Introduction
G73 is a big deal for NVIDIA. Powering the guts of their latest mid-range strategy, the tiny GPU (just 125mm²) is packed full of features and potential performance, and that performance is largely unlocked by the 560MHz core clock and 700MHz memory clock NVIDIA deemed suitable for the flagship, G73-carrying, GeForce 7600 GT.
With NVIDIA's AIB partners offering versions at even higher clocks for sensible money, NVIDIA seem to have the ˜£150 mid-range market to themselves. ATI's counter offensive is the Radeon X1800 GTO, the company wheeling out the first of their reduced-configuration R5xx GPUs in order to create something to bring the fight to G73 and GeForce 7600 GT.
Sapphire were the first to send us a Radeon X1800 GTO retail sample, so we've paired the two in a head-to-head, Sapphire shipping their GTO at the reference clocks ATI stated X1800 GTO would run at.
So let's dive right in and see if ATI and Sapphire have anything to give NVIDIA sleepness nights in the money-making mid-range space, starting with a look at the configuration of ATI R520 that makes X1800 GTO what it is. Onwards.
