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PowerColor X600 XT PCI-Express 128MB
Overclocking
To overclock the X600 XT, ATITool was used. ATITool is a free, downloadable utility that makes overclocking your ATI video card extremely simple. PowerColor's X600 XT has a default core clock speed of 500 MHz and a default memory clock speed of 370 MHz (740 MHz DDR). First I incrementally upped the core clock speed to 509.63 MHz. Any further than this and I started to see big blue artifacts in Doom3. Next I slowly upped the memory clock speed until I reached 374.63 MHz (749.26 MHz DDR). Overclocking the memory any further than this, once again, resulted in artifacts in Doom3. With both the core and memory set to the maximum stable overclocks I achieved, I played Doom 3 a bit longer to see if any glitches or artifacts reared their ugly faces, there were none. So let's recap: I was able to take the core clock speed from 500 MHz to 509.63 MHz, a 1.93% increase, and the memory went from 370 MHz to 374.63 MHz, a 1.25% increase. As you can imagine I am very disappointed in the overclock I achieved. Such a small overclock really isn't worthwhile and would offer no noticeable performance gain. As such, I did not make a graph showing stock and overclocked performance numbers. Still, we must keep in mind that no two cards overclock alike, and you may have better luck than I did. Conclusion The performance you get with this card is about what you would expect for a "budget' card, but I have a big issue with the pricing. With the X600 XT you could play some of the newest games, but you can only do so at low resolutions and without AA or AF enabled. This of course means that image quality is going to be poor, and the gaming experience just isn't the same with poor IQ. When I think of a budget card I think of something in the $100-150 range, but this card will run you on average about $180 ($169.00 at Newegg). The next highest model is the X700 Pro, which can be had for less money in some cases and it delivers much better performance. Looking to the competition, NVIDIA, there is the 6600GT which can be found for just $40 more than the X600XT. If you really want to get a mid-range card, I would suggest looking at Sapphire's X700 Pro 128MB which you can find at NewEgg for $166. If you don't mind spending about $40 more, then the 6600 GT is another alternative, as it beats out the X700 Pro in nearly every benchmark. Of course we can not forget the X700 XT, but it isn't really available just yet, and I'm not sure what the pricing will be on them. If you want a real budget card, then I suggest looking at ATI's X300 series of cards which can be found for under $100. I might suggest looking at NVIDIA's 6200 series as well, but there aren't many available on the market yet. The bottom line is that I have very little good to say about the X600 XT. The performance numbers are by no means impressive, overclocking was abysmal, and the heatsink decoration is not only atrocious but it also hinders the cooling ability of the underlying fan. To top it all, you can get a much better card, the X700 Pro, for the same price! I have nothing against PowerColor, or ATI for that matter, but the X600 series just does not make sense as a product. Pros: Decent bundle Cons: Pricing makes no sense Loud fan Poor overclocker Goofy heatsink design
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The Card & The Bundle Page 3: Test Setup Page 4: Benchmarks: Doom 3 Page 5: Benchmarks: Half-Life 2 Page 6: Benchmarks: Counter-Strike: Source Page 7: Benchmarks: Far Cry Page 8: Benchmarks: Splinter Cell Page 9: Image Quality Page 10: Overclocking & Conclusion 
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