AMD launched the ATI Radeon X1950 PRO at the end of 2006, pitching it as a cut-down version of the Radeon X1950 XTX accelerator. It's now come up with a cheaper version, the Radeon X1950 GT, taking the technology just below the $200 mark. And although the new graphics accelerators from AMD is almost ready to get introduced, until that time you will certainly have to chose out of the current Radeon X1950 series. In that light it makes sense that AMD has made a cheaper version to attract more potential buyers for their products. And in due time, when the R600 comes to show, these will certainly drop in price to make these an even more popular upgrade. - RegHardware

Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT CrossFire Ready Review

The Radeon X1950 PRO uses 12 of the 16 pixel processing pipelines, all in groups of four, available in the XTX. The Radeon X1950 family has three shaders per pipeline so the XTX has 48 shaders and 16 texture units, while the PRO has 36 shaders and 12 texture units. The Radeon X1950 PRO's core and memory clock speeds were reduced from the heady 650MHz/2000MHz of the XTX to 575MHz/1400MHz. The Radeon X1950 PRO also gained an interesting new feature in the shape of internal CrossFire connectors that look very similar to the SLI connectors that NVIDIA has used from day one.

The only difference is that SLI has one bridge while CrossFire has two of them, so every graphics card can be supplied with a single bridge and when you buy a second card you automatically have two bridges that you require for dual card gaming power. The Radeon X1950 GT uses the same 80nm RV570 graphics chip that was used in the PRO except that it has been clocked down to a core speed of 500MHz. Its memory that runs at a true 1200MHz affective speed. The GT is $20 cheaper than the PRO. As the Radeon X1950 PRO sells for around $219, this means that we get the GT with 256MB memory for $199.

We were impressed by the results but we would expect something good from $400 of graphics card, whether it comes in one card or two. The upshot is that that we can consign the original master/slave CrossFire arrangement to history, along with the wretched external cables. Internal CrossFire is the only type to go for, and anyone who is interested in a budget graphics card should strongly consider the Radeon X1950 GT. The Radeon X1950 PRO is better and barely more expensive but if you're on a tight budget this $199 wonder may do the trick. If you have a bit more room, then of course you better go for the PRO edition.

We all know that the days of Radeon X1950 series are numbered as the Radeon X2000 series is just around the corner, but never mind that. The $199 priced Radeon X1950 GT delivers the goods and deserves a place on your short list for a gaming or Vista inspired graphics upgrade.