- X850XT PE
- X850XT
- X850 Pro
- X800XL
- X800
The X850XT PE is the new flagship product from ATI. This card is clocked at 540 MHz for the core and 590 MHz for the memory and priced at $550 MSRP. Those of us that already have X800XT PEs don't have a reason to purchase this card, as it's only 20 MHz faster on the core and 30 MHz faster on the memory than the X800XT PE. Also, this card has a 2 slot cooling solution, which some people may have a hard time fitting in a XPC type system or in a smaller motherboard.
One excellent addition to the X850XT PE and X850XT is dual DVI-I connectors. The X850XT is the replacement for the ATI X800XT being reviewed here. This card is clocked at 520 MHz for the core, and 540 MHz for the memory which is 20 MHz faster than the X800XT, and 40 MHz for the memory over the X800XT. This card should be a bit slower than the X800XT PE but faster than the X800XT. The X850 Pro is clocked at 520 MHz for the core and 540 MHz for the memory, but has 12 pixel pipelines instead of the 16 on the X850XT PE and X850XT. This card is the competitor to the Geforce 6800GT that has proven so popular.
The X800XL is ATI's new version of the X800 series. This card is made on the .11 micron process instead of the .13 that the X800XT PE, X800XT, X800 Pro, X800SE was made on. The XL is clocked at 400 MHz for the core and 500 MHz for the memory, with 16 pixel pipelines with a retail price of about $349. This card should fall in between a X800SE and X800 Pro in terms of performance. The last new addition to ATI's lineup is the X800. This card is targeted to the $249 price point, making the X700XT seemingly superfluous. The core speed on this card is supposed to be 400 MHz for the core and 350 MHz for the memory, with 12 pixel pipelines. These cards will be available in January, making the preview relevant. As the cards are based upon the same technology and feature set as the X800XT, it'll be interesting to see what NVIDIA's response will be. Of course, with so many new cards retailing above $299, on PCI Express, I don't see much of a market for some of them.
