Enhanced Performance & Overclocking

When looking at the Jetway version of the Radeon HD 2900 XT, we somehow got the feeling that this card is capable of more. The looks and design suspect that this XT has been designed to deliver stunning performance, but that some still have to be discovered. Since the Radeon HD 2900 XT has been released we saw as well some pre-overclocked version being introduced. And well overclocking, unlocking the extra performance is exactly what we have done. And although the R600 core powering the Radeon HD 2900 XT doesn't feature a voltage increase possible via a simple BIOS tweak, we could still get some decent overclocking out of it.

Gaming Results - 1920x1200 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB	Game Score (Snow - Cave)
742/1658MHz (Reference)	38.5 - 53.0 fps
795/1730MHz (Avg Overclock)	40.5 - 55.0 fps
845/1800MHz (Max Overclock)	43.0 - 56.5 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Gaming Results - 2560x1600 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB	Game Score (Snow - Cave)
742/1658MHz (Reference)	23.0 - 34.0 fps
795/1730MHz (Avg Overclock)	24.5 - 37.0 fps
845/1800MHz (Max Overclock)	26.0 - 39.5 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Would you have imagined that? We just overclocked the core and memory by upping the clock speeds and that resulted in decent increase in performance. As you can clearly see from the figures we gotten from Lost Planet a significant boost is noticeable. During all our benchmarks the Radeon HD 2900 XT kept on humming stable with no hickups to finally set the top speed at 845/1800MHz. Would you have thought so? Well we suspected the Radeon HD 2900 XT to be quite overclock friendly but such a big increase we didn't expect. But the standard Radeon HD 2900 XT certainly has quite some hidden potential that each and every owner can unlock by just overclocking their graphics card.

Final Thoughts

The long wait is over as we now finally have the high-end graphics cards from ATI supporting DirectX 10 and which are ready for the upcoming gaming titles going for that technology. A complete new architecture, bringing the performance to the next level. Although a bit trailing behind NVIDIA, they have finally been able to strike back and also put their video cards on the market and have some extra competition. And so, the Radeon HD 2900 XT brings us the new unified shader architecture which is actually a requirement to go for DirectX 10 technology. Since most Radeon HD 2900 XT are completely reference with just a small change with the sticker on the cooling solution, we can say that Jetway followed the same logic for their version. Not at al a bad choice as it is delivering as such great performance at a nice price tag.

The Jetway version of the Radeon HD 2900 XT is identical to the reference design laid out by ATI featuring the same dual slot cooling solution. This is actually good news as the reference cooler is quiet though very efficient but takes up two slots. Looking at the warranty it does struck us with some surprise as we are getting used to the lifetime warranty offered other brands, the contrast with the 2 years limited warranty offered by Jetway isn't much as added value. But their technical support services are quite good, with a serious after service guarantee. And that will make up for some part, as assistance is very essential for any interested buyer. So although not that comparable to some other brands the service offered is generally better than what you are getting from other manufacturers, and certainly when you buy via Dollarshops which can be contacted the first year for all support questions.

What is generally the most exciting part about the graphics card these days is without a doubt the overclocking ability. In that aspect we can say that this card has really struck us by the overclocking potential of the R600 graphics core. The Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT did manage to hit 845/1800MHz without any difficulties. Yes, a bit more could be expected but this would require a bit better cooling and airflow to tweak it further. And make no mistake this was all achieved with the reference cooler and no modifications done to the graphics card. However a minor point of concern is that the cooler is getting petty hot which seems is different from the competition. As we saw previously with the ATI high-end cards this a returning point of improvement. Of course a solution with water cooling might do wonders and we do believe some tweaked versions will feature such a cooling solution.

The Radeon HD 2900 XT itself is a very well positioned chip in terms of performance and price. The newcomer can go up against the GeForce 8800 GTS easily, and it faster in most gaming benchmarks and almost able to reach out for the GTX. This means that ATI finally came up with a counterpart for the successful GeForce 8800 series, being able to fully support DirectX 10 with a very nice performance at a great price tag. Jetway jumped on the high-end wagon and brings their Radeon HD 2900 XT at a very competitive pricing and an excellent package. We can only encourage Sparkle on having taken this approach, which will certainly attract quite some potential buyers. The Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT delivers excellent performance, with very good drivers thanks to quite some improvements from ATI and at a price you can't really say no to.

The Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT card is an outstanding graphics card that promises to deliver outstanding performance for any game you can throw at it at a very reasonable price tag. We proved that the Radeon HD 2900 XT can handle gaming at excellent frame rates, and does perform well at Extreme HD resolutions. So, if you are looking for a new GPU for an upgrade or fresh system build, you will find the Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT very inviting as the price is modest and the performance is outstanding.

Pros

• Outstanding Gaming Performance
• High Quality and Gorgeous Design
• Microsoft DirectX 10 Ready
• Efficient Cooling Solution
• Full 512-bit Memory Interface
• Excellent Overclocking Capability
• CrossFire Ready, Multi-GPU Enabled
• Unified Shader Architecture
• Very Competitive Pricing

Cons

• High Power Consumption
• Noisy Cooling System

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