Up Close & Personal (Cont.)

Having checked the front of the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX graphics card in more details, it is now time to turn the card over and take a closer look at the back of the card. As you might already know, the front is quite often the most exciting part of the video card as it features the cooling system and the main electronic components. In some occasions however some minor parts are also put at the back to somehow make better use PCB at hand. So what about the Radeon X1950 series?

Moving on to the other side of the card is a bit less spectacular as there is not so much to see. However we will try to uncover as much as possible so give you some impressions. All the major components are brought to the front of the card so the back side will only reveal some minor parts like electronic interconnections and resistors. On the back we also fine back one green sticker detailing which card we have in our hands and some serials numbers.

Upon checking the back it doesn't really differentiate itself from the previous Radeon X1900 XTX based graphics card. The card is just as big in terms of length. So by just looking at the back, you can't really tell if this is a Radeon X1950 XTX or not... Except for the green sticker of course. As with all ATI based video cards, the back is quite plain and simple, with just the smaller components like resistors, chips and regulators. And of course the soldering points of the components that have been placed on the front of the PCB.

So what else can be found on the back side of the Radeon X1950 XTX card? Well each component with some importance that can be seen on the front side will have some pinouts to the back. On the PCB we spotted the position of the GPU itself, the R580+ chip. This one is outlined by the squared X-shaped metal holding clip with on each end a screw. These screws will hold the main core heatsink in place. Around that we can see a major amount of soldering points; those are where the memory chips are located.

The next concentration of tiny resistors and pinouts are located near the exhaust of the board. While I have a clue of which component might be located at the other side, it will certainly have something to do with the video output capabilities. The PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX support the HDTV technology and is DHCP ready, meaning that all those features should be handled somehow.

You can find a dual DVI and S-Video output on the rear I/O plate. The exhaust grill is positioned just above these interfaces and will guide the hot air out of the system. ATI has made sure that due to the redesign of the Radeon X1950 XTX video card cooler the thermal efficiency has increased over the earlier cooling design on the Radeon X1950 series.