ATI Radeon X1650 XT, X1950 Pro, X1950 XT videocard test

Radeon X1650 XT

The mid-range sector of the market is always a tough nut for ATI. When the X1000 series was introduced, it immediately became clear that the X1600 cards couldn't compete in terms of performance with nVidia's mid-range cards, and the Radeon X1650 Pro that came out later didn't change that. There are some reasons to choose the Radeon X1650 Pro over the GeForce 7600 GT, that ATI supports the combination of HDR and FSAA, for example, but the large performance gap has helped the 7600 GT pull ahead in sales. The new Radeon X1650 XT changes all this: this card is based on a completely different core than the X1650 Pro, and harbours a lot more power. While the X1650 Pro's RV535 chip has to make do with 5 vertex shader units and 12 pixel shader units, the X1650 XT has a whole 8 vertex shaders and 24 pixel shaders. The standard clock frequencies might lie a bit below those of the Pro, but this doesn't alter the fact that its performance levels are clearly much higher!

Many Radeon X1650 XT cards are cooled passively, like this model by HIS.

When we compare this new ATI card with nVidia's, it seems that ATI has finally outdone its rival in the mid-range sector. The Radeon X1650 XT's performance is at least on par with nVidia's, and in most cases even exceeds it. Additionally, it appears that Radeon X1650 XT cards are selling for less than the GeForce 7600 GT. At the moment, they go for about 141 euros. Considering the fact that ATI offers some unique features, like the aforementioned combination of HDR and FSAA, it can safely be said that there's a new champ in the mid-range sector. In the table below the specifications of the new Radeon X1650 XT are compared with the Radeon X1650 Pro and the nVidia GeForce 7600 GT. On this page you can retrieve several comparative benchmarks.

Algemeen
	Geen foto	Geen foto	Geen foto
Merk	ATI	ATI	nVidia
Productnaam	Radeon X1650 Pro	Radeon X1650 XT	GeForce 7600 GT
Productcode
Getest door	Steven de Feij	Zahied Bholai	Zahied Bholai
Datum test	05-09-2006	03-01-2007	17-03-2006
Details	Details	Details	Details
Gemiddelde prijs	€ 137,01	€ 142,39	€ 147,63
Specificaties
Chip-codenaam	RV535	RV560	G73
Interface	PCI-Express x16	PCI-Express x16	PCI-Express x16
Geheugen	256 MB	256 MB	256 MB
Kloksnelheid - Chip	600 MHz	575 MHz	560 MHz
Kloksnelheid - Geheugen	700 MHz	675 MHz	700 MHz
Geheugencontroller	128 bit	128 bit	128 bit
Type geheugen	GDDR3	GDDR3	GDDR3
DirectX versie	9.0c	9.0c	9.0c
Vertex Shader versie	3.0	3.0	3.0
Pixel Shader versie	3.0	3.0	3.0
Vertex Shader pipelines	5	8	5
Pixel Shader pipelines	12	24	12
Unified Shaders		0
Pixel kleurprecisie	FP32	FP32	FP32
Extra Power-connector
Chip - Transistors			177 mln
Chip - Productieprocédé	80 nm	80 nm	90 nm
SLI-compatible