From what we gleaned going through the financial results, the jury is still out though the report mentioned that graphics card shipments have been stagnant compared to the first quarter. However, AMD seems to think that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, with the report claiming, initial sales of the ATI Radeon HD 2000 family of graphics processors were strong in the channel. It is early days yet for AMD to compile a report card for ATI's performance, especially the new Radeon HD series. After all, these new graphics cards have only been released for a couple of months and the mainstream Radeon HD 2600 series have only been available for less than a month. - Hardware Zone

XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB Sonic Review

We have looked at some of these mainstream Radeon HD 2600 series cards in the past month and our general impression was how the performance on these cards meant that they could only compete obliquely against NVIDIA's GeForce 8600 series. The leading GeForce 8600 GTS is much too fast for ATI's equivalent Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB, even with a GDDR4 memory equipped version. Nevertheless, with its adjusted and hence competitive entry price, the Radeon HD 26000 series are not dead or buried and we have been seeing quite a few vendors offering these cards for sale.

XpertVision is one of those vendors who offer graphics products from both ATI and NVIDIA, and with all the attention so far on the faster, GDDR4 version of the Radeon HD 2600 XT, the company has an interesting take on the GDDR3 card, clocking it higher than one may expect. XpertVision's Sonic edition of the Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3 comes with the same core clock as the GDDR4 version and its default memory clock is at 1600MHz effective, higher than some of its competitors, though obviously not as high as the GDDR4 version, which starts at 2200MHz effective memory clock speed.

Like many of XpertVision's graphics cards, this Sonic edition comes with a red PCB. Compared to the GDDR4 version, the board is a fair bit shorter and is more inline with other cards of its mid-range caliber. The black circular heatsink with the cooler fan in the center is also another familiar sight that has been used before in other XpertVision cards and it is as quiet as usual. This is not surprising since the 65nm core in the Radeon HD 2600 XT is not as warm as previous Radeon GPU's so the fan can afford to run at a more leisurely spin, and still able to keep the the card running cool.

Although GDDR4 memory made its first appearance on a graphics card with ATI's Radeon X1950 XTX last year, the technology has not been widely adopted. NVIDIA has gone with the more mature and less expensive GDDR3 memory for its GeForce 8 series. NVIDIA has no urgent need to upgrade to the higher clock speeds possible with GDDR4 memory. And in fact, GDDR4 in its practical implementations does have a higher power draw. This is why GDDR4 versions of the Radeon HD 2600 XT have a more elaborate PCB and power circuitry to cope with the high clock speeds that GDDR4 brings to the table.

Besides the decent performance, XpertVision's Sonic runs as quiet as the reference card. The cooler takes up slightly more than one expansion slot but that is a minor concern for the majority of users. HyperMemory is also implemented such that this card will conscript system memory to its needs. While we aren't exactly certain how much this memory will impact overall performance, our previous experiences in such scenarios tell us that the advantage is a small one. While the card is promising, the rest of the package is quite barren, with XpertVision leaving out items like the CrossFire bridge.

As for the price, we just received word from the manufacturer and the local price is a mouthwatering $121, which compares well against some of the early online prices quoted for the XpertVision of about $129. It will also go directly against the GeForce 8600 GT and which it too will have the advantage for most instances. From our past experiences with XpertVision, its products have mostly been quite competitive price wise and once again XpertVision managed the same for this Sonic edition too. If the prospect of getting a bargain entices you, the XpertVision could just have the edge over the competition from NVIDIA.