ATI Announces X800GTO

[Steve]

We said it was going to happen and indeed it has. The X800 range has a new model for you to consider, the GTO. Hot off the back of the launch and ATI's press release, Sapphire issued their own announcing their particular add-in-board based on the X800GTO. Here's a pic:



Passively cooled, Sapphire is releaseing an 'Ultimate' and 'Fireblade' edition. Both come with clocks of 400/490MHz, but according to Sapphire, the Ultimate can be pushed to around 520/500MHz and the Fireblade in the region of 550/540MHz. There is a regular version of the GTO from Sapphire too, which will still overclock a little, they say.

So, will overclockability be what attracts purchases of the X800GTO? We'll wait and see.

[nev_payne]

nice design of passive heatsink...have they moved the active part to the other side, or is it completely passive? I loose faith in passive cooling when overclocking is mentioned.

[Steve]

It'll just be more heatsink around the other side, for more surface area with which to dissipate the heat.

[unreal]

Ati are confusing the nuts out of people now, I myself would purchase an nvidia card matched around that price area because they have a much easier performance range to remember

[Steve]

I agree with you there. I have a better understanding now of where all the ATI parts sit, but mostly that's because of some work I've been doing. I think, however, that once they get their next-gen stuff into place, the structure will be easier to understand.

[Rohan]

So, is this card supposed to be faster or slower than the X800GT?

[Steve]

Faster. It sits between the XL and XT in speed terms.

[mike_w]

Faster. It sits between the XL and XT in speed terms.

Don't you mean between XL and GT speeds?

[Steve]

Oh flippin' heck... it's faster than a GT and that's all I'm saying

[pengellyd]

This is where i think all the ati cards sit

GT < GTO < (XL = PRO) < XT < XT PE

not sure how the standard fits in? and then there the Sapphire GO a 12 pipe version of the GTO that can have be unlocked to 16 pipes? read this somewhere else yesterday. i'll have a look for the article later

[Zad]

From my notes (which may be wrong) which are a feeble attempt to work out what the heck is going on:

GT = 8 Pixel Pipelines 475MHz Core 490MHz Memory (cacky PP, good core)
GTO= 12 Pixel Pipelines 400MHz Core 490MHz Memory (ok PP, average core)

X800 = 16 Pixel Pipelines 400MHz Core 350MHz Memory (cacky memory)
X800XL= as X800 but 490MHz Memory (ok yadda yadda)

X850XT= as X800 but 520MHz Core 540MHz Memory (whizzy core and mem)
X850XTPE as XT but 540MHz Core 590MHz Memory (super whizzy core and mem)

In conclusion, WTF is going on?

It sounds to me like they have run out of faster specced cores, but have quite a few standard ones but with more pipelines working. Blurgh. Last week I knew exactly what card I was going to buy, today I have no idea! Which is a shame cos Scan have a daily special on X2 3800s, LanParty mobos and memory. *sigh*

Oh yes, and from the leaked benchmarks, the successors don't look massively faster than the existing items.

Mike

[YorkieBen]

the gtos will probably all overclock as they are x800 and x850 cores for the most part with 12 pipes. Why they just dont sell them as 'pro' cards is beyond me

[mike_w]

X800 = 16 Pixel Pipelines 400MHz Core 350MHz Memory (cacky memory)

The plain X800 just has the twelve pipelines, just like the X800GTO and X800 Pro.

[Speed]

The plain X800 just has the twelve pipelines, just like the X800GTO and X800 Pro.

Yup, correct!

[Dark Horse]

This looks interesting though:

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/127

Says you can mod the r480 cores to more or less x850 xtpe speeds and pipelines!

[unreal]

Can I mod a X800GT to become anything faster?