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- Date:
- Sunday , January 16, 2005
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ATI Radeon X800 Series Roundup
We have gathered seven retail X800 series based video cards. Inside we will see what each one has to offer and see what kind of a gaming experience we can have with each.
MSI RX800 XT-VTD256E:
The MSI RX800 XT-VTD256E is based off of ATI’s Radeon X800 XT PCI-Express VPU with 256MB of GDDR3. Since this is the VTD version, it supports Video Out and Video In with S-Video and Composite. MSI packs this bundle with the most software we’ve ever seen included with a video card.
MSI is using a red PCB and a smaller heatsink fan unit than the ASUS X800 XT PE, which makes this card slightly lighter. The heatsink is all copper with a large fan for cooling. This card does require a 6-pin PCI-Express power cable for normal operation, however. The Rage Theater chip is used for the VIVO functionality. The VPU runs at 500MHz and the memory is clocked at 1GHz.
The card uses 256MB of Samsung K4J55323QF-GC20 RAM, which is rated at 500MHz, so it is already at its theoretical maximum frequency. There is one VGA, one DVI, and one multimedia output port for the provided multimedia dongle. On the dongle is S-Video and Composite In and Out. There is also an HDTV output cable included as well as a DVI to VGA connector.
The software bundle is most impressive, there are no less than 14 CDs included with 3 full version games, 14 game demos, and 19 utilities. The three full version games are URU, XIII, and Prince of Persia the Sands of Time. Certainly three great games to get you started with your new video card. You can read what the rest of the utilities and bundled software is from here.
MSI RX800PRO-TD256:
The MSI RX800PRO-TD256 is based off of ATI’s Radeon X800 PRO AGP VPU with 256MB of GDDR3. The TD on this card means that it has Video Out but does not have Video In or “VIVO.” There is a VTD version of this card, which does have VIVO if you need those features.
This model uses the same heatsink fan unit that the MXI RX800 XT uses, which is all copper with a large fan. Since this is an AGP video card, you do need to plug in a Molex power connector for proper operation. This model does not have the Rage Theater chip, but there is a placeholder for it since the VTD version does have it. The VPU runs at 475MHz and memory at 900MHz on this video card.
The RAM is exactly the same as that which is used on the MSI RX800 XT (Samsung modules rated at 500MHz maximum operation). The modules are running at 450MHz by default, so there is some room for overclocking potential. There is a DVI, VGA, and Video Out output port. Again, there is no Video In on this specific card. MSI has included a Molex power cable, VGA to DVI connector, and S-Video and Composite video out cables.
The software bundle is exactly the same as the MSI RX800 XT, which is loaded on 14 CDs with 3 full version games, 14 game demos, and 19 MSI utilities.