ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition AGP (R481)
Performance and conclusions
We can ascertain an emergence of new and very strong contender for undisputable leadership in the high-end sector of the AGP market. The novelty has won at most tests (except DOOM3 and HALO) over the competitor solution - GeForce 6800Ultra. As regards the GeForce 6800Ultra (Extreme) overclocked to 450MHz for the chip, it is approximately on par at performance. Both cards demonstrate a performance so high at all modern games (let alone the past-generation games) that the 5-10 FPS difference in fact does not matter. That is not low-end where even 3-5 FPS already matter. RX850XT PE is also superior at performance over the ATI's ex-flagship - RX800XT PE.
Besides, the card surprised and pleased us by its outstanding overclocking capability. At the standard cooling, we were able to overclock RX850XT PE to 587/1290(!!!)MHz. The overclocking proved successful, especially for the video memory (access time - 1.6 ns, with the nominal 1250 MHz DDR). I wonder how the overclocking would go up under additional cooling or after its radical modification.
Of course, not every specimen of the card is able working such overclocking miracles, but for now we mention only that particular case.
The only fly in the ointment was the matter of price and its availability on sales. However, this time ATI has also proved on par - judging by the Moscow prices, RX850XT PE can already be made available, and the price starts just with $550, which is equivalent just to the recommended price. With this situation, the reason for purchasing RX800XT PE now is doubtful, and the lifetime for video cards based on R420 after the announcement of R481- and R430-based AGP solutions can be regarded as coming to an end.
In the upshot:
You have been presented the reference video card ATI RX850XT PE, a new flagship of the AGP market. Soon, we are also reviewing first batch-produced solutions on the base of R481 - e.g., a board by Sapphire. For the moment, RX850XT PE is the most powerful modern AGP video card by the Canadian company, and the specimen in question has pleased us immensely by its superb overclocking capability. Of special mention is that despite the relatively small time passed since the announcement, these cards can be already made available in the retail and at quite adequate prices which don't strongly differ from the recommended $549. Based on that, we decided to award ATI RX850XT PE with our "Editor's Choice" medal.
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