The Radeon X1600 PRO AGP Card

PowerColor released a special model of the mid-range Radeon X1600 PRO using 512MB instead of 256MB, featuring the AGP interface. This card is build around the same design as the PCI Express version from PowerColor and comes with the typical red PCB as seen on many ATI based video cards. The card looks good, feels good and comes with reference Ruby heatsink cooler. It is also packed with all the nice features of the complete Radeon X1K series. The only difference with the PCI Express version is the lack of CrossFire support, which is normal as there is no multi-GPU support for the AGP platform.

This board is standard size PCB with regular squarish looking heatsink cooler and no memory heatsinks. This is an ideal solution for small form factor systems where space and good ventilation the main priority. Most noticeable is the floppy style supplemental power connector, likely needed for the PCI Express to AGP converter. However, it is possibly also needed to supplement the graphics core, since AGP slots can't provide as much electrical current as PCI Express. What we can note down is that for the AGP version, there is only the Radeon X1600 PRO available, meaning no Radeon X1600 XT has been bridged to the AGP interface by PowerColor.

	Radeon X1600 PRO	Radeon X1600 XT
Core	RV530 PRO - 500MHz	RV530 XT - 590MHz
Memory	DDR2 - 800MHz	GDDR3 - 1380MHz
Pipelines	12 pixel/5 vertex	12 pixel/5 vertex

The table above shows how both Radeon X1600 products relate to each other according to ATI's design. When looking at the processing power of the Radeon X1600 series you notice that it has only 12 pipelines. Both feature the RV530 core, but with a different suffix. The suffix is also represented in the name of the card itself as PRO or XT. The other difference is the type of memory that used. Whereas the Radeon X1600 PRO comes with the DDR2 variant, the XT version is equipped with the high performance GDDR3 memory.

When looking upon the Radeon X1600 PRO from PowerColor it is important to note that it features the red PCB which is common for ATI based products. And though it isn't a real big card it does come with 512MB memory, but split on front and back of the board. The main part of the card that will attract the attention is however the heatsink with the Ruby image. Finding the PowerColor name on the board itself was another story and up to now we haven't been able to retrieve it...

A small card, with a nice design what more would you like? In essence that is what the PowerColor Radeon X1600 PRO stands for. As most of the components are not really shown, we will dig a bit deeper into the design of the board and the different parts used on the board that will deliver the graphical processing power. So fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.