But first let's have a technological view at the current "X" series product from ATI, and there are many. Buying a graphics card for the average PC user is growing complicated. Luckily there are sites like yours truly eh? Specification wise there is just no difference between the AGP and PCI-Express versions besides the fact that the AGP version has the Rialto chip.
| Type |
Radeon X700 Pro |
Radeon X700 XT |
Radeon X800 Pro |
Radeon X800 XL |
Radeon X800 XT |
Radeon X800 XT |
Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition |
Radeon X850 XT |
Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition |
| codename |
RV410 |
RV410 |
R420 |
R430 |
R420 |
R423 |
R423 |
R480 |
R480 |
| Interface |
PCI-Express x16 |
PCI-Express x16 |
AGP |
PCI-Express x16 |
AGP |
PCI-Express x16 |
AGP/PCI-Express x16 |
PCI-Express x16 |
PCI-Express x16 |
| Frame Buffer |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
256 MB |
| Core Freq |
425 MHz |
475 MHz |
475 MHz |
400 MHz |
500 MHz |
500 MHz |
520 MHz |
520 MHz |
540 MHz |
| Memory Freq |
433 MHz |
525 MHz |
450 MHz |
500 MHz |
500 MHz |
500 MHz |
560 MHz |
540 MHz |
590 MHz |
| Memory Controller |
128 bit |
128 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
256 bit |
| Memory type |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
| DirectX |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
| Vertex Shaders |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
| Pixel Shaders |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
2.0b |
| Vertex Shader Pipes |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
| Pixel Shader Pipes |
8 |
8 |
12 |
16 |
16 |
16 |
16 |
16 |
16 |
| Extra Power-connector |
- |
- |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Chip - Transistors |
120 mln |
120 mln |
160 mln |
160 mln |
160 mln |
160 mln |
160 mln |
160 mln |
160 mln |
| Chip - Fab Process |
110 nm |
110 nm |
130 nm |
110 nm |
130 nm |
130 nm |
130 nm |
130 nm |
130 nm |
Right then, the data above is showing standard reference clock-speeds as suggested by ATI. As you probably have noticed the standard x850 XT model (if you can call it standard) is allowed to run at PE speeds with a 540 MHz core and 1.18 GHz clocked memory thanks to the included iTurbo software.
So why would you chip in another 50 bucks for the PE edition? Well the PE edition is clocked standard at 540 MHz and our findings show that it can in fact can be clocked a little higher than the standard XT version. It's the best of the best. Will you ever notice the difference in games? I doubt it. Therefore I definitely recommend the standard XT version over the more expensive platinum edition. But the high-end enthusiast will probably go for the PE version anyway as it was tested to clock a little higher then rest. Furthermore, 100% same product.
The information below is displayed with the help of Rivatuner.
| HiS Radeon x850 XT |
HiS Radeon x850 XT Platinum Edition |
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff Northbridge information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$0400000000 Description : Intel Springdale
$0400000001 Vendor ID : 8086 (Intel)
$0400000002 Device ID : 2570
$0400000003 AGP bus : revision 3.0
$0400000004 AGP status : enabled
$0400000005 AGP rate : 4x 8x supported, 8x selected
$0400000006 AGP SBA : hardwired, enabled
$0400000007 AGP FW : supported, enabled
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff Display adapter information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$0000000000 Description : RADEON X850 Series
$0000000001 Vendor ID : 1002 (ATI)
$0000000002 Device ID : 4b49
$0000000003 Location : bus 1, device 0, function 0
$0000000004 Bus type : AGP revision 3.0
$0000000005 AGP status : enabled
$0000000006 AGP rate : 4x 8x supported, 8x selected
$0000000007 AGP SBA : hardwired, enabled
$0000000008 AGP FW : supported, enabled
$0000000009 Base address 0 : e8000000 (memory range)
$000000000a Base address 1 : 0000a000 (I/O range)
$000000000b Base address 2 : f9000000 (memory range)
$000000000c Base address 3 : none
$000000000d Base address 4 : none
$000000000e Base address 5 : none
|
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff Northbridge information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$0400000000 Description : Intel Springdale
$0400000001 Vendor ID : 8086 (Intel)
$0400000002 Device ID : 2570
$0400000003 AGP bus : revision 3.0
$0400000004 AGP status : enabled
$0400000005 AGP rate : 4x 8x supported, 8x selected
$0400000006 AGP SBA : hardwired, enabled
$0400000007 AGP FW : supported, enabled
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff Display adapter information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$0000000000 Description : RADEON X850 Series
$0000000001 Vendor ID : 1002 (ATI)
$0000000002 Device ID : 4b4c
$0000000003 Location : bus 1, device 0, function 0
$0000000004 Bus type : AGP revision 3.0
$0000000005 AGP status : enabled
$0000000006 AGP rate : 4x 8x supported, 8x selected
$0000000007 AGP SBA : hardwired, enabled
$0000000008 AGP FW : supported, enabled
$0000000009 Base address 0 : e8000000 (memory range)
$000000000a Base address 1 : 0000a000 (I/O range)
$000000000b Base address 2 : f9000000 (memory range)
$000000000c Base address 3 : none
$000000000d Base address 4 : none
$000000000e Base address 5 : none
|
In truth there is not much differentiation feature-wise between the entire Radeon lineup. 3D Feature wise this R480 part does not differ from the x800 series, except from what we heard some Power Management features and Thermal Throttling capabilities. Nothing really notable above and beyond performance though.
This is the new Rialto chip. It's a bridge chip to make PCI-express VPUs compatible with the AGP bus. This offers ATI a lot of flexibility as they can basically use it on any VPU.
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