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| Introduction | |||||||
Just a few short years ago, the graphics card industry was largely driven strictly by the innovations and technological developments made at the flagship GPU level. For the majority of users who cannot either afford or justify the cost of a top of the line graphics card, the industry was painfully boring, as the latest and greatest features typically took a generation or more to trickle down to mainstream and performance GPU segments. Fortunately, years later we find a dramatically different competitive landscape on the graphics card front, as today's mainstream and performance segment GPU's are equipped with the technology and features that would annihilate flagship GPU's from a few short generations ago. In keeping with this recent trend, ATI is announcing the launch of their new Radeon X1800 GTO graphics card. With an MSRP of $249, this new model is essentially a modified Radeon X1800 XL GPU with fewer pipelines and ROPs. Here, we see a slight decrease from 16 pipelines down to 12 as well as a drop in ROPs from 16 to 8. Each GPU is equipped with 8 vertex shaders however as ATI has chosen to keep those resources intact for optimum performance. Looking at these basic specifications, it is certainly impressive to think that this is a $249 graphics card that has all of the features and functionality of the Radeon X1800 series of GPU's.
The reference card we tested was not visibly discernable from any single-slot X1800 cards we've had in the labs and was designated with a green "Non-Qualification Sample" sticker. Here, the same copper-based heatpipe heatsink assembly was charged with keeping the core at a reasonable temperature. In practice, this cooler did an excellent job and maintained very reasonable noise levels throughout testing. Moving our attention towards the side bracket of the card, we find two dual-link DVI headers. Those aiming to drive hefty 30" LCD's the likes of Apple's Cinema Display or Dell's 30" behemoth, can rest easy, as this card has the horsepower, in addition to the proper connectivity to do so. |
| Architecture | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Given the recent launch of ATI's new flagship Radeon X1900 series, the previous high-end Radeon X1800 series has seen some new introductions as well as some price cuts. With an MSRP of $249, the new Radeon X1800 GTO represents the most economical option in ATI's family of enthusiast GPU's. The current product lineup consists of the SKUs listed below which are arranged according to MSRP. Here, we should note that both the Radeon X1800 XL 512MB as well as the X1800 XT 256MB are not your typical consumer SKU's. Rather, these cards are special AIB SKU's for system vendors to allow more flexibility in specifying complete systems for a given price point.
Looking at the table above, we see some promising news that is somewhat tainted by one inconsistency. Despite the fact that every SKU except one is currently available in the retail channel, the card in question today will not be readily available until the end of March. As a result, we begin to view today's product launch as a knee-jerk reaction to NVIDIA's new GeForce 7600 and GeForce 7900 series and not as a previously-planned product from ATI. Were that not the case and the Radeon X1800 GTO represented a new architecture and not simply a cut-down X1800 XL, we could understand and appreciate a slight delay to launch. Conversely, ATI would claim that previous pre-loading of retail and partner channels has only lead to leakage of pre-embargo lift information in the market, so they felt compelled to hold off shipping until a couple of weeks after launch. We'll sift through this a bit and offer that if NVIDIA has been able to keep things under wraps with their GeForce 7900 series hard launch, so should ATI.
