Sapphire Radeon X1800 GTO
Board
Looks just like the XL, right? That's because it is an XL, effectively. The GTO uses the same PCB (with slight component differences) and heatsink, and the same GPU underneath. Both DVI ports are dual-link, just like the XL, and it needs some assistance from your power supply via the 6-pin power input connector. Sapphire's alien dude stares angrily at you from the branding sticker.
Round the back there's only the stickers that are of any interest, one confirming it's an X1800 GTO and one saying the GPU is R520 LE.
There's a Rage Theater on the board too (shown shortly) so the backplane shows a VIVO connector for video input and output.
Naked (over-18s only)
With its clothes off you can see Theather 200 IC, the eight GC20 GDDR3 DRAMs from Samsung, the GPU (more pics of that shortly), the FET bank heatsink and the other board sundries. Modern graphics PCBs might be about as interesting as a smack in the mouth at times, but the big-ass Radeon X1800 GTO board is worth a peek, if even for the nth time.
The GPU is a week 36 '05 (around the 7th September) example of R520, some 5 months after the R520 GPU on our very first Radeon X1800 XT review sample was produced, and quite late in R520 production terms. That suggests that, since yeilds were 'high' in week 36 last year, there's a large chance that the R520 example on the review sample is actually fully working and not defective in any way. However unlocking the disabled FP and texture 'quad' is another task entirely.
Environmentals
R520 runs hot even in Radeon X1800 GTO spec. Despite the clock reduction compared to XT, and the working unit reduction compared to XL, the GTO still ran to ˜80°C under heavy load, as measured by ATI's display driver software. Paired with a fan that we've loved to hate many times in the past and you have a board with comparatively poor environmental performance, especially when compared to GeForce 7600 GT.While 7600 GT's fan could also do with a quietening, it's sufferable compared to the slightly maddening volume of the Radeon X1800 GTO. The pitch changes of that board's fan adds another layer of annoyance which means we heartily recommend you ponder changing it for something else, unless you're a touch deaf or, like me, you listen to dirty breaks all day at ABSO levels of sonic annihilation.
I could run two of them in Crossfire and my neighbours would never know!
To sum up the environmentals, your author offers you the following term for consideration: pants.
