HEXUS.reviews :: Sapphire Technology Radeon X1600 Pro HDMI 256MiB

[Steve]

Enter the Sapphire Technology X1600 Pro HDMI 256MiB. The penultimate word, HDMI, is what makes it special. With an integrated HDCP-certified HDMI connection as standard, and half-height form-factor, could this be the card for those of you who have invested in HDMI-enabled LCD and plasma TVs of late?

Find out in the latest HEXUS.review!

[MSIC]

There is, surely, one major flaw in your review - you hook it up to an LCD TV and state the resolution you output at, but then you dont test the gaming performance of the card at that resolution!!
It strikes me that the resolutions that you test at are a complete nonsense, given the purpose of the card. Could you either comment on this, or preferably add to the original review?
Thanks

[Tarinder]

There is, surely, one major flaw in your review - you hook it up to an LCD TV and state the resolution you output at, but then you dont test the gaming performance of the card at that resolution!!
It strikes me that the resolutions that you test at are a complete nonsense, given the purpose of the card. Could you either comment on this, or preferably add to the original review?
Thanks

Hi,

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, the card does have native HDMI compatibility and it can be run on large-screen LCD displays.

However, to put performance in some kind of context with other cards at that price bracket, which is important, we ran numbers using our regular PC benchmarks for midrange cards. This way, you can easily discern just where it sits in relation to others.

There's also no reason why you can't connect this card up to a regular PC monitor for gaming, through the D-SUB interface. Gaming on your PC and movie-watching/browsing on your LCD.

Further, the numbers gained from testing at the 1280x1024 resolution and settings show, to some degree, the kind of framerates you would achieve with, say, 1366x768 (or, for that matter 1280x720). They're likely to be 20% higher, given the lower pixel count.

[MSIC]

Thanks for replying, i should add that I usually agree and always enjoy reading the reviews.

The issue of 'inferring performance' however is not one that I agree with you upon.

As an analogy, if I were to go to a shop and ask about the price of a pint of milk, and the shop assistant told me that 2 pints costs about £1 and I could "therefore assume the cost of one pint" I would not be happy.

I agree with you that having higher resloutions may be of some use to some people, but in my opinion if a person is going to pay the extra to have a HDMI connection there is at least a reasonable chance they want to output to an LCD TV (as you mention in the article), and therefore I re-assert that it would make sense to test games at a 1368 x 768 or whatever.

Other than that, thanks for listening.

[Tarinder]

No problem.

I pretty much agree with you, too. There's no reason why we can't test performance at 1280x720 or 1366x768.

The card's currently in transit right now, but I'll update the review with a page devoted to LCD resolutions in due course.

We're always keen to hear sensible opinions from our readers and take their suggestions on-board.

BTW, I have a card that's concurrently hooked up to my LCD TV and PC monitor. I prefer close-up gaming but watching movies, via the PC, on the TV.



I'd like a card with HDMI and dual-link DVI, to drive the Dell 30-inch.

[MSIC]

Sweet setup! Unfortuately it's not one that my girlfriend / wife-to-be would allow in our front room, as "a front room has to look like a family room", not a geek room (i'm soooooo opressed!), hence one PC and one monitor (LCD TV), with no visible wires.

Still, if we ever get divorced...... (dont ever let her read this!)

[Hexciter]

Find out in the latest HEXUS.review!

Hi;
I had big problems with Sony 3LCD rear projection TV ( which has HDMI 1.1 input) with Nvidia 6600 via DVI to HDMI cable. Problem is mainly due to overscanning. I can correct it via Nvidia tools but, vision becomes very blurred. So I can't perform regular PC jobs. In the other hand have no problem with MCE interface.
Does this card will solve my problem?
If it is, hence I had to upgrade my AGP setup to PCI Express

Thanks in advance.
PS: Sorry for my English since it's not my mothertongue.

[jamiecockrill]

Hexciter, welcome to the Hexus forums!

Also, I'd just like to ask, I'm guessing that this card is primarily for use in media PC's, given its HDMI interface. Is there a review coming of the observable differences in image quality given by the different interfaces? Indeed perhaps also something similar for the audio quality as well, since HDMI integrates that into one cable.

I know it'll be a little subjective and image quality overall will be limited to lots of other factors, such as the quality of the Tuner card/source and the LCD screen, but it'd be nice to know if there's any other benefits, over DVI, than just the integration of sound into one cable.

[MSIC]

From my understanding, the HDMI interface is a development on from DVI but with security measures (and sound) added etc. So I personally would be highly surprised if there were any difference between DVI and HDMI quality at all. That said, if for any reason there was a difference, I would certainly expect someone to comment on it (ie a faulty connector or something).

[Noli]

This Sapphire card is presumably not HDMI 1.3 standard?

[DR]

Is the 1.3 standard defined?

[RobAnt]

Couple of questions about the AGP version of this card.

Is there much difference in the performance between it and the PCI-E version?

Is this card capable of accepting input from HDMI, RGB, S-Video and/or composite video sources to enable recording (or simply rerouting) from those sources? The "vivo" part of this card seems ambiguous - is avivo equitable to vivo (with an extra bit on the front) or have I totally missunderstood the purpose of vivo (video in, video out)? Do I need to purchase other (specially designed) cables to enable vivo?

The review indicates that there is a hdmi/dvi converter included. If I install a hdmi/hdcp capable DVD player in the PC, would I be able to display the high resolution output on my HD-Compatible (but no HDMI socket) LCD display?

As there are no HDCP compliant PC peripherals (DVD players, I presume), what is the purpose of HDCP compliance in this device?

It certainly displays the HD files on the Microsoft showcase site.

Sorry that's four questions .

I did ask Sapphire, but they simply referred me to this website, and closed my ticket. Not very friendly, as I think it is really their responsibility to clarify the situation - not yours really.

[ukengineer]

DVi and HDMI are one in the same as regards the digital signal quality, My plasma 42" has a DVi in that supports 1080i HDTV, I bought this over a year ago, before people were even stirring on the HDTV must haves, it also sports a max resolution of 1920xXXXX (without checking manual cant remember)

HDMI as an advantage in its lead, it can carry sound, and remote control signals.

DVi to HDMI and HDMI convertors are basically sorting the pinouts nothing else, although HDMI to DVi, you lose the sound, so would have to route this a different way.

[RobAnt]

Thanks - but I'm still unclear as to whether or not HDCP encoded material is decoded at the card and forwarded to the display, or whether the display has to be HD-Ready (not simply HD-Compatible).

I understand that none HDCP stuff will be okay, because that's sent to the display in "plain language" and without any restrictions.


Ooops, just realised that my monitor doesn't support DVI either - so I'm going to need two converters HDMI->DVI->VGA to see HDCP content (if it works at all).

[RobAnt]

Ok, my card has arrived today.

However, there is no HDMI to DVI converter included - it seems there has been a modification since the review.

My card came with a DVI & a HDMI socket - plus a DVI to VGA converter.

This makes better sense with regards to HDCP compliance, but is disappointing, non-the-less. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

As my monitor is VGA only, I doubt it would make much serious difference to me.

I'm just about to install it, and will let you know how successful the change is, and my impressions (wow - never been classed an "early adopter" before)!

Wonder how long it will take someone to design a HDMI to DVI/VGA/RGB converter that can decode HDCP? - Not long, I don't suppose, but they'll have to expect resistance from the powers that be.

[Tarinder]

RobAnt,

I'll be interested to see what you're impressions are.

T.