We've previously mentioned that the Radeon X1800 GTO does not represent any new architectural changes to the X1800 series of GPUs. In fact, the new GTO model uses the exact same R520 core shown above which is found in the more expensive models of the same family. Here, the only limitations placed on this card to reach the desired price-point are the reduction of shader pipelines down to 12 and the cut in number of ROPs down to 8. In short, this means the Radeon X1800 GTO is equipped with a complete DX9 architecture that supports Shader 3.0 as well as constant FP32 processing, dynamic flow control, HDR with FSAA, and a 512-bit Ring Bus memory controller. On top of this, users also receive complete support for ATI's AVIVO multimedia functionality. Perhaps one of the most interesting features of this new model however is the upcoming support for "peer-to-peer" Crossfire operation. CrossFire With No Master For The Performance Mid-Range - |
| Test System and 3DMark06 | ||||||||||||||
HOW WE CONFIGURED THE TEST SYSTEMS: We tested our NVIDIA cards on an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce 4 SLIX16 chipset based motherboard. However, the ATI cards were tested on an Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboard based on the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset. Both systems used the same AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor and 1GB of low-latency Corsair XMS RAM. The first thing we did when configuring these test systems was enter each BIOS and loaded the "High Performance Defaults." The hard drive was then formatted, and Windows XP Professional with SP2 was installed. When the installation was complete, we installed the latest chipset drivers available, installed all of the other necessary drivers for the rest of our components, and removed Windows Messenger from the system. Auto-Updating and System Restore were also disabled, the hard drive was defragmented, and a 768MB permanent page file was created on the same partition as the Windows installation. Lastly, we set Windows XP's Visual Effects to "best performance," installed all of the benchmarking software, and ran the tests. Important** - For our testing purposes, we chose to test the $249 Radeon X1800 GTO against its main competition. As of today, that competition consists of the $179 - $229 NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT and the $299 NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT. Ideally, we would have included a ~$349 Radeon X1800 XL with its 16 pipelines to balance things out. However, we received word of this product launch less than a week ago and did not have enough time or resources to complete testing with that card, on top of imminent NVIDIA launches and Intel IDF presentations. Regardless, the cards tested do an excellent job of framing the Radeon X1800 GTO and aid in determining which graphics card presents the ideal balance of price and performance.
Looking at the results from 3DMark06, we see a very close battle between the $249 Radeon X1800 GTO and the cheaper $179 - $229 GeForce 7600 GT. With each card scoring roughly 3000 points, we are realizing that there is some serious performance to be had for this price range. However, the surprise in the group comes from the score of the $299 GeForce 7900 GT as its showing is a clear 1,000 points above the other top contenders. |
| FarCry | ||||||
At a resolution of 1280x1024, we find that every card we tested was able to turn in respectable framerates. Somewhat surprisingly, the Radeon X1800 GTO found itself trailing the cheaper GeForce 7600GT by more than 10fps when no FSAA or AF was in use. Once 4x AA and 8x AF were enabled, the strength of the R520 architecture was finally illustrated as the roles were reversed and the GeForce 7600 GT was behind by 10fps. As we witnessed with 3DMark06, NVIDIA's GeForce 7900 GT was the leader of the pack by no small margin. In each case, this new GPU held a nearly 20fps advantage over ATI's new contender. Raising the game's resolution to 1600x1200 yielded some slightly different results. Here, the more price-conscious GeForce 7600 GT lost its sizeable lead with no image quality enhancements enabled and the Radeon X1800 GTO was only a mere 3fps behind. Again, we found the GeForce 7900 GT doing a good job justifying its $50 premium over the X1800 GTO, by being nearly 40fps faster. Enabling FSAA and AF narrowed that margin significantly, although the overall pack order still had the GeForce 7900 GT taking top honors with the Radeon X1800 GTO taking second and the GeForce 7600 GT following in third. |
| Half-Life 2 | ||||||
Traditionally, Half-Life 2 is a benchmark which is typically dominated by ATI GPU's in much the same manner that Doom3 favors NVIDIA hardware. As such, it is no surprise to see the Radeon X1800 GTO performing exceptionally well in this game. At a resolution of 1280x1024 with no enhanced image quality settings enabled, it is a close race between the top three cards as less than 10fps separates them. Enabling FSAA and AF brings a slight performance penalty on each card and provides enough framerate differentiation between them to easily declare the GeForce 7900GT the fastest with the Radeon X1800 GTO following in a close second. Raising the resolution to 1600x1200 takes its toll on all but the GeForce 7900GT as every other card falls below 100fps once FSAA and AF are enabled. Again, we have the same pecking order in the results with the Radeon X1800 GTO coming in a very respectable second to the slightly more expensive card from NVIDIA. |
