp3

The dustbuster: spot the difference?
http://www.hwupgrade.it/articoli/908/1.html

:) fedz

[kram 2.0]

Very nice. I like in how the last article, the guys are showing a picure of I believed the newest nVidia top-of-the-line model...I'm very perplexed at how they can give out benchmarks, but don't know that large amounts of static builds on the outside of the anti-static bag...just a thought. Overall, I'm anxious to see how this ATI response will fair against what seemed to be the dominant GF6800GT range and the top line ATI Radeon X800 XT PE. Thanks for the info :D

EDIT: Just turned up my volume on the card fan links. Gee...the X850 XT PE sounds like an airplane...literally :D.


kram

[fedz]

Hehe, the last article shows the obsolete and infamous FX5800Ultra 'dustbuster', officially the loudest card ever until the X850XT came out.
6800GT still fares well, but ATi has the non-SLI lead this time, so hats off to them.

:) fedz

[pam123]

Nice finds!
I'm ready to beat up on ATI.
Where are the $200 - $250 AGP cards ?
And why, after the 5800, would they bring out this X850 pe thing ?

[HAL9000]

It's like AMD/Intel... one leads for a little while, the other follows.. then it flips back again. Personally, I'm staying with ATI... I'm not into needing these high end cards anyway... my AIW 8500DV is working just fine.

[fedz]

I personally take the X850 series and their impressively loud&hot HSF's as a sign that the R4XX gpu series is hitting a ceiling, as was the case with the FX5800. The sound is particularly irritating, it's not that satisfyingly loud vantec tornado sound nor the hushed roar of the 6800U. Firstly it's louder, and secondly it's that annoying buzzing sound that makes you want to go back to the *old* X800XT PE. I have got to say that these are good cards though.

Aren't ATi the biggest hypocrites anyway? They bash NVidia deep into the ground about their power consumption, double slot cooling and noise levels and out comes the loudest, biggest power hog ever from their own assembly line :D
Check the power consumption at Anandtech, that's one area in which it really beats the NV40's into the ground (in a bad way).

ATi is now king of the hill again (not including SLi), but I'm definitely interested; what will Nvidia's competitor (if any) be???

pam123, you're right. I really would have liked to see some competition in the AGP area, perhaps a X700XT agp?
Anyway, where's the standard X700XT gone? It's been a while since its official release date and no sign of it yet. I'd classify that as AWOL tbh.
Well done ATi (again)

:) fedz

[fedz]

Here are the reviews, and make sure you check out the X800XT vs. X850XT picture:

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2290
"Looking at the high end X series lineup after today we have the following: X800SE, X800, X800 Pro, X800 XL, X800 XT, X800 XT PE, X850 Pro, X850 XT and X850 XT PE, regardless of how you cut it, that's one confusing lineup."

http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njk3
" In the GeForceFX days NVIDIA used brute force to keep up with ATI, and now we have ATI using brute force to keep up with and outpace NVIDIA. In both situations, one company had a better architecture than the other."

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Previews/atix850p/1.html
"While the high end parts are undoubtably exciting, the most interesting parts look are looking to be the X800 and the X800 XL which will give NVIDIA a good run for their money in the 6800 and the 6800GT."

http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/r480/
"Clearly the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition is ATI's highest performance released to date, albeit by a slim margin over their previous high end board. It goes to show that ATI were already pushing their envelope with the original Platinum Edition and besting it to any significant degree is fairly difficult; at least this may mark some kind of indication that they really are trying to focus more on the enthusiast requirements"

http://tech-report.com/reviews/2004q4/radeon-x850xt/index.x?pg=1
this review is particularly interesting as it includes power consumption and a comparison to Nvidia cards in SLi config (the SLi'd cards win)
"The Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition's performance has always been stellar, but the cards have been extremely hard to come by. If these new Radeon X850 cards can solve that problem, more power to them."

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=610&cid=2
"The X850 XT Platinum Edition is basically just a higher-clocked X800 XT... When compared to the GeForce 6800 Ultra, the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition won 29 of 44 tests, it lost 10, and fought to a draw in 5."

Overall I'd say that the X850XT PE is incontestably the best card out now, but for a gamer with unlimited budget SLI still offers the best. This ATi offering reminds me worryingly about the Nvidia 5950's though.

:) fedz

[mordorman]

When's this card due at Newegg? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[pam123]

When's this card due at Newegg? I can't seem to find it anywhere.


That's the other problem with ATI this go 'round.