ATI X1900XT Graphics Card

Features of the ATI X1900XT Graphics Card

The X1900XT has some of the best features you will find on a graphics card from any manufacturer. Check out the list below for the full specs.

Key Features
• 512 MB GDDR3 memory
• Dual-link DVI
• Video-in/Video-out
• Shader Model 3.0
• High Dynamic Range (HDR)
• CrossFire™ Ready
• Avivo™ Video & Display Platform

Avivo™ - Video & Display Platform
• Revolutionary technologies enabling superior quality and High-Definition visual experiences
• Enhances digital video, gaming and photos, ensuring sharp images, crisp text, and vivid color.
• Universal connectivity for TVs and displays

CrossFire™ - Multiply & Conquer
• CrossFire™ ignites a new gaming experience with the power of multiple Radeon® GPUs
• High-performance processor sharing
• High compatibility with games, graphics cards, motherboards, and third party components

Catalyst® - Unified Graphics Software Suite
• Stability, performance and innovation accessed through the award winning Catalyst™ Control Center.
• Catalyst is upgraded regularly, delivering consistent performance improvements.

System Requirements
• PCI Express™ based PC is required with one x16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard.
• Connection to the system power supply is required: 450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended (assumes fully loaded system)
• PCI Express compliant power supply required. Connect directly to the power supply with a 6 pin PCI Express power connector For CrossFire™: 550 watt power supply or greater, 38 Amps on 12 volt rail
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
• DVD playback requires DVD drive and decoder software (not included)

Memory Configuration
• Up to 512 MB GDDR3
• 256-bit memory interface

Operating Systems Support
• Windows® XP
• Windows® XP x64 Edition
• Windows® Media Center Edition 2005
• Windows® Vista

Warranty Requirements
• 1 Year Limited
• Display Support
• Dual integrated dual-link DVI for high-resolution digital displays
• DVI-I connectors for digital CRTs or flat panel displays
• Xilleon™ TV encoder for high quality analog output
• YPrPB component output for direct drive of HDTV displays
• VGA mode support on all outputs
• Drive two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions and refresh rates

Display Modes
• Digital Displays (Connected by DVI)
  • All Resolutions up to 2560x1600
• Analog Displays (Connected by VGA)
  • All resolutions up to 2048x1563
• TV-out
  • SDTV (analog): 480i | 525i
  • HDTV (analog or digital): 480p | 720p | 1080i | Any custom
  resolution

Test System Specs:

• CPU: AMD FX-60
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 750GB
• RAM:OCZ PC4000 DDR Gold Edition GX XTC 3-4-3-8, 2GB (2x 1 GB)
• PSU: PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1KW
• Mainboard: Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
• OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
• Monitor: Eizo ColorEdge CE240W 24" LCD

ATI X1900XT Performance

Now that we have all the specs for the X1900XT and the test system I amusing out of the way, was can get into the good stuff. Namely the performance numbers for the graphics card. I am testing the ATI X1900XT with the Catalyst Control Panel set to quality on all sliders and then set the display properties in each game as I will note when the test numbers are mentioned below.

3DMark06

3DMark06 continues to be a great application for testing the performance of graphics cards. At the default settings for 3DMark06 using the latest Catalyst driver available during testing for public download the ATI X1900XT scored 4761 3DMarks. You may note that that score is significantly lower than the XFX 7900GT XXX card I tested a while back that scored a scorching 5370 3DMarks. To say I was surprised that a card from Nvidia costing a bit over $100 less than the X1900XT bested it's performance in 3DMark06 was a surprise would be an understatement. The details from 3DMark06 for the X1900XT look like this:

• Return to Proxycon: 12.531 FPS
• Firefly Forest: 15.683 FPS
• Canyon Flight: 18.829 FPS
• Deep Freeze: 22.907 FPS
• CPU1: 0.628 FPS
• CPU2: 1.101 FPS

Quake 4

The next performance test was with Quake 4. I used the Quake 4 benchmark app from Guru3d for this test. I tested with the following settings:

• AA- 6x
• AF- 16x
• Resolution: 1920 x 1200
• SMP- Off
• Quality: Ultra

While Quake 4 is an older game, it is still very popular and taxing on hardware. At the settings listed above, the X1900XT had an average frame rate of 63.8 FPS. This is an excellent score no matter how you look at it. The game was silky smooth at these settings and a joy to see.