ATI will not release the 512MB X800XL to retail, allowing its partners to sell retail boards on the market. Both ATI and NVIDIA rely heavily on board manufacturers to sell their chips. In the past, ATI sold boards only to their customers. Today, most cards based upon ATI chipsets are made by their partners, allowing penetration into retail markets without the risk of unsold chips. The partners pay ATI for the chips to build their boards and then sell the boards to customers. It is a win-win philosophy, especially when products are in high demand.
ATI is suggesting the 512MB version of the X800XL retail for $449 USD. That is a $150 premium over the 256MB version of the board. To me, paying $150 for 256MB is a bit insane. Graphics card prices are already climbing at an astronomical rate, with the highest end X850XT PE retailing for $549. I am afraid that this card, along with NVIDIA's GEFORCE 6800 Ultra 512MB will set a precedent that will likely make a confusing market even more muddled. After all, ATI's high-end 256MB X850XT is retailing for $449. A consumer going into a store to purchase a video card may well purchase the 512MB version expecting similar performance. Unfortunately, that is not likely to be the case. Here is a little of what has known about the announced X800XL 512MB cards. I am sure as we go further into 2005, other board manufacturers will release 512MB versions as well.
Abit has announced a Fatal1ty version of the card with vGuru technology. This is based upon their uGURU technology for motherboards. This provides OC Guru over clocking, Fan EQ fan control, and Black Box diagnostic technologies and applies them to graphics cards providing performance and stability. XTurbo is an innovation providing two BIOS chip on the graphics cards. There will be two modes, normal and XTurbo. Further, XTurbo provides a backup in case the video card BIOS becomes corrupted. The Sapphire version of the card will have a cool Alien on the cover. Their card will come with a TRIXX over clocking utility and CyberLink's PowerDVD player. One thing that I've always liked about Sapphire is their cards tend to come with an attractive bundle. They have a full retail version and a "lite" version. Full retail versions of their cards tend to include a game (the X800XL 256MB had Prince of Persia: Sands of Time).
Partner List
- Gigabyte
- Tul
- Sapphire Technologies
- HIS
- Abit
- MSI
