DH Review: Radeon HD2900XT (Asus and Sapphire)

***Zardon*** · May 14, 2007, 02:24 AM

Read The Review Here
________________________

With AMD's acquisition of ATI for vast amounts of money, it would be fair to say there have been high hopes for the long awaited and by now almost mythical R600. If hype and rumour could sell product, then the cards we have in front of us today would guarantee AMD several hundred million in the first week of launch. However, in the internet age we are all way too savvy to part with money before reading reviews and opinions, this is a luxury in 2007 we should never take for granted. Educated decisions mean we end up buying the product we need, not what companies say we should buy.

It has been a quiet six months for ATI, not only have Nvidia been ruling the roost with their excellent 8800 series, but with AMD getting trounced by Intel in the processor sector, every sane enthusiast is praying that their graphics division can finally deliver a competitive product which gives us all good value for money as well as a stellar gaming experience.

So, the question is, can the R600 take on the huge success story that is the Nvidia 8800? Today our UK Editor and graphics card specialist Stuart "Veridian3" Davidson is going to answer all your questions with real world gaming performance on multiple operating systems against 8800 counterparts, as well as delving into Image Quality concerns and Video Acceleration. We are sure by the end of this review you will know if it is money worth spending...

Necrosis · May 14, 2007, 02:37 AM

Good review, and ouch!

brutusmaximus · May 14, 2007, 02:44 AM

So, the card is slower than a 8800 GTS, has less memory, a higher power consumption (215w!) and costs £30-£40 more while needing awkward power connectors?

Ouch indeed.

ChaosMinionX · May 14, 2007, 02:44 AM

Excellent review, X2900

......

ATI needs to pull something outta their hat real quick.

Dark Lord · May 14, 2007, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

Good review, and ouch!

pretty much said it all.

maybe ati will pull another x1800 stunt with their refresh, or maybe the card really shines in DX10. as it stands though, ati screwed up big time on this one it looks like.

OmegaRED · May 14, 2007, 03:03 AM

Stalker and Supreme Commander took a dump all over this card...I was hoping the XT would smoke those two games but it can't even keep up with a GTS

bug77 · May 14, 2007, 03:14 AM

Good review, but lousy card. What really dissapoints me is that I was hoping ATI will have a strong mid-range offer this time around

And the nit-pick of the day: HL2 does not have HDR (as stated in the Dark Messiah section); only Lost Coast and Episode 1 do.

***Zardon*** · May 14, 2007, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bug77

And the nit-pick of the day: HL2 does not have HDR (as stated in the Dark Messiah section); only Lost Coast and Episode 1 do.

yes, we know that (as you remember we covered the whole thing from Valves HQ when it was announced a long time ago), we were referring to the latest version of the engine in Ep1. Ill reword it so its clearer, however I thought it was pretty obvious.

ChaosMinionX · May 14, 2007, 03:40 AM

To continue the topic from the "Excited about R600" thread.....Who here thinks the X2900 is being held back by drivers, and has potential to pull some nice DX10 numbers?

Im still pretty fed up with ATI for no XTX.

Da_Jewish_Fonzy · May 14, 2007, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaosMinionX

To continue the topic from the "Excited about R600" thread.....Who here thinks the X2900 is being held back by drivers, and has potential to pull some nice DX10 numbers?

That could very well be the case. I remember when the x1800xt launched (I bought one) and at launch it got smoked by the 7800GTX, then when ATI released the 5.12 cats it was the opposite, the performance increase was immense and the x1800xt out performed the 7800 pretty well across the board, even the 7900gt in a lot of cases.

So I hope its just immature drivers or I might just be switching camps back to Nvidia again. My last Nvidia card was an FX and thats when I decided to change to ATI.

edit: cheers on the review, it was excellent

bug77 · May 14, 2007, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaosMinionX

To continue the topic from the "Excited about R600" thread.....Who here thinks the X2900 is being held back by drivers, and has potential to pull some nice DX10 numbers?

Im still pretty fed up with ATI for no XTX.

Actually, from what Inquirer posted (yes, I know), it may be FX case all over again: inefficient architecture (meaning that even if the 2900XT has more theoretical processing power, it is impossible to keep it working 100% most of the time).

@Z: I knew you knew that, but you left with almost nothing to pick on this time.

Edit: That same article says CFAA is actually Quincunx AA reloaded (which is software only, it does not need hardware support) which actually slightly blurs the image. But from what I have seen, it looks better than Nvidia's AA.

**temeteus82** · May 14, 2007, 03:48 AM

Well done review. I was waiting for this. But must agree with you in the conclusion of the card. It has prize tag that is too high for it's performance and that cooling ....

