Introduction

A bit over a month ago we saw the introduction of the first graphics card featuring the high speed GDDR4 memory chips with the launch of the Radeon X1950 XTX accelerator. At the same time the CrossFire edition was announced featuring the same clock rates as the XTX version. In the meantime ATI hasn't been waiting for the next big thing to happen. Instead they have been working hard on expanding the Radeon X1950 series with a slightly slower version. As the Radeon X1950 XTX had to withstand the GeForce 7950 GX2 power, the GeForce 7900 GS had still not found its match when looking at a price and performance index. To regain its position, ATI has designed the Radeon X1950 PRO version to go up against the GeForce 7900 GS video cards.

We have been spoiled by PowerColor recently by getting a chance to look at the Radeon X1950 XTX when it hit the market. Well once again PowerColor gave us the opportunity to get an early start by supplying us with one of their first Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB accelerator sample cards. We will bring you an in depth view on the Radeon X1950 PRO specifications, some preliminary performance and overclock figures. Unlike the first Radeon X1950 series introduction, there is only one version launched bearing the PRO suffix. And although the Radeon X1950 PRO falls within the Radeon X1950 series, it isn't build around the same R580+ core as its big brother the Radeon X1950 XTX and CrossFire Edition.

PowerColor Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB HDCP

With NVIDIA on a roll with introducing new versions based upon their very successful G71 core to have at least one GeForce 7900 based accelerator that would fit each wallet. Just in the last month NVIDIA has released in total three new versions covering the price range of $199 to $349. Now though ATI is ready to fire a parting shot in the battle between current generation video cards. ATI takes another stab at restoring parity in the just below high-end graphics segment with the complete new Radeon X1950 PRO graphics card. Powering the Radeon X1950 PRO is the newly design RV570 graphics core, which will go head to head with the GeForce 7900 GS but with a more competitive pricing.

Features

• Radeon X1950 PRO (RV570 at 595MHz)
• 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 memory (1.4GHz)
• Memory Bandwidth of 44.8GB/s
• PCI Express x16 Compatibility
• H.264 playback with Avivo Engine
• High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) Support
• DirectX 9.0c, OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0 Support
• CrossFire Bridge Interconnect Support
• Simultaneous AntiAliasing and HDR Capable

Some months ago we saw the introduction of ATI's 90nm graphics cards based upon the R580 chip, which is actually an optimized die of the R520 core released last year. With the ATI Radeon X1900 series, ATI has been able to restore somehow the balance when it comes to the high performance graphics card market. Since the popular GeForce 7900 GS however, ATI fell behind and had to come up with something to counter it similar pricing. Although the Radeon X1900 series could hold its own, it did take ATI some extra time to come up with something better, which led to the introduction of the Radeon X1950 series...

The PowerColor Radeon X1950 PRO card looks quite impressive, mainly due to the gorgeous dual slot cooling solution. On the Radeon X1900 series the main bad impression that was felt by many was in fact the quite loud cooler when running the card under full load. To relief the Radeon X1950 PRO from that burden, PowerColor opted for the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 cooling option. An excellent choice to say the least, as the Accelero X2 stands for very quiet and efficient cooling. This will serve the PowerColor version of the Radeon X1950 PRO well and should allow it to stand out in the crowd.

The Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB is here to fill up the gap between the midrange Radeon X1650 XT and the high-end Radeon X1950 XTX graphics card. The main goal that ATI has set is to take on the GeForce 7900 GS by a cheaper though high performing video accelerator. The Radeon X1950 PRO isn't just the little brother of the XTX version; in fact ATI has designed a new core to power it. The Radeon X1950 PRO is build around the 80nm RV570 graphics core, which is actually the first GPU going for the 80nm process from ATI. As usual it offers a ring bus memory architecture, married to some decent horsepower derived from its 36 pixel shader processors, along with 12 texture units and 8 vertex shaders.

PowerColor clocks its Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB card at 595MHz core and 1400MHz memory (effective). A quite high core clock speed that should be able to take on the GeForce 7900 GS that is only set at 450MHz. The memory used however is very similar, as both cards use the GDDR3 variant available from Samsung, Hynix or Infineon. And although the Radeon X1950 PRO somehow seems a bit crippled when looking back at the XTX, the high speed core should make up for the loss in pixel shaders processors. In the end the ultimate goal is to offer decent performance at only half the price... But will that be enough to win the battle?