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ATi Radeon X1K Graphics Launched, Benchmarked

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the pixels-are-good dept.

MojoDog writes "ATi has officially launched their all new Radeon X1000 family of 3D Graphics cards this morning and a full showcase with benchmarks of the entire line-up can be found at HotHardware. What may or may not be surprising to you, is the fact that the new high-end flagship X1800 is still a 16 pixel pipe GPU but now running at a blistering 625MHz. Is it fast enough to catch NVIDIA's 24 pipe GeForce 7800 GTX?"

28 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. What really matters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How are the Linux drivers?

    1. Re:What really matters by bigtrouble77 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The linux drivers have come a long way. I've been using the latest 32bit drivers with good success. On my mobile Radeon9700 I average 2500fps in glxgears in ubuntu. Maya seems to be working pretty well too, although I haven't tried any really complex scenes yet.

      In the last release ATI has a graphical installer which sorta worked, but I still had to compile the fglrx modules which would be a pain for a complete noob. It's too bad that the ati control panel is really only useful for configuring dual monitors and confirming that opengl is working. It would have be nice to have the plethora of opengl features the windows control panel has. You still have to edit the xorg.conf for a few things.

    2. Re:What really matters by theJML · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think ATI still believes that Linux is not a long-term viable gaming platform and therefore they are not coming out with linux drivers... Which is why I still run Nvidia cards on my linux boxes. They have the same unified driver base for linux as they do for windows and it just simply works. And since linux is what I use 95% of my time, I'm not buying ATI anytime soon.

      --
      -=JML=-
    3. Re:What really matters by slummy · · Score: 3, Informative

      From experience, the proprietary Linux drivers that ATI provides aren't that great. They're still very buggy. I've had good success with the open source ATI drivers.

  2. doesnt look too hot. by j-joshers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought ATI was going to seize the advantage from Nvidia with these cards but from what the article is telling me it appears to be a GF5900-style bust. I was thinking the X1600 would've been exactly what I needed but I may just get the 6800GT instead. Oh well.

    1. Re:doesnt look too hot. by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 4, Funny

      It does look like hot hardware to me - I think this is what the 'blistering' refers to.

      Just make sure your PC has adequate cooling and is kept away from flammable items!

      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
  3. Fast enough ? by karvind · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I will worry more about the drivers, especially for linux. Also ATI had some problems with supply of the chips in the last few quarters.

  4. X1000?? by Serengeti · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why do naming schemes suck, anymore??

    X1000? I thought the "X" in "X800" was there because those video cards were the generation after "9800" and "9700"... Whats next, OSX11?

    Intel, AMD, ATI, nVidia... Mazda... they're all driving me nuts with their product naming schemes, lately...

    1. Re:X1000?? by Iriel · · Score: 5, Funny

      But at least they all have a long way to go to catch up to Motorola ^_^

      I can't wait for some XTRM GRFX CRD.....(suddenly disturbed by the likelyhood of such blasphemy)

      --
      Perfecting Discordia
      www.stevenvansickle.com
    2. Re:X1000?? by Quasar1999 · · Score: 4, Funny

      They don't have to make sense...

      Geforce
      Geforce 2
      Geforce 3
      Geforce 4Ti
      Geforce 5600
      ...
      OR...
      Windows 3.1
      Windows 95
      Windows 98
      Windows 2000
      Windows ME
      Windows XP
      Windows Vista

      I'm simply trying to point out that nothing makes sense in the computer industry anymore... Hell my Dell Dimension 8100 PC is crappier than my Dell Dimension 4600. Explain that to me.

      --

      ---
      Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
    3. Re:X1000?? by Mawbid · · Score: 3, Funny

      Each Dell is crappier than the next?

      --
      Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
    4. Re:X1000?? by thebdj · · Score: 3, Funny

      Okay the GeForce Scheme makes sense. They just stopped calling them Geforce 1, 2, 3...The first number is obviously your generation number. The second number is the one you want to look at to guess-timate relative performance. This new one is a bit odd by ATI but it makes sense, X1***. The *** is what to worry about. This is Generation X1, or they could've said XI to possibly confuse you a bit less.

      As for the GP's comment, what makes you think OS 11 won't have some weird name like OS X1 or the slightly less weird XI? Look at ESPN games, they are sticking to that 2K* number system, though I guess that makes sense. You want a pointless and totally meaningless system, use the Pentium 4 system. I at least liked knowing by looking what the clock speed was, even if it did mean nothing.

      --
      "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
  5. All in one page without the ads by neosake · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here it is in printable version

    --
    "When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a frisbee"
  6. At Last by Winckle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now to reach into my bottomless pit of money!

  7. Honestly... by Shads · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... I'm not that impressed. Technically the product looks to be superior but performance wise it's not doing well... it seems more like a "dud" generation like the early fx series leafbl... graphics cards nvidia put out. I think the next generation of nvidia and ati cards are going to be much more interesting than the present generation. Have to wait and see though.

