Thoughts, HEXUS.awards and HEXUS.right2reply
Our somewhat irreverent look at these four Radeon X1900 XTXs serves to highlight that, despite significant financial outlay at the high end to secure one (or two), the resulting product offers no enticement to buy from one vendor to the next, other than on price. Bundles are almost identical bar the odd game or game demo collection (and none of the games offered in this roundup are absolutely standout).Therefore if you're buying Radeon X1900 XTX and you're not considering something like Sapphire's Blizzard version with pre-fitted liquid cooling solution, there's no point spending more than you have to.
You can find all four examples for between £325 and £375 if you look around, so we can recommend Sapphire and ASUS if buying from Scan with the ASUS taking it if you fancy King Kong, the Sapphire if you're not bothered about bundled software.
You'll pay the same money for a GeForce 7900 GTX for a smidge less performance and worse ultimate IQ, so if you can stomach the Radeon X1900 XTX's worse environmentals (power, heat and noise) then the choice is clear. All come recommended for those with the wonga, just be sure not to pay over the odds for one over the others, for what amounts to the same graphics board from all four tested vendors.
HEXUS Awards
GeCube GC-X1900XTXD-VIE3
MSI RX1900XTX-VT2D512E
Sapphire Radeon X1900 XTX
ASUS EAX1900XTX/2DHTV/512M
MSI RX1900XTX-VT2D512E
Sapphire Radeon X1900 XTX
ASUS EAX1900XTX/2DHTV/512M
