The GPU

Here's a picture of the Radeon X1950 Pro GPU, courtesy of ATI.

This GPU uses the new RV570 core, which is build on the 80nm process. Like the X1900 GT which it is replacing, it has 36 pixel shader engines and 12 ROPs.

While it has fewer pixel shader engines and ROPs than its X1950 brethren, it comes with the same number of vertex shaders. That also reduced the transistor count from 384 million to 330 million.

The Card

The new Radeon X1950 Pro is a single-slot card. It uses a completely red motif, with a red PCB and a red cooler shroud.

It's fortunate though that they didn't use a red fan as well. The fan's black colour provides a nice contrast against all that redness.

The cooler itself is pretty big, covering almost the entire length of the card. From what we can see, it doesn't seem to make use of fancy heatpipes.

Instead, it uses a large transparent shroud to funnel air from the fan through a series of long fins. The hot air exhausts out to the left side of the cooler although there naturally cannot be any exhaust vents on the rear bracket for the hot air to escape. So, the hot exhaust will recirculate within the case.

The card comes with two DVI connectors and a HDTV-out port, with a single power connector on the far end.

So, how does the new ATI Radeon X1950 Pro compare against the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS in real life? Let's find out!