Ballistics Report

Pros

Performance: With its 16 pixel pipelines and 400MHz clock speed, ATI’s RADEON X800 XL graphics core has more than enough pixel-pushing horsepower for all of today’s latest games. Its R430 core is accompanied by 256MB of GDDR3 memory, running at 490MHz. This is technically 10MHz lower than the spec we were given by ATI last month, but we’ve noticed that other board partners are clocking their memory at 490MHz also, so the spec was likely modified slightly just recently.

In any case, the RADEON X800 XL is able to pace NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 GT quite well in most cases, with each card earning their fair share of wins in benchmarks. Therefore, it’s hard to call one card “faster” than the other, as the answer will vary based on the game being run, but with the GeForce 6800 GT’s $400 price tag, it is clear that the RADEON X800 XL delivers a better value for the price-conscious consumer.

VIVO:Typically video-in/video-out (VIVO) is a feature reserved for only the most expensive, ultra high-end cards. And even in those cases, there are exceptions – there are many $500 GeForce 6800 Ultra cards that don’t feature VIVO support. PowerColor bucks this trend by including full VIVO functionality in their RADEON X800 XL card.

It’s pretty amazing to see how quickly VIVO has gained in popularity among ATI board vendors. What was once a feature exclusive only to the ALL-IN-WONDER line just over a year ago is slowly trickling down to more products. PowerColor has just taken VIVO one-step closer to becoming a mainstream feature.

Dual DVI: Like VIVO, dual DVI is another checkbox item you expect to find on a high-end graphics card nowadays. NVIDIA was first to incorporate this feature with their GeForce 6800 Ultra while ATI provides dual DVI connections on their RADEON X850 XT cards, but finding dual DVI on sub-$500 cards can be a spotty endeavor, there are only a couple dozen cards out there. PowerColor is the only ATI board partner we’re aware of to provide dual DVI capability on a RADEON X800 XL card. ATI doesn’t provide it on their retail cards, nor do any of ATI’s board partners, PowerColor is the first.

If you’re an LCD user and what the best visuals possible outputted to your flat panel monitor, the PowerColor X800 XL would be the best X800 XL card for you.

Accessories: PowerColor includes a nice collection of hardware and software accessories with their RADEON X800 XL card. You’ve got the HDTV cable included in the box, as well as video editing software and a copy of Hitman: Contracts. Of course, you’ve also got the standard accessories you expect from a graphics card today, such as DVD playback software and S-Video output, as well as one DVI adapter. It is a shame PowerColor doesn’t include a second DVI adapter though.

Cons

Noise: As we stated earlier, the fan on our RADEON X800 XL card from PowerColor never spins down to the lower settings we’ve seen on other cards: regardless of what you’re doing or the board temperature, the fan is always running at full speed. This can get a little annoying if all you want to do is quietly browse the internet, as the fan is very audible. It isn’t GeForce FX 5800 Ultra loud, we wouldn’t even rate it as “loud” tiresome is the word that comes to mind. Hopefully PowerColor will correct this.

AGP where are you?: While this isn’t the fault of PowerColor, we still felt we should mention that as of right now, the RADEON X800 XL is a PCI Express part only. ATI has said that they plan to offer AGP-based RADEON X800 XL cards, but a firm ETA on when they’ll be available is nowhere in sight. Therefore, if you need an upgrade for your AGP system right now, the RADEON X800 XL won’t fit the bill for you.

Availability: Again, this isn’t directed at PowerColor, rather ATI. Anyone who has shopped for higher end ATI cards knows just how rare they are to find at retail. When the X800 XL and X850 were introduced, ATI claimed that cards would be available by the middle of December (end of December for the X800 XL). Well, it’s now mid-January and cards are still impossible to find! The fact of the matter is that ATI now has a pretty poor track record when it comes to retail availability and it only grows worse with each passing day.

PowerColor hopes to have X800 XL boards on shelves by the end of this month, but we’d guess 2-6 weeks would probably be a more accurate estimate.