ATI Radeon X1950 Pro

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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ATI Radeon X1950 Pro - ATI is announcing a new sub-$200 video card that includes new CrossFire technology advancements enthusiasts have wanted. No dongles or masters here. We explore real-world gameplay with both single and dual-GPU configurations in the latest games.


Please DIGG if you deem worthy
 
I'm interested in seeing how well this card overclocks.
The radeon 9600 Pro/Xt was a wonderful overclocker on a smaller production process just as this card is on 80nm.

900mhz core with more volts on air?
 
Big kudos to ATI for actually listening to the people who buy/use their products. They did here what Nvidia did to made SLI rather nice: no master/slave cards and no external cables. Also, big big kudos to ATI for making the bridge connector flexible and not a hard PCB. Some people might not think much of that, but if you have to move to another mobo with different spacing between video slots, you'll be quite thankful for this bit of forethought on their part.
 
ATI is looking like it may be the one to supply me with my video cards for my post Vista rig!

Things I love about the X1950 Pro:
1. 80nm. It runs very cool and sips power. They barely had to put a power connector on the
card! You said the single card needs 75 Watts and I think that is the maximum a PCI Express
slot can supply.

2. Great heatsink fan design. Quiet and cool.

3. All retail cards will be HDCP ready.

4. Internall CrossFire. I had no problems with the dongle but I like the fact that CrossFire
enables faster now and that is easier to install.

5. Great price. If ATI continues to bring this amount of value to the $200 and $450 price points
there is an increased chance that their cards will go in my rig.

Features that I want that are not found in the X1950 Pro:
1. DX10 support.

2. GDDR4

I am pretty sure those two things will be included in ATI's new generation, and if so I will
be very happy. Bring it ATI! I am ready!

EDIT:
Great job on the article guys! I was so excited I forgot to say that. I am glad you took the
time to explain your choices in WoW and Oblivion. Sounds like you "chose wisely". :p
 
Gread review, but I only had one question:

Since these things are set at $200, how do two of them stack up to a single x1950xtx? (which is around $420 or so)
 
Great review as usual.
All I can say to ATI is: "It's about time!!"
ATI's mid-range cards were awful until now. X1600-X1650 simply wouldn't justify the money you pay for them, IMHO.
At last they have something decent in the mid-range, at an attractive price point. Considering they are selling X1900 XT 256 for $250, I think they could even drop the price a bit more, to maybe $175. Then it could easily conquer this segment.
 
Unoid said:
I'm interested in seeing how well this card overclocks.
The radeon 9600 Pro/Xt was a wonderful overclocker on a smaller production process just as this card is on 80nm.

900mhz core with more volts on air?
Click to expand...

im not usre if this is gonna get deleted becuz of past issues...... but
Link to oveclock

they overclocked it pretty good on stock voltage. but the gain isnt much.
but at least the memory got clocked there. in the hard review there was no mem overclocking.
 
g'damn!
Thanks ATi for Native CF! and for dropping of the dongle! (and [H] for letting me know ;))

I'll finally be able to build myself the CF rig of my dreams :D...
I'd been waiting for a *cheaper* CF setup and the dropping of the dongle. Seems there's no problem with either here.

Even tho DX X is around the corner, I needs my 1920x1200 gaming!!!

Oh, right, now to save up for that 2405FPW... (I notice you guys are using the same, would you recommend it or should I get something else?)

edit: @tvdang7: Oh noes! not the Squid!!
 
Very nice review, and very nice card from ATI in the midrange. I am seriously considering this now for my son's rig. Anyone found them in the wild yet?
 
I don't see how they thought the dongle was a good idea in the first place.

Thank god they fixed that error. Starting to finally look good again, good stuff ATI. Nice Review to [H]:)
 
daftie said:
g'damn!
Thanks ATi for Native CF! and for dropping of the dongle! (and [H] for letting me know ;))

I'll finally be able to build myself the CF rig of my dreams :D...
I'd been waiting for a *cheaper* CF setup and the dropping of the dongle. Seems there's no problem with either here.

Even tho DX X is around the corner, I needs my 1920x1200 gaming!!!

Oh, right, now to save up for that 2405FPW... (I notice you guys are using the same, would you recommend it or should I get something else?)

edit: @tvdang7: Oh noes! not the Squid!!
Click to expand...

I'd recommend the newest latest revision of 2407, the 2405's have an issue on some motherboards where there is mouse input lag, even in 2D, I think it has to do with Overdrive in the LCD. The 2407's fix this, but you'll want the latest revision because the first revision 2407's had some image quality banding problems. Check the display forum for details.
 
Dammit! I wasn't going to upgrade until DX10, then ATI goes and puts this on the market!
:mad: :D
The old lady is gonna kill me when she sees the Newegg box on the doorstep...
 
I finally free to go back to ATI. Thank god they finally wised up and listened to consumers/reviewers and fixed some of the dongle/crossfire problems I hated. I'm sure little problems will get ironed out but the banishing of that cable is great.
 
