At the moment I am sitting here in the Legion labs playing with a few production versions of the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS graphics cards, and damn are they fast. In fact, if it were possible for a graphics card to be “too fast” I would say that these new GeForce 8800 graphics cards were just that. Consider the fact that you need to run at ultra high resolutions to make the most of a CrossFire Radeon X1950XTX setup, and now consider that the GeForce 8800 GTX is in most cases much faster than CF X1950XTX cards. What is even more shocking is the fact that a resolution of 2048x1280 is required if you want to see any real performance benefits from the 8800 GTX, actually we have found 2560x1600 to be a much more suitable resolution.
What Nvidia has created with the GeForce 8800GTX is nothing short of weapons grade silicon, and at the moment this weapon is targeting anything ATI. While the 8800 GTX might be the most powerful graphics card under the sun for rendering the latest 3D games, it is also the most expensive, with most examples costing over $650 US. At this price many of us could easily build a modest gaming machine and have a few bucks to spare. Clearly the 8800 GTX is the bee’s knees, but to acquire one you are going to need a ship load of spare cash.
There are of course countless alternatives that will save you a great deal of money while still allowing you to play all your favorite games. There are other disadvantages to products such as the GeForce 8800GTX, that go well beyond the initial purchase price of $600+ US. For example, this graphics card requires at least a 500 watt power supply, and if you are going to purchase the processor required to harness the power of the 8800 GTX, an even greater power supply will be required. Therefore it is clear the 8800GTX, and even the GTS, are at this stage limited to those willing to spend huge amounts of money on a gaming system and the LCD monitor to use it.
Currently, the most common LCD size being purchased for gaming would have to be the 19”, as it offers plenty of viewable area at an affordable price. Furthermore, most standard 19” LCD’s use a native resolution of 1280x1024 and retail for under $200 US. When limited to a resolution of 1280x1024, graphics cards such as the GeForce 8800 GTX are unnecessary at the moment and would be complete overkill. Currently, a Radeon X1950 Pro or GeForce 7900GT are better options for those using 19” LCD monitors. However, you can save even more money by purchasing a Radeon X1650XT or GeForce 7600GT. While the X1950 Pro will set you back just $200, the X1650XT is even cheaper at $150 US or less.
There are also advantages to using a more sedate graphics card, such as the Radeon X1650XT. For example, it will save you on the power bill, it will breathe less heat over the other components in your case, and it will do its job without making a great deal of noise. In fact, the mainstream performance products such as the 7600GT and X1650XT do not require any additional power and therefore produce less heat and place a lot less strain on the power supply unit. This also means users can easily get away with a much cheaper 400w power supply, as opposed to the much more expensive 600 watt plus versions. Furthermore, the Radeon X1650XT is built using an 80nm design process and comes clocked at under 600MHz. Rather the X1650XT relies on its large number of pixel pipelines, rather than its core clock frequency, to deliver good performance.
While we were in the middle of testing some very impressive GeForce 8800 products, I decided to take the time to bring you a review on a passively cooled Radeon X1650XT graphics card from MSI. This X1650XT graphics card is impressive in its own right as it creates absolutely no noise yet performs just as well as the next X1650XT, which is better than your typical 7600GT. The package included with the MSI RX1650XT T2D256EZ graphics card is decent, featuring a full version copy of Heroes of Might and Magic V, along with a CD including the latest MSI utilities and drivers.
The MSI Radeon X1650XT features dual-DVI connectors along with 256MB of onboard GDDR-3 memory utilizing a 128-bit wide memory bus. MSI has followed the ATI specifications, clocking their Radeon X1650XT at the standard frequencies, which includes a 575MHz core and 1380MHz memory clock. The X1650XT features 24 pixel pipelines along with 8 vertex shader processors and a single texture mapping unit. While the specifications and PCB design match that of the ATI reference design, MSI has been creative with their cooling solution, as you will see in the various photos we have taken.
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