| F.E.A.R | ||||||
There is a bit of irony when testing the game F.E.A.R as its stiff hardware requirements instills fear in the vast majority of systems that attempt to run the game in all its visual glory. This new title is taxing enough to bring even the fastest enthusiast systems down a notch or two. Running a resolution of 1152x864, we find the two new NVIDIA GPU's taking the lead with the Radeon X1800 GTO trailing slightly behind by 9fps. Positions change slightly once FSAA and AF are introduced, with the Radeon X1800 GTO now commanding second place by a narrow 4fps over the GeForce 7600 GT. Somewhat surprisingly, the cheaper GeForce 7600 GT is able to still maintain a lead over the Radeon X1800 GTO even at a high resolution of 1600x1200. Here the new ATI card is right on the cusp of acceptable framerates with a strained 34fps performance. Adding FSAA and AF to the mix changes things in ATI's favor, although only by a narrow 2fps margin. As we've witnessed in all other benchmarks, the GeForce 7900 GT dominates the competition by a sizeable margin with it scoring the same average framerate with FSAA and AF enabled, as the Radeon X1800 GTO scores without any of those settings enabled. Then again, we must remember that the GeForce 7900GT is $50 more expensive than the ATI counterpart (and 12 pixel pipes stronger) so its up to the user to determine which card is best for their desired price range. |
| Quake 4 | ||||||
The Doom3-based Quake4 benchmark runs do an excellent job of showcasing our previous point of how favorably NVIDIA hardware runs on this engine. Much like the advantage the ATI cards held in Half-Life 2, the NVIDIA cards run away with this benchmark at 1280x1024. Here, the cheaper GeForce 7600 GT commands almost 20fps of headroom over the Radeon X1800 GTO. The more expensive GeForce 7900 GT goes a few steps further by nearly doubling the score of ATI's latest card. Adding FSAA and AF brings an enormous performance hit for all cards and levels the playing field between the GeForce 7600 GT and the Radeon X1800 GTO. With a higher resolution of 1600x1200, we witness one of the rare occasions where the Radeon X1800 GTO is unable to surpass the GeForce 7600 GT and is still well behind the slightly cheaper card. Again, adding FSAA and AF levels the playing field and the two return nearly identical results. Once more, the GeForce 7900 GT's $50 price premium seems to pay off in spades as its scores are always 15fps or more beyond the other contenders. |
| Overclocking | ||||
Regardless of how fast graphics cards become over time, nearly all of us in the enthusiast set are plagued with the flaw of never being satisfied. If there is even the most remote chance that a piece of hardware could be faster, we'll scour the earth searching for a way to unlock that speed. Fortunately, graphics card vendors have provided users with the appropriate tools within the drivers to push the envelope with their hardware and attain the highest framerates possible. Using these tools, we threw caution to the wind and attempted to find the breaking point for each of the major GPU's of interest. Keep in mind that we are dealing with reference card samples here and not actual retail products. As such, your mileage will vary when attempting to overclock your own graphics cards.
The Radeon X1800 GTO comes equipped with a stock core frequency of 500MHz. Thanks to its 90nm fab process, it seems certain that there should be some solid overclocking headroom with this GPU. Furthermore, the conservative stock 1GHz memory frequency had equal opportunity of seeing some more aggressive speeds. After experiementing with gradually increasing clock speeds for both core and memory, we settled on a stable overclock of 575MHz for the core and 1.13GHz (565MHz DDR) for the memory. As we see in the Quake 4 benchmark results shown above, this overclock was able to provide an additional 4fps. Were one to experiment with an aftermarket heatsink assembly or utilize watercooling, they could easily squeeze some higher frequencies from this card and see larger performance increasese. With NVIDIA's latest GPU's also sharing a 90u process, it is no surprise to see some equally impressive numbers regarding their overclocking ventures. Again, we find modest to impressive performance improvements ranging from 3fps up to 9fps. When you consider the fact that these performance increases for all cards are coming free of charge, the notion of overclocking becomes less of a tainted black art and more of a worthwhile venture. |
| Conclusion | ||||
