| GIGABYTE X1900XTX |
| |
|
| Brand |
GIGABYTE |
| Model |
X1900XTX |
| Graphics Chip |
R580 |
| Graphics Memory Type |
DDR3 |
| Memory (MB) |
512 |
| Graphics Core Clock (MHz) |
648 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) |
1548 |
| Memory Speed (ns) |
1.3 |
| RAMDAC Frequency (MHz) |
Dual 400 |
| Active Cooling on Graphics Chip |
Yes |
| Heatsink on Memory |
Yes |
| Video Capture |
Yes |
| Ports |
|
| Dual Monitor Support |
Yes |
| VGA Out |
DVI-Ix2 |
| Video In and Out |
S-Video Out |
| Package and Support |
|
| Printed Manual |
Yes |
| Driver CD |
Yes |
| Performance Tool Software |
Overdrive |
| Major Games |
XPand Rally
Counterstrike Source |
| Major Software |
PowerDirector Medi@Show |
| VR Glasses |
No |
| DVD Player Software |
PowerDVD |
| Video Recording Software |
N/A |
- 90 nanometer Low-k process
- 384 Million Transistors
- 16 ROPs
- 48 Pixel Shader Pipelines
- 8 Vertex Shader Pipelines
- 256-bit memory bus
- 512-bit Ring Memory Bus
- DirectX 9.0C
- Pixel Shader 3.0
- Vertex Shader 3.0
- HDR
- Up to 6 sample Multisample Anti-Aliasing
- Up to 16x Anisotropic Filtering
ATI decided to wait for their 90 nanometer parts to make the transition to Shader Model 3.0. They had the hard task of conincing developers and gamers that features like Dynamic Branching and HDR weren't important until they implemented it in hardware. The delay of the R520 caused the refresh, the R580 to be released in January, a mere 3 months after the release of the R520. The R580 chip consists of more than 384 million transistors, almost double that of its competitor, the 7900GTX and 64 million more than its predecessor, the R520.
The clock speed on the core of the GIGABYTE X1900XTX is 650MHz, similar to ATI's reference card. The R580 chip which the X1900XTX is based on has 16 outputted pixels a second, the same as the previous X1800 series, but ATI decided to up the number of ALUs (Pixel Shader Processors) to a 3:1 ratio or 48. Memory speed on the card is 1.6GHz, giving a maximum theoretical memory bandwidth of 51.2GB/second. ATI implemented a Ring Bus memory controller to improve memory efficiency with the X1900XTX.
The key features of this generation of video cards are support for Microsoft's DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 (Pixel Shader 3.0 and Vertex Shader 3.0. Key games like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Tomb Raider Legend use Pixel and Vertex Shaders throughout the game to show off special effects like shiny reflective armor and realistic looking water.
One key advantage ATI cards have over NVIDIA cards is that the ATI card is capable of doing MultiSample Anti-Aliasing with HDR at the same time. Oblivion requires a "Chuck" patch to run Oblivion with both of these settings enabled, but the game is simply beautiful with both enabled. Without AA, Oblivion has jaggies throughout the game including on weapons and HDR is a big part of the game.
