Preliminary Overclocking...

Since the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX performance really depends a lot as well on the performance of the system itself, we included some figures on what can be reached with a better CPU and or with some minor overclocking of the board itself. To accomplish this we started overclocking our Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 from 1.86GHz (with 266MHz FSB) to 2.56GHz (with 366MHz FSB). Doing so we gained quite some raw power on our dual core processor, which will come in very handy in supplying all the required data to the Radeon X1950 XTX video card.

Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 1.86GHz - 2GB RAM
Radeon X1950 XTX 512MB	AquaMark3 Score
650/2000MHz (Ref - Single)	97868
663/2050MHz (Min Overclock - Single)	98071
675/2100MHz (Max Overclock - Single)	98302

Running the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 at the default 1.86GHz clock, we are almost able to beat the 100k in AquaMark 3. This isn't a bad score at all considering that we are using a resolution of 1280x1024 which isn't the default used to benchmark on AquaMark 3! With applying some overclocking we have been able to reach a maximum overclock of 675/2100MHz, which increased the score a slightly. Although I have to say that this was not under normal circumstances as I applied a mobile airco system to blow cold air over the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX video card.

Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 2.56GHz - 2GB RAM
Radeon X1950 XTX 512MB	AquaMark3 Score
650/2000MHz (Ref - Single)	117422
663/2050MHz (Min Overclock - Single)	117954
675/2100MHz (Max Overclock - Single)	118507

As you can see, there is much to gain with the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX card. An ultra speedy processor, like the Intel Core 2 Duo can certainly unlock all of that. For the heavy overclockers, I might be bringing some bad news as I was not able to overclock the Radeon X1950 XTX that much. I managed to overclock the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX up to 675/2100MHz, but that was somehow the maximum I could get before the drivers would step in and take some recovering steps. With some extra cooling however, there should be some more potential that could be unlocked...

Final Thoughts

ATI's new Radeon X1950 XTX is definitely among the fastest graphics products these days. ATI clearly designed Radeon X1950 XTX to be extremely fast in one kind of processing, while keeping the rest of the card in pretty much the same very healthy state as the Radeon X1900 XTX, at the same core clocks. The R580+ core is the real deal; there is no denying that anymore. With PowerColor being fast on the ball and having their Radeon X1950 XTX's ready together with the standard ATI cards, they have gained quite some interest amongst the high-end gaming enthusiasts.

Without a doubt, the PowerColor Radeon X1900 XTX is the fastest graphics accelerator around. While it did win all the tests we threw at it against the likes of the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT, it might still be a close battle with the GeForce 7950 GX2. The 48 pixel pipes in the Radeon X1950 architecture are hard at work in those tests and ATI's decision to beef them up in such a considerable way really is paying off. ATI's strongest performance continues to be in DirectX applications, whereas NVIDIA continues to have the edge in OpenGL applications and games.

The main improvement however would be the complete new cooling solution that ATI has used on their Radeon X1950 XTX accelerator. It is without any doubt a solid jump forward compared to the Radeon X1900 series. Although it is quite big and heavy, it does come with a very quiet fan. Isn't that the most important point of critics that was raised before? Well ATI has listened and done something about it. The noise generated by the new cooling system doesn't come above the other cooling fans of power supply and CPU cooler. But a minor point of concern is that the cooler is getting quite hot.

But what about the overclocking of the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX graphics card? Well I must say I was a bit disappointed that right out of the box I was only able to reach 663/2050MHz. That means almost no room for overclocking unless you start to apply some better cooling techniques. As this might be an early sample card, we just hope that for the final cards these could have some extra room for overclocking. At least that would please the hardcore gamers and enthusiasts who won't settle for default clock speeds on a high-end graphics card.

At the end of the day, I must admit that the PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX accelerator is the fastest graphics card around, build around a single GPU. For this who already gotten a GeForce 7900 GTX or Radeon X1900 XTX based video card, there is point to get the resigned Radeon X1950 XTX as the performance increase is just too small to justify the upgrade. For those who are looking for a new high-end graphics card, the Radeon X1950 XTX should be on your shopping list. That being said, this PowerColor Radeon X1950 XTX is one of the best single card solutions available right now.

Pros

• Outstanding Performance
• High Quality and Quiet Cooling
• Gorgeous Design and Functionality
• Simultaneous HDR & Anti-Aliasing
• Future Proof Design
• Ultra Fast GDDR4 (0.9ns) Memory
• CrossFire Ready, Multi-GPU Enabled
• Avivo Video Technology

Cons

• Minor Overclocking Potential
• Excessive Power Consumption

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