MSI RX800: Radeon X800 XT (PCI Express)
Benchmark Summary: The MSI RX800 Radeon X800 XT performed very well throughout our battery of benchmarks, faltering only in the Doom 3 tests, where the GeForce 6800 GT was clearly dominant. In our other tests, the RX800 performed best at higher resolutions when anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering were used. Had we used a GeForce 6800 Ultra for comparison, however, the RX800 would likely have been outperformed in a few more of our tests. Please keep that in mind when reviewing our results.
MSI should be commended for the RX800XT-VTD256E. With the exception of its relatively high price tag ($550+), which is about 5-10% higher than similar cards like Sapphire's Radeon X800 XT, it's hard to fault the RX800. MSI has included a very comprehensive accessory bundle, complete with multiple games and video cables. The card performed very well, and it also overclocked well. In fact, the RX800's core and memory overclocked to frequencies higher than the elusive Radeon X800 XT "Platinum Edition". The MSI RX800 has a quiet cooling solution, it's a single-slot card, and it's also in-stock at multiple on-line retailers, which has to be considered a plus with the relative scarcity of high-end PCI Express graphics cards these days. If the recent announcement of PCI Express supporting chipsets for the Athlon 64 has you chomping at the bit for an upgrade, make sure you consider the MSI RX800. Other than a dual-GeForce 6800 SLI rig, performance and image quality doesn't get much better. We're giving the MSI RX800XT-VTD256E an 8.5 on Heat Meter...
