ATI X1900 XTX Graphics Card

Features of the ATI X1900 XTX Graphics Card

The ATI X1900 XTX is a feature packed graphics card. For the full features check out the ATI website. A quick run down of the most important features of the X1900XTX are below.

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

The X1900 XTX has support for a wide range of TVs and uses a Xilleon TV encoder for a great analog picture. HDTV compatibility is also included with YPrPB component output. The dual-link DVI outputs allow you to get ultra-high resolutions for use on larger displays up to 2560 x 1600. The X1900 XTX is also Crossfire compatible, which is ATI's multi-GPU system similar to Nvidia's SLI. No adapter to change a 4-pin Molex connector to a 6-pin PCI-E adapter is provided and a single X1900 XTX requires a 450W power supply and a Crossfire setup requires a minimum 550W power supply.

The ATI X1900 XTX, like the ATI X1900 XT I reviewed previously, is a dual slot design. That means that the fan takes an additional expansion slot inside your system. For standard single card systems this will likely not be a problem. However, for gamers that are running dual cards in Crossfire mode, the dual slot designs quickly take all you available expansion slots and could mean trouble if you use a PCI sound card or network card. Many a gamer has had to choose between their Crossfire set up and their sound card thanks to the two slot design.

Astute readers may notice that the image of the X1900 XTX is identical to the one for the X1900 XT. That is due to the fact that the cards are identical in every way save the clock speeds for the core and memory. The only way to tell the two cards apart if you have them both on your desk is by the sticker on the back that lists the model number of the cards. The difference between the clock speeds for the X1900 XTX and the X1900 XT is as follows:

• Core Speed: X1900 XTX- 640 MHz; X1900 XT- 625 MHz
• Memory Speed: X1900 XTX- 1.55 GHz; X1900 XT 1.45 GHz

While the core and memory speed differences may not sound like much, the differences make a significant performance disparity between the X1900 XTX and the X1900 XT as we will see in a bit. Both the X1900 XTX and XT have the same amount of pixel shaders (48) and vertex shaders (8).

ATI X1900 XTX Graphics Card

I tested the X1900 XTX on my test system with the following specs:

• CPU: AMD FX-60
• Hard Drive: Samsung 250GB
• RAM:OCZ PC4000 DDR Gold Edition GX XTC 3-4-3-8, 2GB (2x 1 GB)
• Power supply: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 1KW
• Mainboard: ECS Elitegroup KA1 MVP Extreme
• OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
• Display: Gateway FPD2185W 21" LCD
• Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.5

I used my standard benchmark suite to test the X1900 XTX consisting of 3DMark06, FEAR & Quake 4. The first test series I ran was 3DMark06. The ATI X1900 XTX did very well on 3DMark06 and had the highest score to date for any graphics card I have tested. I ran 3DMark06 at the default settings and resolutions.

• 3DMark Score: 5940
• Return to Proxycon: 17.842
• Firefly Forest: 20.818
• Canyon Flight: 24.901
• Deep Freeze: 26.861
• Red Valley 1: .0636
• Red Valley 2: 1.021

As a comparison the X1900 XT scored 4761 on 3DMark06 and the superb XFX 7900GT XXX scored 5370, which is the now the second highest scoring graphics card tested in our labs. The next benchmark test performed on the X1900 XTX was Quake 4. Quake 4 is a very popular game that can be ran at some high resolutions and has stunning graphics. I used the Guru3D Quake 4 benchmark series for these tests.

• Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768
• Quality: Ultra
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
• AA: 4x
• AF: 8x
• Average Frame Rate: 106.9 FPS

As you can see from the numbers above the X1900 XTX had not a problem one running Quake 4 at ultra detail level, the demo ran smooth and looked flawless. At the same settings save an increase in the resolution to 1280 x 1024 to match as closely as possible the native resolution of the Gateway FPD2185W display, the X1900 XTX scored an equally impressive 93.7 FPS.