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When it comes
to deciding on the perfect video card for your needs,
manufacturers don't make it easy for the average buyer.
While naming conventions are aimed at classifying the product so
the consumer can decipher what they are getting, some of these brandings are pretty
confusing nonetheless. Today, we are seeing all kinds of
designations for the consumer to sift through such as
"Pro", "SE", "XT" and "Ultra" to name a few. While the
"Ultra" suffix is a clear label of a high-end card, the
others are a little less obvious, unless you follow the
industry. To add insult to injury, while ATi uses "XT" to
label a high performance video card, NVIDIA, in a clear
marketing tactic aimed at tarnishing ATi's XT brand,
decided to adopt the same "XT" designation for their budget
minded models. Make no mistake though, when you see a
video card backed by an ATI chip that dons the XT moniker,
this card should deliver on performance. That is what we
are hoping anyway, as we take a look at the latest Radeon
9600XT to enter the shop, the Gigabyte GV-R96X128D. This
card has a potent "mainstream" Radeon 9600XT VPU backed by 128MB of DDR RAM, that
should be able to take on the most demanding games available
today and at a manageable price point. Let's get started with some tech specs and then
we'll get more acquainted with the GV-R96X128D.
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Specifications & Features of the Gigabyte
GV-R96X128D 9600XT |
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ATI
Raises the Horsepower |
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GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY
MEMORY CONFIGURATION
3D
GRAPHICS FEATURES
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Four parallel rendering pipelines process up to
2.0 billion pixels per second
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High precision 10-bit per channel framebuffer
support
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128-bit DDR memory interface
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AGP 8X support
SMARTSHADER 2.1
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Full support for
Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 programmable
pixel and vertex shaders in hardware
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2.0 Pixel Shaders support up to 16 textures per
rendering pass
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2.0 Vertex Shaders support vertex programs up to
1024 instructions with flow control
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New 128-bit per pixel floating point color formats
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Multiple Render Target (MRT) support
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Shadow volume rendering acceleration
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Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL via
extensions
SMOOTHVISION 2.1
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State-of-the-art full-scene anti-aliasing
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Supports 2x, 4x, and 6x modes with programmable
sample patterns
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Advanced anisotropic filtering
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Supports up to 16 bilinear samples (in performance
mode) or trilinear samples (in quality mode) per
pixel
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2x/4x/6x full scene anti-aliasing modes
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Adaptive algorithm with programmable sample
patterns
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2x/4x/8x/16x anisotropic filtering modes
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Adaptive algorithm with bilinear (performance) and
trilinear (quality) options
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Bandwidth-saving algorithm enables this feature
with minimal performance cost
HYPERZ III+
DISPLAY SUPPORT
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15-pin VGA connector for analog CRT
/
DVI-I connector for digital CRT or
flat panel
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S-video or composite connector for TV/VCR
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Independent resolutions and refresh rates for any
two connected displays
VIDEO FEATURES
VIDEOSHADER
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Seamless
integration of programmable pixel
shaders with video data
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High quality, hardware accelerated de-blocking of
internet streaming video
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Noise removal filter for captured video
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Integrated MPEG-2 decode
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Hardware accelerated iDCT, motion compensation,
and color space conversion
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Top quality DVD and all-format DTV/HDTV decode
with low CPU overhead
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Back-end scaler delivers top quality playback
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Upscaling and downscaling with 4-tap horizontal
and vertical filtering
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Filtered display of images up to 1920 pixels wide
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Unique per-pixel adaptive de-interlacing feature
combines the best elements of the ?bob? and
?add-field? (weave) techniques
FULLSTREAM
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Noise removal filtering for captured video
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MPEG-2 decoding with motion compensation, iDCT and
color space conversion
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All-format DTV/HDTV decoding
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YPrPb component output
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Adaptive de-interlacing and frame rate conversion
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Dual integrated display controllers
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Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400MHz DACs
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Integrated 165 MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI and HDCP
compliant)
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Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768
resolution
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Optimized for Pentium® 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon?
3Dnow!
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PC 2002 compliant
DISPLAY FEATURES
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Dual integrated display controllers
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Drive two displays simultaneously with independent
resolutions and refresh rates
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HYDRAVISION? software provides complete control
over multi-display configurations with a
user-friendly interface
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Dual integrated 10-bit per channel palette DACs
operating at up to 400MHz
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Integrated 165MHz TMDS transmitter supports
resolutions up to QXGA (2048x1536) and complies
with DVI and HDCP specifications
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Integrated TV-Out support up to 1024x768
resolution
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YPrPb output for direct drive of HDTV monitors
GENERAL FEATURES
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Comprehensive 2x, 4x, and 8x AGP support
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DDR memory interface supports 64/128/256MB
configurations
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Fully compliant with PC 2002 requirements
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Optimized for Pentium® 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon?
3Dnow! processor instructions
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Supports optional THEATER? 200 companion chip for
NTSC/PAL/SECAM video capture
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Highly optimized 128-bit 2D engine with support
for new Windows® XP GDI extensions
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Complimenting the
GV-R96X128D was an ample selection of hardware and
software goodies to peak our interest. The package
came with a total of three gaming titles, most notably
being Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, which was an overall
dud in the retail market, but has found a new home bundled
with gaming cards. While AOD isn't so hot, it gives
us a taste of what games can look like when they take
advantage of Direct X9 and advanced Pixel Shaders.
To top the bundle off, there are also a couple of lower
profile titles, including the ever popular bundled title
Rainbow Six 3 and the lesser known Will Rock.
We will say
that it is always good to see a copy of Cyberlink's
PowerDVD included in a graphics card package. This
is the software DVD player of choice for all of us here at
HH and should please anyone who is looking for a good DVD
program that is feature rich and powerful. Gigabyte
rounded out the package with a DVI-to-VGA adapter as well
as a unique video in cable that offers a Y end for the
most flexibility.
The Card & Some
Screenshots
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