![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , April 21, 2003
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro Review
VisionTek is back in the game; sporting a brand new line of ATI based video cards. Can VisionTek match the quality and performance we have come to expect from ATI brand cards.
Introduction:
VisionTek and ATI? Those are certainly two names that we are not used to seeing together. The Story Begins: Once long ago there used to be an OEM company called VisionTek. They sold video cards to some very well known computer names out there. Then one day they decided to step into the limelight and join the retail video card crowd. They delivered on their promises and made very solid video cards with lifetime warranties. They even managed to become one of the top retail sellers for a time. Then business problems occurred, and VisionTek was faced with going out of business.
But a savior came, a company known as Hartford Computer Group stepped in to handle the reigns. Hartford Computer Group was founded in 1978 and has been involved in the services end of the computer business as well as in the liquidation end. They started off as a mainframe leasing company so long ago and since then have evolved into a technology services company. As one of the largest privately held companies in Chicago, Hartford Computer Group comes in with the years of experience and was originally expected to gut what there was left of VisionTek and sell it off in pieces. Of course, that did not happen.
VisionTek is now a privately held subsidiary of Hartford Computer Group. They have committed to deliver products with the same quality and service we have come to expect from VisionTek. With a few changes of course. VisionTek has not only been brought back to life but they also not producing NVIDIA based cards but have switched production to ATI based cards! Also, they will no longer be producing their own cards as we have seen them do in the past. Now VisionTek hires out companies in Asia to build their cards for them, helping them stay competitive.
Today we have one of their top-of-the-line card currently being offered: The VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro.
Xtasy 9800 Pro:
Still spouting their very catchy and visually inspiring brand name, the VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro carries with it the best features and performance that is currently out there in a video card. If you wish to get the low down on what the 9800 Pro VPU is bringing to the table I encourage you to first read our ATI Radeon 9800 Pro review.
As you can see in the first picture the box material isn’t exactly cardboard like we are use to. The material is hard textured plastic. Also of note is the physical size of the box and packaging. We are use to seeing very large boxes from VisionTek that really waste a lot of space since the inside components never took up the extra space. Now they have reduced the box size to only what is needed which has been done to leave more space on retailers' shelves for more inventory. As you can see above the actual white box included inside the main box is packaged very tight and is only as long as the video card itself. The video card is wrapped in a soft cushioning material so that the components do not get damaged. The packaging alone is impressive since there is absolutely no wasted space and everything is packed tight for shipping.
Our promo box even came with a nice VisionTek T-shirt: “Visual Gratification By Xtasy."
Here is the VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro for your viewing pleasure. You will note it looks exactly like the ATI made 9800 Pro in our review. I suppose the old adage remains; don’t change a good thing. And a good design it is indeed as you will see later on. As you can see on the back the product ID does indicate Radeon 9800 Pro 128M part. The part number on the front of the card indicates this is 109-A07500-00.
The HSF is the same ATI reference design seen in our original ATI 9800 Pro review. The VisionTek Xtasy did have a generous amount of thermal paste applied underneath. There are two other heatsinks on the front of the card to cool power regulators on this video card. The RAM is Samsung 2.8ns rated modules. Your standard VGA, DVI and TV-Out ports are included as well.
The card does ship with a very long Molex connector so that you can share power with a device in your computer. The recommended device is to share with your hard drive according to the manual. However, you may share with any device you like or even give it its own power coming directly from the PSU, which will also work just fine. The VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro comes with all the cables you need for TV-Output and Dual monitor support. Two CD’s are included, PowerDVD XP 4.0 and a driver CD. There is also a quick install guide included to help you get this card setup.