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Radeon X1950 XTX
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Based on the "new" R580+ GPU, the Radeon X1950 XTX replaces the X1900 XTX as the top dog in ATI's kennel.
The R580+ is really not a new GPU. Like the R580, it's fabricated using the 90 nm manufacturing process and has 384 million transistors.
Think of it as a slightly enhanced R580. But a key feature added to the R580+ is the support for GDDR4. GDDR4, as you will see, is the key to the X1950 XTX's performance.
GDDR4 allows a much higher memory clock speed to be achieved. In fact, the Radeon X1950 XTX boasts an amazingly high memory clock of 1GHz (2GHz DDR)!
Not only is the X1950 XTX the first graphics card to make use of GDDR4, it is also currently the graphics card with the highest amount of bandwidth - 64GB/s!
Finally, GDDR4 uses less power per MHz than GDDR3. So, the power footprint of the X1950 XTX's GDDR4 memory running at a much higher clock speed is more or less similar to that of the X1900 XTX's GDDR3 memory.
ATI has also redesigned the cooler. The new cooler is much quieter and better designed. The fan itself has been redesigned to reduce the noise level and improve the noise characteristics. No more irritating whine from this fan.
The cooler makes use of a heatpiped copper heatsink with a shroud covering the top. This allows the fan to channel air from within the case and exhaust the hot air out the back plate. This should improve its performance as well as reduce the temperature of the air inside the case.
Now, if you think all that's great news, well, you haven't heard the best news yet. Instead of pricing this new card at a stupendously high price, ATI has set a low MSRP of only $449 for the X1950 XTX (both regular and CrossFire Edition)!
But before you rush out to get one, here's the kicker. These cards won't be available until September 14th. So, the most you can do right now is pre-order.
Specifications
Architecture |
• R580+ |
Process Technology |
• 90 nm |
Number of Transistors |
• 384 Million |
Die Size |
• NA |
Pixel Shader Engines |
• 48 Pixel Shader Engines |
ROPs |
• 16 ROPs |
Core Clock |
• 650 MHz |
Fillrate |
• 10.4 Gigapixels / sec. |
Memory Interface |
• 8-channel 32-bit
memory interface |
Memory Buffer |
• 512 MB GDDR4 |
Memory Clock |
• 1 GHz |
Memory Bandwidth |
• 64 GB/s |
Vertex Shader Engines |
• 8 Vertex Shader Engines |
Vertex Clock |
• NA |
Vertex Output |
• NA |
Power Consumption |
• NA |
Graphics Bus |
• PCI Express x16 |
Shader Model Version |
• SM 3.0 |
HDCP Support |
• Yes |
DVI Support |
• Two dual-linked
DVI transmitters |
RAMDAC |
• Two 400 MHz DACs |
Features |
• Microsoft®
DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 Support |
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