CDsDontBurn · May 14, 2007, 04:01 AM

so the xtx is best in Oblivion and Rainbow Six. everything else is either negligable or best on an NVIDIA card.

my favorite line of the whole review is at the end,

Quote:

as it stands now however, we simply cannot recommend this hardware

.

Dyre Straits · May 14, 2007, 04:10 AM

Oh, my.......

Will this die-hard ATI card user finally have to go with an nVidia now? I think Hell just froze over.

ChaosMinionX · May 14, 2007, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Oh, my.......

Will this die-hard ATI card user finally have to go with an nVidia now? I think Hell just froze over.

You and Me both, unless ATI pulls somethin outta their ass Q3.....

CDsDontBurn · May 14, 2007, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaosMinionX

You and Me both, unless ATI pulls somethin outta their ass Q3.....

what if mid-way through q3, AMD-ATI were to push it back to q4. would you still wait?

Dyre Straits · May 14, 2007, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

what if mid-way through q3, AMD-ATI were to push it back to q4. would you still wait?

Everything considered, I'm much happier with AMD/ATI driver support vs. nVidia. BUT, if nVidia can continue to surpass AMD/ATI performance-wise, I think the decision becomes less difficult to make.

For the moment, I'm still quite happy with my X1950 Pro, though. (Notice, I said, 'moment'.

)

ChaosMinionX · May 14, 2007, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

what if mid-way through q3, AMD-ATI were to push it back to q4. would you still wait?

I dont know

I just hope ATI pulls one out so I can get my cards haha.....If not Nvidia is lookin better and better despite their driver support.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · May 14, 2007, 07:34 AM

wow....

good thing i'm getting the 8800gts 640mb today! i wasn't anticpating much from this card either...

ahh i miss the good old days with my 9700 pro

Erroneus · May 14, 2007, 08:09 AM

It's disappointing right now, but I really think that there is room for A LOT improvement in the drivers and also we are still missing the DX10 numbers.

GutterPunk · May 14, 2007, 08:11 AM

I wonder what is going to happen when pci-express 2.0 comes out. Nice review, I really enjoyed it. Makes me sad as an ATI fan but makes me feel better on my decision to just get an 8800gtx.

Nick0323 · May 14, 2007, 08:53 AM

nvidia = 5 months worth of optimised drivers
ati = 0 months worth of revisions...

CASE CLOSED.

caqde · May 14, 2007, 08:53 AM

Noting other reviews that show the X1900XT being equivalent in speed to the HD2900XT in certain benchmarks I am going to reserve judgment until later more mature drivers come out. Even if the architecture has problems I somehow doubt that it is bad enough to allow the X1900XT to be faster than it in any program...

Just a wonder how much faster is the 8800GTX using todays drivers vs it's release drivers?

bug77 · May 14, 2007, 09:30 AM

I see people hope drivers will turn this into a great card. I remember they did this too when X1800 was out. Back then it was said that optimizing the ring bus controller access was the key...

brutusmaximus · May 14, 2007, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick0323

nvidia = 5 months worth of optimised drivers
ati = 0 months worth of revisions...

CASE CLOSED.

So what are you saying? none of the reviews matter and that no site should have reviewed the card for five months, hoping ATI deliver performance drivers? Will those same drivers lower power consumption, miraculously give High definition acceleration and make the fan run quieter?

This is all about "now", after all people can buy the cards now, and if you spent £250-£300 on this card you would be sorely disappointed.

I am glad DH's review is up today, I was over at hexus today, and their review is terrible, rys is sorely missed.

**kris23** · May 14, 2007, 09:56 AM

it is a disgrace..........i thought the cad would be able to OC....it cant.... i thought it would be better than the GTS and slightly worse than the GTX but no

caqde · May 14, 2007, 09:58 AM

Quote:

So what are you saying? none of the reviews matter and that no site should have reviewed the card for five months, hoping ATI deliver performance drivers? Will those same drivers lower power consumption, miraculously give High definition acceleration and make the fan run quieter?

This is all about "now", after all people can buy the cards now, and if you spent £250-£300 on this card you would be sorely disappointed.

I am glad DH's review is up today, I was over at hexus today, and their review is terrible, rys is sorely missed.

Lower power consumption ... At idle maybe depends on if the architecture allows it. HD acceleration of course. Fan well not likely but only if it can lower power at idle.

If ATI's drivers don't support all the features of the new R600 core then yes such things are possible. It could lower power consumption if it has features that aren't being used to do so. Although it is unlikely it is possible.

As for HD acceleration remember ATI released drivers that introduced video acceleration for their cards.

On another note I would like to see a review using Nvidia's Oldest and Most current 8800GTX driver to show how it has matured over the course of the last 5-6 months..

