We mentioned the fact that the board was unable to complete our full test suite due to problems with both the boards' thermal management and the drivers. We are told that the thermal issues that we encountered with the sample board were a problem that was specific to the board that we tested - this will be confirmed at a later date when we get the chance to test another X700 XT once the driver bugs have been addressed and fixed. Nonetheless, this does appear to have an air of a rush-release about it - clearly ATI are worried about the 6600 cards.
There is an air of disappointment surrounding the fact that we could not get the board to run CS: Source without issues, as this was one benchmark that is likely to determine many graphics card purchases over the next six to twelve months. The board that we tested would not allow us to configure Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering from inside the game; subsequently, the performance when using control panel driver details was severely hampered due to the fact that Catalyst AI appeared to slow the game down. There were also serious issues with Need For Speed: Underground, where it would appear that Catalyst AI was working overtime due to the fact that the driver was under the impression that it was not rendering the image correctly, according to the reference rasterizer.
The CS issues are interesting, considering that Half-Life 2 is an ATI sponsored game - one would think that this would be the one thing it would work on. It's all very well harking at the performance of your next generation card, but releasing it for review with drivers that won't run common benchmarks is pretty dodgy. One might be something of a conspiracy theorist and say that ATI's lead in the Source engine isn't quite as much as it would like yet, but that is (mostly) pure speculation.
It is also worth pointing out the fact that the heatsink/fan design is a very noisy one - when the GPU is loaded, the fan spins up to a rather off-putting noise level. This can be heard clearly above other noise pollution coming from our test system, which is enclosed in a steel case. We were under the impression that computers were to be getting quieter - the board, when loaded, is close to the noise levels that were the norm back when the GeForce 3 was the performance leader. The X700 series is supposed to support a passive cooling solution if the BTX form factor ever takes off. If it doesn't, we can only hope that ATI's add-in partners come up with a more convincing heatsink/fan design that isn't quite so loud. Haven't ATI learnt from NVIDIA's Dustbuster Disaster?
The actual performance of the board is fantastic, considering the fact that it is suggested to retail at a mere $199. The 9800 XT comes close in a few titles, but when we consider that the 9800 XT retails at closer to $300 than $200, the X700 XT proves to have very good value for money - once the drivers are fixed, the board is certain to be a force to be reckoned with. We do seriously hope that this board makes an appearance on the AGP interface, as many consumers are still sceptical about the immediate need for the PCI-Express interface. If ATI were to choose not to introduce this board on to AGP, they're likely to lose a large potential market where NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT will be in a market of it's own.
The X700 series is a range that ATI cannot afford to get wrong. After all, this is the market segment where the majority of the money is made - many of us cannot afford to spend £300-400 on a graphics card every 12 months, and are content in settling for a solid mainstream part. As it is, the X700 is a card with great potential - it needs more time to be actually finished, both board-wise and driver-wise.
- Tim Smalley
There is an air of disappointment surrounding the fact that we could not get the board to run CS: Source without issues, as this was one benchmark that is likely to determine many graphics card purchases over the next six to twelve months. The board that we tested would not allow us to configure Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering from inside the game; subsequently, the performance when using control panel driver details was severely hampered due to the fact that Catalyst AI appeared to slow the game down. There were also serious issues with Need For Speed: Underground, where it would appear that Catalyst AI was working overtime due to the fact that the driver was under the impression that it was not rendering the image correctly, according to the reference rasterizer.
The CS issues are interesting, considering that Half-Life 2 is an ATI sponsored game - one would think that this would be the one thing it would work on. It's all very well harking at the performance of your next generation card, but releasing it for review with drivers that won't run common benchmarks is pretty dodgy. One might be something of a conspiracy theorist and say that ATI's lead in the Source engine isn't quite as much as it would like yet, but that is (mostly) pure speculation.
It is also worth pointing out the fact that the heatsink/fan design is a very noisy one - when the GPU is loaded, the fan spins up to a rather off-putting noise level. This can be heard clearly above other noise pollution coming from our test system, which is enclosed in a steel case. We were under the impression that computers were to be getting quieter - the board, when loaded, is close to the noise levels that were the norm back when the GeForce 3 was the performance leader. The X700 series is supposed to support a passive cooling solution if the BTX form factor ever takes off. If it doesn't, we can only hope that ATI's add-in partners come up with a more convincing heatsink/fan design that isn't quite so loud. Haven't ATI learnt from NVIDIA's Dustbuster Disaster?
The actual performance of the board is fantastic, considering the fact that it is suggested to retail at a mere $199. The 9800 XT comes close in a few titles, but when we consider that the 9800 XT retails at closer to $300 than $200, the X700 XT proves to have very good value for money - once the drivers are fixed, the board is certain to be a force to be reckoned with. We do seriously hope that this board makes an appearance on the AGP interface, as many consumers are still sceptical about the immediate need for the PCI-Express interface. If ATI were to choose not to introduce this board on to AGP, they're likely to lose a large potential market where NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT will be in a market of it's own.
The X700 series is a range that ATI cannot afford to get wrong. After all, this is the market segment where the majority of the money is made - many of us cannot afford to spend £300-400 on a graphics card every 12 months, and are content in settling for a solid mainstream part. As it is, the X700 is a card with great potential - it needs more time to be actually finished, both board-wise and driver-wise.
- Tim Smalley
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
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