Thoughts
R420 is what NV40 brought to the table in terms of performance, amplified, especially at its maximum AA mode. My 'ohmygod fast' exclamation on the second page really doesn't do X800 XT justice, it utterly obliterates anything that's gone before it when maximum respective AA modes are enabled, current 6800 Ultra included.While NV40's 4X RGMS mode allows it to save some face, it's generally not enough face to matter. ATI's 6X mode is superior in quality and just as usable in performance, and on these newest generation accelerators, that absolutely matters.
It's the fastest and best looking graphics card on the planet, bar none.
Lack of support for Shader Model 3.0 is something we can't evaluate in any strict sense so the jury is still out, but my gut feeling says it doesn't matter. Only the inability to do vertex texturing is something I think will end up mattering in the future. In the here and now, at launch, Shader Model 3.0 is a marketroids checkbox at best.
Temporal anti-aliasing, while not the most usable feature in the world, has a lot of merit technically and has the potential to afford you never yet seen levels of AA image quality. The best news is that it can be enabled on R3x0 hardware too. I'm hoping for a functional driver interface for the feature, to enable it on a per resolution or per game basis.
While we didn't take a look at an X800 PRO, it looks like the card for the masses if you're impressed by X800 XT performance. This brings me on nicely to the scalable architecture ATI have designed with R420. The PRO is a 12 pixel pipe design, versus X800 XT's 16 pipes, with performance mostly comparable until it gets tough and resolutions get bumped up. NV40 has a similar design, a 12 pipe version of NV40 powering the non-Ultra, so the consumer wins when choosing a new accelerator at the high-end and mid-range price points.
Then we come on to its form factor. You simply cannot ignore small PCB size, lower than 9800 XT power draw, no need for two power connectors, single slot cooler profile and cool running. You can run an X800 XT or PRO in a Shuttle XPC and that's all the confirmation you need of its excellent engineering.
It's impressive in every respect, from performance to form factor and image quality in between.
Price and availability define things from now on, it's now a race for both ATI and NVIDIA to get cards to retail.
If I was ATI, I'd be smirking too.
