HEXUS.reviews :: ATi RADEON X1950 XTX 512MiB + exclusive CrossFire testing

[BlindMelon7]

Does anyone actually know how much its gonna be? http://www.theinquirer.net/default.a...33809...PLEASE SAY THATS TRUE!!!

[chuckskull]

Thats an X1950 pro, not an XTX

[BlindMelon7]

Oh, how does that compare to the gx2?

[chuckskull]

Oh, how does that compare to the gx2?

Badly.

[BlindMelon7]

How badly?

[chuckskull]

You'd be better with an X1900XT

[MrFawlty]

Great review - and some nice reflecto-porn going on there!!

I have one question tho:

In the screenshot of the Catalyst Control Center and WinCLK, they both show the core running at 500MHz and the MEM at 594Mhz - My X1900XT also displays the same speeds and if I try and use either the 'Overdrive' section of the CCC or ATITool to up the clock speeds, I can't push it very far at all without lock ups are artifacts appearing everywhere, even in Windows. I did get my card really cheap at the time - in fact it would still be cheap now (Just over £200) so I just assumed I had got hold of an underclocked version, like used in the AIWs. Is it just that the driver throttles back the GPU etc when in '2D' mode? (OK OK, thats more than 1 question!)

Sorry to sound dumb. I am not at all new to computers and hi-end PC gaming (I run a business as a System Builder/Consultant) but I admit I am a noob when it comes to overclocking - I get too scared! I read CustomPC every month and see them pushing cards all the time, but I am just too much of a wimp!

[ExceededGoku]

those are idle clocks, they bump up when a 3d app is detected

[MrFawlty]

That's what I suspected. How do I check their full speed clock rates and/or overclock them then if the only speed displayed is the idle one?

[chuckskull]

Try running ATi tool, then checking the clocks.

[MrFawlty]

I have - it still says GPU clock 500Mhz and MEM clock 594Mhz. Does that mean I have an underclocked chip, like the one they put on the AIW? If so, ebay will see my card while I buy a shiny new XTX for £270 (Dabs - cool price or wot?)!

[chuckskull]

You sure you dont have a GT? Thats the clocks they ship with.

[MrFawlty]

No, I bought it as an XT, the GT wasn't available at the time. Let me see if I've got this straight, ATITool should display the full clock speeds, whereas the speeds reported in the CCC are the idle speeds??

I'm not that bothered actually if I was sold an underclocked card, as it has given me 6 months of use and I've been really pleased with it's performance, considering I only paid £200. I went from a GeforceFX 5900XT 128Mb so anything would have seemed fast! I'm just at the stage now where a couple games (FEAR, Oblivion) are struggling without turning settings down so I want to know what my options are. What would you guys recommend? I have a Athlon64 3700 754 pin CPU with 1024 RAM and the aforementioned card. Should I replace the graphics card with an XTX or GX2, upgrade my RAM to faster 2GB and attempt an overclock, or replace my Motherboard/CPU/RAM for either a Core2 Duo or AM2 CPU? (Sorry if this isn't the place for this)

[chuckskull]

With the 3D view active in ATiTool you'll see the proper clocks. might be worth seeing what happens when you up the clocks to normal speeds. Use the auto find max feature if you're not confident with clocking.

If you got the cash the best performance choice would be getting a core 2 duo system. You could use this card as a slave card in a crossfire setup too (id crossfire still supports mixing and matching, I'm not well up on it).