ATI Radeon X1900XTX - Performance and overclocking - Specifications

Graphics - Published on Wednesday, 22 February 2006 22:05 Written by Robert Kihlberg

Because the card is very similar to the X1800-series, we direct those of you who are interested about knowing more about these circuits, to two of our previous reviews that are more thorough. You can find them here:

:: ATI Radeon X1000 series ::
:: ATi Radeon X1000 - Performance and Image quality ::

As previously stated, there’s no big difference between the R580 and the R520 because they are based on the same architecture. The biggest difference is that the number of “Pixel Shader”-units is increased from 16 to 48. Above is a schematic sketch of the 12 shader-bunches that each contains 4 calculation-units. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the performance has been tripled compared to the X1800-cards, because they still share functions with each other. Also, it takes more than shader-performance to make a video card efficient. Below some of the main characteristics of the X1900-series compared to the X1800-series are listed.

By way of introduction, there are all in all 4 different versions in the X1900-series. At the top we have the XTX-card that, not unexpectedly, has the highest core and memory clock frequencies. Then we have two XT-cards with slightly lower frequencies, one of them equipped so that it can be used in a dual setup, what ATI calls CrossFire. These three cards all have a dual slot-cooler, which means that the cooler occupies an extra physical slot, and thus you can’t use the slot directly below the card. The X1900 All-In-Wonder-card is however smaller and doesn’t use an additional slot. Those of you who are familiar with ATi’s AIW-cards know that this card is a fully equipped multimedia card with, among other, a TV-tuner and video-in. Because of its smaller cooling device, this card has a considerably lower core and memory clock frequencies.

Let's have a look at the card itself.

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