Vikingod · May 14, 2007, 10:00 AM

Sad news indeed. The Rainbow 6 numbers put a little light on the situation. It uses the Unreal 3 engine, correct, which is possibly the most popular "next-gen" engine. Maybe the cards just need the next gen games to really shine. Games like UT3 and Crysis maybe... I hope...

brutusmaximus · May 14, 2007, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caqde

Lower power consumption ... At idle maybe depends on if the architecture allows it. HD acceleration of course. Fan well not likely but only if it can lower power at idle.

The card technology obviously is right at the limit and I dont think a driver will sort out the noise issues, unless they revamped the cooler with a larger more substantial lower spinning fan. Of course we could all make the cards quieter by sticking a fork in the fan, but the card would more than likely fry.

Quote:

If ATI's drivers don't support all the features of the new R600 core then yes such things are possible. It could lower power consumption if it has features that aren't being used to do so. Although it is unlikely it is possible.

Yes a slight improvement is possible but when you compare the sub 160w of the GTS to the theorectical 215w of the R600, it won't even come close regardless of "driver" tweaks.

Quote:

As for HD acceleration remember ATI released drivers that introduced video acceleration for their cards.

Yes Avivo, however it is hardly as elegant as an onchip hardware solution, which ATI have only built into their lower end X2x series. What a bizarre marketing decision.

Quote:

On another note I would like to see a review using Nvidia's Oldest and Most current 8800GTX driver to show how it has matured over the course of the last 5-6 months..

Why? When I see these comments, its like something you would see in a film such as "back to the future". This industry is based on what the consumer can buy right now, thats why the internet has up to the minute content on exactly what is happening. Not what happened 5 months ago, or what could possibly happen in 5 months time.

ATI seriously dropped the ball on this, and right now, if you walk into a shop or order online, this is what you get, it is also right now, all that matters, unless of course ATi are happy selling no product for 5 months. I certainly know I wont be spending money on a product that might get a bit better in 6 months time. There will be new hardware by then anyway.

GutterPunk · May 14, 2007, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick0323

nvidia = 5 months worth of optimised drivers
ati = 0 months worth of revisions...

CASE CLOSED.

That made me giggle. Because when speculation came out ATI was > Nvidia because what? They have WHQl and pimp already great drivers before it was released. But now it is this... I knew it would come forth. Hah... ha? and huh hah. Before it was used to attack nvidia and now it is an excuse. Wow, kinda sick of that crap. People really know how to crap on new hardware whether it is is good or great.

May 14, 2007, 02:24 AM	#1
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,257 Rep Power: 3150	DH Review: Radeon HD2900XT (Asus and Sapphire) Read The Review Here ________________________ With AMD's acquisition of ATI for vast amounts of money, it would be fair to say there have been high hopes for the long awaited and by now almost mythical R600. If hype and rumour could sell product, then the cards we have in front of us today would guarantee AMD several hundred million in the first week of launch. However, in the internet age we are all way too savvy to part with money before reading reviews and opinions, this is a luxury in 2007 we should never take for granted. Educated decisions mean we end up buying the product we need, not what companies say we should buy. It has been a quiet six months for ATI, not only have Nvidia been ruling the roost with their excellent 8800 series, but with AMD getting trounced by Intel in the processor sector, every sane enthusiast is praying that their graphics division can finally deliver a competitive product which gives us all good value for money as well as a stellar gaming experience. So, the question is, can the R600 take on the huge success story that is the Nvidia 8800? Today our UK Editor and graphics card specialist Stuart "Veridian3" Davidson is going to answer all your questions with real world gaming performance on multiple operating systems against 8800 counterparts, as well as delving into Image Quality concerns and Video Acceleration. We are sure by the end of this review you will know if it is money worth spending...

May 14, 2007, 02:44 AM	#3
brutusmaximus DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 525 Rep Power: 60	So, the card is slower than a 8800 GTS, has less memory, a higher power consumption (215w!) and costs £30-£40 more while needing awkward power connectors? Ouch indeed. __________________

May 14, 2007, 02:44 AM	#4
ChaosMinionX USB 3 dot oh Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New York Posts: 2,182 Rep Power: 31 System Specs	Excellent review, X2900 ...... ATI needs to pull something outta their hat real quick. __________________ ::Heatware:: How you can help DriverHeaven by using Digg!

May 14, 2007, 03:03 AM	#6
OmegaRED In Fedor We Trust Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Ottawa , Canada Posts: 4,787 Rep Power: 84 System Specs	Stalker and Supreme Commander took a dump all over this card...I was hoping the XT would smoke those two games but it can't even keep up with a GTS __________________

May 14, 2007, 03:40 AM	#9
ChaosMinionX USB 3 dot oh Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New York Posts: 2,182 Rep Power: 31 System Specs	To continue the topic from the "Excited about R600" thread.....Who here thinks the X2900 is being held back by drivers, and has potential to pull some nice DX10 numbers? Im still pretty fed up with ATI for no XTX. __________________ ::Heatware:: How you can help DriverHeaven by using Digg!

