ATI Launches The Radeon XT Lineup
SimGuy
Ottawa, Canada
ATI Launches The Radeon XT Lineup
They're here and pushing more poly's than ever! 500 Mhz Core & 600 Mhz Mem!
Live from Alcatraz, San Francisco tonight between 8:30 PM & 9:00 PM EST (5:30 - 6:00 PM PST), ATI and major OEM's (including Dell, Sapphire & Asus) will be coming together to release the fall refresh lineup of ATI's 3D accelerators: The Radeon 9800XT and 9600XT.
"Things have been quiet at 'The Rock' for the past 40 years.... Until Now. Plan your escape into a new dimension of cinematic realism in computer gaming. Remove everything on your calendar for the evening of September 30, 2003 and prepare to discover why ATI Technologies is on top at the rock!"
Asus has confirmed the following specifications of their XT offerings:
Radeon 9800XT:
R360 VPU
Thermal monitoring solution
Dynamic overclocking
412 MHz Core
730 MHz DDR Memory
256 MB DDR Memory
Radeon 9600XT:
RV360 VPU
500 MHz Core
600 MHz DDR Memory
128 MB DDR Memory
A Dutch hardware site managed to post a review of the card, which shows it performing up to 25% faster than the 9800 Pro 256 MB in heavy AA/AF situations. Nominal performance gains across the chart equate to about 10-20% over a 9800 Pro 256 MB.
One of the largest improvements has to be the jump in 3DMark2003 score. Throughout the benchmark, the Radeon 9800 Pro pulled off a score of 5789. On the same system (sorry, no info on that) with a 9800 XT, the 3DMark2003 score was 6505, and when overclocked to 470/750, pulled off an astounding 6988, 20% faster than its' predecessor.
The stock 9800 XT pulled a 19027 in 3DMark2001 SE 330 on the same system utilized for 3DMark2003.
A welcome feature to the R360 is Dynamic Overclocking. With the use of an integrated temperature probe, the card will dynamically overclock the VPU and increase fan speed as required to keep the card at or below 55 *C. The colder the card, the higher the card will overclock to. When running at stock speeds, the fan on the 9800 XT is quieter than the stock fan on a 9800 Pro.
This feature can be over-ridden with the new Catalyst 3.8 drivers which will include an integrated overclocking utility which will allow you to overclock your video card manually through the Display Control Panel (similar to the "CoolBits" extension for NVidia-based cards).
Many will remember the trouble the NV30 (GeForce FX 5800 Ultra) had when running 3D-intensive screensavers. The driver software didn't detect a 3D application and didn't increase the fan speed, which could cause the chip to overheat and fail simply from running a screensaver. This cannot happen on the 9800XT, as the temperature monitor is hardware based, and works simply off of the information fed to it by the temperature probe, not a software driver.
For those of us looking for something to spruce up the computer in time for Half-Life 2/Doom 3 and need a Christmas gift... ATI's newest kids on the block look very appealing...
Source: ATITech.ca & Rage3D Forums
They're here and pushing more poly's than ever! 500 Mhz Core & 600 Mhz Mem!
Live from Alcatraz, San Francisco tonight between 8:30 PM & 9:00 PM EST (5:30 - 6:00 PM PST), ATI and major OEM's (including Dell, Sapphire & Asus) will be coming together to release the fall refresh lineup of ATI's 3D accelerators: The Radeon 9800XT and 9600XT.
"Things have been quiet at 'The Rock' for the past 40 years.... Until Now. Plan your escape into a new dimension of cinematic realism in computer gaming. Remove everything on your calendar for the evening of September 30, 2003 and prepare to discover why ATI Technologies is on top at the rock!"
Asus has confirmed the following specifications of their XT offerings:
Radeon 9800XT:
R360 VPU
Thermal monitoring solution
Dynamic overclocking
412 MHz Core
730 MHz DDR Memory
256 MB DDR Memory
Radeon 9600XT:
RV360 VPU
500 MHz Core
600 MHz DDR Memory
128 MB DDR Memory
A Dutch hardware site managed to post a review of the card, which shows it performing up to 25% faster than the 9800 Pro 256 MB in heavy AA/AF situations. Nominal performance gains across the chart equate to about 10-20% over a 9800 Pro 256 MB.