The red team is close, real close...

Since you say they got rid of that annoying start-up flicker, I'd say the only thing they got now I don't like is CCC.

Unfortunately for me I have to deploy soon, so it's looking like the next upgrade for me with be the DX10 "refresh" cards in early Summer 07.

Enjoy the G80 and R6XX, bastards. :)
 
I guess winning that $199 pricepoint is incredibly important. Seems odd, especially today when an additional $50 will get a lot more performance for your dollar.

Anyway, thanks for comparing the x1950pro to one of the factory-overclocked 7900gs cards. Most other sites didn't do that and trumpeted ati's 20% speed advantage, etc. Deceptive stuff.
 
Hopefully the dongleless operation will continue into the higher end cards in the next generation.

I have the stupid dongle on my X1950XTX Crossfire setup, and I hate it.
 
We have got our X1950 Pro page up and Mike and I have added the info for all the retail cards that
currently have sites up. We are still waiting for Gigabyte, MSI and VisionTek.

I am adding reviews as I find them and of course [H]ard|OCP's was the first review I added!

http://www.gpureview.com/Radeon-X1950-Pro-card-466.html

A lot of these cards are featuring VIVO and many have special cooling units. Lots of cards
are factory overclocked as well. Check the GeCube out at 681/1620!! :eek:
 
Dan_D said:
Hopefully the dongleless operation will continue into the higher end cards in the next generation.

I have the stupid dongle on my X1950XTX Crossfire setup, and I hate it.
Click to expand...
but you have it :D u must love it to some extent.
 
Nice review.. this does look like a great card for the $$... it's a little less powerful than I expected.. I thought it's memory would be faster and more OCable than it is.. oh well. for $199 tho, it's -still- a great deal. I like the 80nm core! the heat factor is noticeably lower which is great.. put one (or two) of these on water and I bet they'll OC nicely... Although I will miss saying the word "dongle" I won't miss the item itself much.. it's one less cable on the back of my PC which suits my anal tidiness just fine. :) wewt.
 
Okay, now I can finally go Core 2 Duo and dual video cards without having to worry about the stupid Crossfire implementation.

This is suppose to be a hard launch, right? So, anyone see them in the wild yet?
 
Just double checking:

Two of these in CF would be equivalant to 2 X1800XT's in CF, but without the dongle or having to worry about a mastercard, correct?
 
I like the trend video cards are going. Mainstream cards that still kick ass and won't break the bank. I remember the first video card I bought cost me $125 and it was a Radeon VE. For that price you can get a these days you can get a real video card and enjoy games.

I also like how cleaned up the PCB is. I hope they (meaning nVidia) all go this route too.
 
When are these supposed to be available? It would be nice to see these selling for $200, I'm tired of all the attention the $500 cards get....taunting my wallet.
 
A+ review, as always.

Looks like that is a killer card for the price. I wonder how it would compare to my x1950xtx. :cool:
 
I was wondering if they had fixed the issue in that you couldn't watch DVD's with crossfire enabled. Is this still an issue?
 
Any reason why you benched HL2EP1 in 1600x1200 in your widescreen section?
 
MatDef said:
Gread review, but I only had one question:

Since these things are set at $200, how do two of them stack up to a single x1950xtx? (which is around $420 or so)
Click to expand...

same question here
 
This is the first ATI card in a long time that I would seriously consider.

If I was to move to PCIe *today* This may be the card I would buy.
 
What I love...

80nm, Low heat low wattage low noise, HDCP, cool heatsink, dongleless Xfire, price


What I don't..

Performance isn't upto snuff when you compare to 1900xt 256meg or 7900gto for $50 more...

Nothing a little extra voltage couldn't cure...


This is a great midrange card replacement and for those HDCP computers that don't need more than 1280x720 or little more above for gaming...
 
how does this fair against my 68gt? im looking for the cheapest HDCP replacement that can play at 12x10 for my soon to be 2nd/htpc rig.
 
strikeout said:
how does this fair against my 68gt? im looking for the cheapest HDCP replacement that can play at 12x10 for my soon to be 2nd/htpc rig.
Click to expand...

6800gt can't compare to this card... Probably twice as fast as the 6800gt and eats less watts...
 
Any plans for AGP? ;)
Other than that, this card is looking good for the value area.
 
The review was good but people really want to know how far these things overclock...

I don't know why nobody who reviewed these cards didn't use a third party overclocking software to see... :(
 
Marvelous said:
6800gt can't compare to this card... Probably twice as fast as the 6800gt and eats less watts...
Click to expand...

thats what i need to hear! 1950pro/xp for htpc, g80 refresh for vista/gaming
 
Lets hope wizzard gets support for the 1950 pro now so we can softmod for higher Volts.

I'd consider buying this card with a ds3/conroe setup if it voltmods and oc's well under water.
 
tvdang7 said:
but you have it :D u must love it to some extent.
Click to expand...

I love the performance, not the stupid dongle which looks rediculous hanging off the back of my machine.
 
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