    --
    Shadus
    1. Re:Honestly... by argStyopa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm definitely impressed. This is the cutting edge of gaming goodness, all pixelly and shaderly, I think everyone should go out and get them. ATI should aggressively price them to entirely redefine the video card market and seize share from Nvidia.

      What?

      Oh, no, I'm not impressed with this card. I'm impressed with the opportunity that ATI will jump totally on this bandwagon, thus reducing dramatically the prices for all their other cards that are from previous generations but offer nearly identical performance.

      W00t for the bleeding edge, and the price breaks behind the curve!

      --
      -Styopa
  8. Excellent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I will remortgage my house in anticipation

  9. No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem is not the hardware it's the software. And our understanding of how to write decent software. ATI's drivers while 'fairly good' still suck horrible for some rudmentary taskst. For example ever seen how crappy a ATI mobil chip makes a video from your laptop to a TV set look?

  10. Leafblowers by jandrese · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The X1800 engineering sample card pictured in the article is double high and has a giant blower on the top of it. I wonder how long it'll be before we get a card that comes with an external fan attachment that you have to hang off of the back of your case?

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  11. My 2 cents by GFPerez · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My 2 cents: there are two key aspects: 1) Price; 2) Availability. 1 - If the price's too high, it would be very difficult to convince people to buy a high-end card with almost the same performance that a $100-less card (7800GTX). 2 - Remember that the X1800XT will be available only middle-November, which gives nVidia a lot of time to think how to counter-attack with something like a 7800Ultra.

  12. Other Articles with a bit More Depth by Vigile · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=172

    http://www.techreport.com/

    http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODIy

    http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/r520/

  13. Links to other "Reviews" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Listed alphabetically so no preference to which site is good or not.

    http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/r520/
    http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/r520reviewxvxv /
    http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/262/
    http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODIy
    http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=3603
    http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews /ati_radeon_x1800_x1600preview
    http://www.noticias3d.com/articulo.asp?idarticulo= 527
    http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=172
    http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=407
    http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/8864

  14. Power requirements: The key by dauthur · · Score: 5, Informative

    "What may or may not be surprising to you, is the fact that the new high-end flagship X1800 is still a 16 pixel pipe GPU but now running at a blistering 625MHz. Is it fast enough to catch NVIDIA's 24 pipe GeForce 7800 GTX?"

    Most people are worried about price, availability and not what counts with ATI cards nowadays: Power. I bought an X850 AGP and the power requirements are absolutely ridiculous. Surely, my Antec 550w can handle it, but it's completely unnecessary, as shown by nVidia. I don't like the idea of having to put aside an extra $10 a month to power my graphics behemoth, although I do love the performance.

  15. Re:No AGP versions of the 1800 by theantipop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...who incidentally isn't producing AGP versions of their cards either. The way it stands, ATI has the fastest (and highest number of) AGP cards to offer.

  16. The best thing by Bullfish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're like most people and running a single 1280 by 1024 monitor resolution tops, the best thing about these cards is they make the top end of the previous generation cheaper. I can only see one of these cards (nvidia or ati) being a must buy if you are running 1600 by 1200 or multiple monitors. Especially as many games are frame locked at certain rates. My 9800XT still plays any game I throw at it just fine regardless of what the hardware sites say. Between the two manufacturers, it's a matter of preference regarding the image quality. Me, I think ati is a little sharper, but that is subjective.

  17. Where's the AGP?! by cavemanf16 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Some of us are still humming along on our AGP 4x/8x AMD64 mobo's with plenty of RAM to spare. Where are the new graphics cards for us?!?! nVidia and ATI are in some damn war over their latest, greatest PCI Express cards while they pay little attention to providing cards built for AGP card slots. This, quite frankly, sucks. I'm not a freak about buying every new graphics card that comes out, but it's getting to the point where it's about time to upgrade (so I can enjoy more features of HL2's DoD:Source HDL tweaks) and you simply can't buy an nVidia 7800 card for an AGP slot. If I'm going to spend twice as much on a video card than any processor I've purchased in the last 5 years, it better be the best I can get right now so that it lasts me for a long time to come, but alas, no such card is made for my mobo! Where's the love, graphics card companies?

    1. Re:Where's the AGP?! by antime · · Score: 3, Informative

      Keep in mind that these are only ATI's reference cards. The actual chips are compatible with AGP bridges, so it's almost certain some card manufacturer will make AGP versions of these. It's only a question of when and for how much.

  18. Never Again ATI by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It took 8 months from my last PC purchase for them to support PCIE on Linux (If I'd gone for a slightly less "high end" model with nvidia it would have worked from day 1) and their latest quirk is that if you install their latest X.org firegl driver on Debian by using alien --to-tgz, then detarring the tar file at the root level, it'll change permissions on every directory it writes in to to 0700. You may then find that your regular user account can't, say, run ls. Fortunately fixing that isn't too hard once you figrued out what caused it. I'd file a bug with them but you have to register on their web site and "Debian isn't supported." It'll be a cold day in hell before I put another piece of ATI hardware in one of my systems.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?