One of the largest improvements has to be the jump in 3DMark2003 score. Throughout the benchmark, the Radeon 9800 Pro pulled off a score of 5789. On the same system (sorry, no info on that) with a 9800 XT, the 3DMark2003 score was 6505, and when overclocked to 470/750, pulled off an astounding 6988, 20% faster than its' predecessor.
The stock 9800 XT pulled a 19027 in 3DMark2001 SE 330 on the same system utilized for 3DMark2003.
A welcome feature to the R360 is Dynamic Overclocking. With the use of an integrated temperature probe, the card will dynamically overclock the VPU and increase fan speed as required to keep the card at or below 55 *C. The colder the card, the higher the card will overclock to. When running at stock speeds, the fan on the 9800 XT is quieter than the stock fan on a 9800 Pro.
This feature can be over-ridden with the new Catalyst 3.8 drivers which will include an integrated overclocking utility which will allow you to overclock your video card manually through the Display Control Panel (similar to the "CoolBits" extension for NVidia-based cards).
Many will remember the trouble the NV30 (GeForce FX 5800 Ultra) had when running 3D-intensive screensavers. The driver software didn't detect a 3D application and didn't increase the fan speed, which could cause the chip to overheat and fail simply from running a screensaver. This cannot happen on the 9800XT, as the temperature monitor is hardware based, and works simply off of the information fed to it by the temperature probe, not a software driver.
For those of us looking for something to spruce up the computer in time for Half-Life 2/Doom 3 and need a Christmas gift... ATI's newest kids on the block look very appealing...
Source: ATITech.ca & Rage3D Forums
0
Comments
Anyone want to buy a kidney?
Gob
Estimated msrp?
$499 USD for the 9800XT.
Over in Europe, prices for the 9800XT could go as high as 599 Euro's.
Every new product is rediculously expensive when it first comes out.
/Neo
Half-Life 2? Maybe? Pretty please?
For anyone who wants to watch the Launch Event, live from Alcatraz, SF, here's a link to the launch event feed from ATITech.ca:
http://www.atitech.ca/gitg/promotions/launch/index.html
ATI has updated their website products listing to show official numbers and features on the 9800XT & 9600XT.
Half-Life® 2 and RADEON™ 9800 XT. Now the real match begins.
The new RADEON™ series of Graphics technology has been declared the preferred graphics solution for Half-Life® 2 – the most anticipated game of the year…and for good reason.
Nothing puts in a more powerful performance than RADEON™ 9800 and RADEON™ 9600 series graphics accelerators. Nothing’s faster. Nothing’s more visually advanced. Nothing is as hyper-realistic. This is the only way to play Half-Life® 2. Check out a sneak-preview of Half-Life® 2 by clicking on our “Trailers” section. Get ready to be blown away!
Special Offer:
If you thought that was the end of the awesome news…read on! When you buy the new RADEON™ 9800 XT or RADEON™ 9600 XT you will get a FREE copy of Half-Life® 2!
We have made it simple for you.
ATI’s RADEON™ and Half-Life® 2 – the perfect match.
© 2003 Valve Corporation.
Shipping, handling and any applicable taxes or customs charges are not included.
Such charges will vary depending on purchaser’s mailing address and method they choose to receive their copy of Half-Life® 2 (i.e.; download vs. land delivery). Offer only available while supplies last. Shipping, handling and any applicable taxes or customs charges are not included.
Offer only available while supplies last.
© Copyright ATI Technologies Inc. 2003. All rights reserved. ATI and RADEON are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc.
Either way, 9800XT & 9600XT buyers will get HL2
I've got official prices on the 9800XT & 9600XT:
9800XT: $749.00 CDN ($499.00 USD)
9600XT: $299.00 CDN ($199.00 USD)
Prices are the MSRP's listed on ATITech.ca
how do you mount a waterblock on something like this?
Technically, the R360 is a glorified R350. They didn't "enhance" or change any of the shader protocols and didn't change or include new buffers. ATI's just milking the R3xx core one more time before Spring 2004, when ATI's big guns come out: The R420.
This card was called the 9800 XT because it's an extension of the 9800 family, not a replacement.
Extreme Gamer: 9800 XT
Enthusiast: 9800 Pro / 9800 / 9700 Pro
Mainstream: 9600 Pro / 9500 Pro
Value: 9200 Pro
That's how ATI wants it to be through the holiday season.