Conclusion:

The ATI RADEON 9800 XT 256MB is a massively fast card. As far as games go there is nothing on the market that comes close in terms of raw speed. Its closest non ATI competitor, the Geforce FX 5900 Ultra, cannot compete speed wise in most of our tests. All in all the closest the FX came was Splinter cell where the card won 4 out of a possible 18 sub tests. ATI’s most recent high end card and the precursor to the XT showed how strong a part it is in all of the tests. In all but Elite Force 2 it managed to maintain highly competitive even at the highest resolutions.

Image quality on the XT is what we have come to expect from ATI, flawless. 2D quality is excellent with bright and vibrant colours. Additionally DVD playback is crystal clear. 3D quality is no different to the naked eye from the 9800 Pro and is therefore first class. No other card on the market can match the speed and IQ of the 9800 XT.

So, who should be buying this card?
If you already have the 9800 Pro then if we are completely honest the only reason you really have for buying the XT is if you have money to burn (The XT has a MSRP of $499) and must have the latest and fastest equipment. For anyone using a 9800 non pro/9700 pro and below or any of the Geforce range of cards then the ATI RADEON XT 256mb would be a great upgrade. The performance in benchmarks like Shadermark 2.0 shows how truly future proof the card is and the performance in tests such as Tomb Raider The Angel Of Darkness and 3DMark03 show how well the card can run current DirextX 9 code.

There is good reason that this is the preferred graphics solution for Half-Life 2!