Performance Summary: When comparing these cards, it is important to boil each down to their most primitive and basic forms in order to get a clear perspective of how they stack up. In doing so, we will look at the cheapest form of each card that allows for the full performance and functionality the vendor intended for that GPU. In short, we'll be looking at the lowest MSRP that still retains the reference clock speeds and full hardware specification for that given GPU. Fancy heatsink assemblies and robust bundles aside, the most basic graphics cards found in retail using these GPU's present some tough decisions. Looking at the basic GeForce 7600 GT, we see a card that would realistically sell for $179 for a generic model with stock speeds and nothing more. As we've witnessed throughout our benchmarks, this economical card is very capable of providing an excellent gaming experience. Often times, the $179 GeForce 7600GT would be leading the new pricier $249 Radeon X1800 GTO when FSAA and AF were not enabled. This alone makes the card an impressive offering for those dealing with a very tight budget. However, in this day it is hard to not look at FSAA and AF as essential settings when playing today's latest and greatest games. Although the card is no slouch, we clearly see that the strength of the Radeon X1800 GTO's R520 architecture lends itself towards being a better overall decision for discerning gamers who can appreciate those IQ settings. Then again, the $70 price differential between the two could be the deciding factor as that is no small amount of money for the vast majority of us. In similar fashion, we find ourselves faced with the same situation (although reversed) when looking at the GeForce 7900 GT versus the new Radeon X1800 GTO. One glimpse at the benchmarks for this card reveals that NVIDIA's latest flagship family of GPU's is going after ATI with a vengeance. From start to finish, there was not a single benchmark which this new GPU didn't dominate. However, with a minimalist card using this GPU retailing for $299, we are talking about a graphics card that is $50 more than the Radeon X1800 GTO and nearly on par with a $350 16 pipeline Radeon X1800 XL. Granted, the performance differential between the Radeon X1800 GTO and the GeForce 7900 GT was drastic to say the least. However, to some a $50 premium is not justifiable and the $249 pricepoint is a hard limitation for their budget. In this case, the Radeon X1800 GTO is the better choice as it offers excellent performance with or without FSAA and AF enabled and has solid overclocking headroom for futher performance benefits.
Without question, with the launch of the Radeon X1800 GTO ATI has released a solid card with excellent performance for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, it appears as though time is ATI's worst enemy here as NVIDIA's latest offerings seem to overshadow this launch effort on many fronts. Then again, those looking for a high performance graphics card for under $300 certainly have their work cut out for them as each of the three main cards in question throughout this review stand out on their own merits. In the end, we look at the Radeon X1800 GTO with mixed emotions. Surely, nobody will deny the fact that this new product is more reactionary than revolutionary. Unlike some product launches in the past, the X1800 designation to this product is much more than just a name as the product carries over the full features and functionality of its more expensive counterparts. Were this product to have launched with the original Radeon X1800 family, ATI would have had a hard time keeping this card on store shelves. Fast forward several quarters and we find a dramatically different situation for the vast majority of consumers. With the arrival of NVIDIA's GeForce 7600 GT and GeForce 7900 GT, the Radeon X1800 GTO is hardly a runaway victor by any stretch of the imagination. ATI still has a solid card on their hands and users surely won't be disappointed with a card of this caliber. However, there are several key points to ponder when considering which card deserves your attention. Boiling things down to the basics, we see the Radeon X1800 GTO as a 90u core consisting of roughly 321 million transistors. With 12 pipelines, 8 vertex shaders, and 8 ROPS the card is easily able to play the latest and greatest games with ease. Thanks to the intricate and efficient ring bus memory architecture of the R520 core, AIB vendors can spec relatively modest and inexpensive memory chips and still attain excellent performance. Somewhat conversely, we find the GeForce 7900 die being made on a 90u process and consisting of "only" 278 million transistors. This GPU features 24 pipelines, 8 vertex shaders, and 16 ROPs. The GeForce 7600 GT comes to the table with a 90u process as well and is armed with 12 pipelines, 5 vertex shaders, and 8 ROPs. One look at the impossibly small die of the GeForce 7600 GT and you quickly realizes this is a very cheap GPU to make. This brings us to our main concern with the Radeon X1800 GTO. Using the expensive and rather large die of the R520 core with its hefty number of transistors, we cannot help but wonder how ATI can make any appreciable amount of profit with this card. Essentially being a constrained version of the ~$350 Radeon X1800 XL, we begin to wonder if ATI can afford to channel R520 cores towards this $249 part. Obviously, the company needed an answer to NVIDIA's latest mainstream offerings and in this respect, the Radeon X1800 GTO does a solid job. However, we would not be surprised to see a new mainstream offering coming from ATI with a smaller die consisting of fewer transistors which would be much more economical. Chances are, such a part would be coming much sooner rather than later should ATI be following our train of thought. Until then, ATI fans have a new option to consider for a high performance mainstream part with the launch of the Radeon X1800 GTO.
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