May 14, 2007, 02:37 AM	#2
Necrosis DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,577 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	Good review, and ouch!

May 14, 2007, 03:14 AM	#7
bug77 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: around Posts: 792 Rep Power: 0	Good review, but lousy card. What really dissapoints me is that I was hoping ATI will have a strong mid-range offer this time around And the nit-pick of the day: HL2 does not have HDR (as stated in the Dark Messiah section); only Lost Coast and Episode 1 do.

May 14, 2007, 07:34 AM	#19
BiGBrOwNPimpsta DH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,224 Rep Power: 64 System Specs	wow.... good thing i'm getting the 8800gts 640mb today! i wasn't anticpating much from this card either... ahh i miss the good old days with my 9700 pro __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| ATI TV Wonder Elite \| Logitech G7 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

May 14, 2007, 08:09 AM	#20
Erroneus Loving my Windows 7 Ent. Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 12,921 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	It's disappointing right now, but I really think that there is room for A LOT improvement in the drivers and also we are still missing the DX10 numbers. __________________

May 14, 2007, 08:11 AM	#21
GutterPunk I = Greatest Dood Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nebraska Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 54	I wonder what is going to happen when pci-express 2.0 comes out. Nice review, I really enjoyed it. Makes me sad as an ATI fan but makes me feel better on my decision to just get an 8800gtx. __________________ Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig! --------------- Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~ Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

May 14, 2007, 08:53 AM	#22
Nick0323 DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London Posts: 324 Rep Power: 0	nvidia = 5 months worth of optimised drivers ati = 0 months worth of revisions... CASE CLOSED. __________________ PSU: Coolermaster iGreen 500W Chipset: nFORCE 750SLi Mobo: ASUS P5N-D, BIOS revision 0601 CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450, 12mb cache, 2.66GHz GPU: Gainward Bliss 9600GT, Engine 700MHz, Memory 2GHz, Forceware 175.19) RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition, PC8500 (1066MHz), 2x2GB Sound: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic HDD1: Western Digital Raptor, 160GB, 10,000rpm HDD2: Maxtor Diamondmax 22, 32mb Cache, 7200.11, 500GB HDD3:Maxtor Diamondmax 21, 16mb Cache, 7200.10, 320GB (External via Icy Box) 3D Mark 05 - 17,500 3D Mark 06 - 12,000

May 14, 2007, 08:53 AM	#23
caqde DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 437 Rep Power: 45	Noting other reviews that show the X1900XT being equivalent in speed to the HD2900XT in certain benchmarks I am going to reserve judgment until later more mature drivers come out. Even if the architecture has problems I somehow doubt that it is bad enough to allow the X1900XT to be faster than it in any program... Just a wonder how much faster is the 8800GTX using todays drivers vs it's release drivers? __________________ AMD Phenom II X4 925 AM3/ Giga-byte MA790XT-UD4P XFX HD5770 1GB / 2x2GB of GSKILL DDR3 10666 8-8-8-23 Samsung SH-S182D DVD-RW drive / Samsung SH-S222A DVD-RW drive Western Digital 7500AACS(Primary)/Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb(Secondary)/Western Digital 3200KS 16MB 7200rpm SATAII HD(Secondary) Fortron AX500-A PSU / CoolerMaster CMStacker Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX / Creative Inspire 6600 6.1 speakers Samsuugn T200HD 20" LCD Monitor / Logitech Internet 350 Black Keyboard Logitech MX510 Mouse Last edited by caqde; May 14, 2007 at 09:12 AM. Reason: add stuff

May 14, 2007, 09:30 AM	#24
bug77 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: around Posts: 792 Rep Power: 0	I see people hope drivers will turn this into a great card. I remember they did this too when X1800 was out. Back then it was said that optimizing the ring bus controller access was the key...

May 14, 2007, 09:56 AM	#26
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,312 Rep Power: 64 System Specs	it is a disgrace..........i thought the cad would be able to OC....it cant.... i thought it would be better than the GTS and slightly worse than the GTX but no __________________ Driverheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (9/4/09) New i5 systems with more to come! Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

May 14, 2007, 10:00 AM	#28
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,149 Rep Power: 85 System Specs	Sad news indeed. The Rainbow 6 numbers put a little light on the situation. It uses the Unreal 3 engine, correct, which is possibly the most popular "next-gen" engine. Maybe the cards just need the next gen games to really shine. Games like UT3 and Crysis maybe... I hope... __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*