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ATI Radeon X1950 XTX 512MB PCI-E Preview
Introduction
For weeks now there have been rumors swirling around the great intarweb about ATI's upcoming high-end video card refresh - and today is the official launch date. The Radeon X1950 XTX (R580+) is practically identical to the X1900 XTX (R580) when it comes to architecture and specifications. What sets it apart from its older brother is the fact that ATI has utilized GDDR4 rather than GDDR3. One major advantage of GDDR4 is that it consumes less power than GDDR3, but ATI isn't refreshing a high-end product to save us money on utilities. Rather, they've increased the memory clock speeds from 1.55GHz on GDDR3 to a blistering 2.0GHz on GDDR4, which equates to a lot more speed with about the same power consumption. The physical amount of memory remains the same at 512MB. Aside from the memory, the other big difference with the X1950 XTX is a redesigned cooler. The important things to note are that the cooler now pulls air in from the GPU-side of the card whereas it used to pull it in from the front edge of the card (it still ATI is also launching the X1950 XTX Crossfire Edition, which sports exactly the same specifications as the standard X1950 XTX, and for the same price as well - $450 (estimated street price). But they're not stopping there, also launching today is the X1900 XT 256MB, X1650 Pro and X1300 XT. Here's a pretty table with the details (I've received neither the specifications nor samples yet of the X1650 Pro and X1300 XT):
The question everyone is asking is "will a ~25% faster memory clock really make a notable difference?' Well, we could argue one way or the other, but I'd rather play some games and find out for certain. Now, please note that this article is a preview and NOT a full review. Since I have only had this card on hand for a few days, there hasn't been enough time to test it in my full array of gaming benchmarks or give my final judgement. In fact, I just barely had enough time to my benchmarks in three games: Half-Life 2 Episode 1, F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault Recon, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. In the next week or two I will post a full review of the X1950 XTX. That will be followed by a review of the X1950 XTX in a Crossfire configuration, and then I will also be reviewing ATI's new X1900 XT 256MB, X1650 Pro, and X1300 XT. The Cards            
Page 1: Introduction & The Cards
Page 2: Test Setup Page 3: Benchmarks: Half-Life 2 Episode 1 Page 4: F.E.A.R. Page 5: Need for Speed Most Wanted Page 6: Performance Summary & Closing Thoughts 
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