System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| Systems | Athlon 64 S939 PCI-Express System | |
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | |
| Mainboard | ABIT AX8 K8T890 | |
| Memory | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200 XL | Memory timings | 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDR400 |
| Graphics Card #1 | ASUS RADEON EAX1800XL/2DHTV 256MB PCIe (500/1000) | Graphics Card #2 | HIS Excalibur RADEON X1800 XL 256MB PCIe (500/1000) | Graphics Card #3 | SAPPHIRE Radeon X1800 XT 512MB PCIe (625/1500) |
| Graphics Card #4 | XFX GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB PCIe (450/1050) | |
| Graphics Card #5 | GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB PCIe (430/1200) | |
| Graphics Card #6 | ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB PCIe (520/1080) | |
| Graphics Card #7 | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB PCIe (425/1100) | Disk Drive | 160GB Western Digital 160JB IDE |
| BIOS Version | BIOS 13 | |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional SP2 | |
| Mainboard Software | VIA Hyperion Pro v4.55 | |
Software
ATI 8.173.2.3-050921a-027133C for both ATI Radeon X1800 XL 256MB cards
ATI 8.173.2.3-051014a1-027813C for SAPPHIRE X1800 XT 512MB
ATI CATALYST 5.10 for ATI X850 XT
NVIDIA ForceWare 81.85 for NVIDIA-based cards
Futuremark 3DMark05 Build 1.2.0 - AA and AF set via application
DOOM 3 (v1282) Timedemo 1 - AA and AF set via application
Far Cry v1.33 - custom HEXUS benchmark - AA and AF set via application
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory v1.04 - custom HEXUS benchmark - AA and AF set via application
Notes
No problems to report during installation and testing of both Radeon X1800 XL cards. Considering the fact that both cards are, essentially, identical, we've only included one set of benchmark scores. Both cards produced results that were within the standard deviation of the tests themselves, so what applies for the ASUS card also applies for the HIS, and vice-versa. We've put them up against a range of high-end PCIe graphics cards. Perhaps the most interesting comparison will be against NVIDIA's GeForce 7800 GT, albeit an overclocked version from XFX. It's priced at similar levels and the prospective buyer needs to make a choice between '7800 GT and X1800 XL; it really is as simple as that.
The following table highlights the basic characteristics of each card.
| Card | ASUS/HIS Radeon X1800 XL | SAPPHIRE Radeon X1800 XT | ATI Radeon X850 XT | XFX GeForce 7800 GT | NVIDIA reference 7800 GTX | GeForce 6800 Ultra |
| Manufacturing process | 90nm | 90nm | 130nm | 110nm | 110nm | 130nm |
| Interface/speed | PCI-Express | PCI-Express | PCI-Express | PCI-Express | PCI-Express | PCI-Express | Onboard memory | 256MB | 512MB | 256MB | 256MB | 256MB | 256MB | Core speed | 500MHz | 625MHz | 520MHz | 450MHz | 430MHz | 425MHz | Rendering pipelines | 16 | 16 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 16 | Fillrate (multi-texturing) | 8GTexels/s | 10GTexels/s | 8.64GTexels/s | 9GTexels/s | 10.32GTexels/s | 6.8GTexels/s | Vertex shading units | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | Shader Model | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.0b | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | Memory interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | Memory speed | 1000MHz | 1500MHz | 1080MHz | 1050MHz | 1200MHz | 1100MHz | Memory bandwidth (max) | 32GB/s | 48GB/s | 34.56GB/s | 33.6GB/s | 38.4GB/s | 35.2GB/s | Cheapest online price | £299/£279 | £380 | £229 | £265 | £329 | £299 |
Technology-wise, R520 and G70 are broadly similar, and both GPUs focus heavily on shading ability. ATI's R520 now supports Shader Model 3.0 and can also run high-dynamic range (HDR) lighting in conjunction with antialiaing. something which NVIDIA's G70 can't. Both competing GPUs carry decent 2D feature-sets, with ATI's Avivo getting the nod over NVIDIA's PureVideo.
Enough tech., on to the benchmarks
