Page 17

The Verdict

Despite some performance fluctuations compared between the PCX and AGP models of these cards due to a somewhat slower system I think you would all agree with me that these two babies we tested today are not even slightly worse off compared to the PCX version. The AGP test PC simply did not have the raw CPU horsepower of the PCX system which effected all resolutions below 1280x1024. I've been saying review after review, these cards need a good processor to make them function 100%, this article clearly demonstrated that.

It amazed me though, as initially I figured that there would be a more extensive difference between these two platforms. Obviously, the Rialto bridge chip works really well. You know, I never expected to test an AGP card ever again and one thing is sure, even the high end cards can still give the PCI-Express card a really good fight.

Both AGP cards performed absolutely stable at fabulous temperatures. We did not have any installation issues, graphics corruption or anything. They worked staight from the box. When we look at tweakability then I have to give it two thumbs up to both the x850 XT and XT PE, especially the standard XT version combined with the new iTurbo feature. And while the Platinum Edition did not have that option, it still did have some excellent room to overclock as we got it 100% stable at 580 MHz. That's really exciting.

Any game at any settings on all cards will perform absolutely perfectly, in fact with a faster processor performance would be even higher as both x850 cards are a little limited by the CPU, even at 3.4 GHz. In fact with the PCX models we even noticed small CPU limitation with an Athlon 64 4000+  CPU. It's really silly, but in several cases the VPU (Graphics core) is waiting for the CPU (processor) to finish up its calculations and send them to the graphics card driver. Don't get me wrong, the Athlon 64 4000+ was powerful enough but see it like this, your graphics card is like 90% at work with certain games.

So in theory with a 3000+ or 3.0 GHz system with a Radeon x800XL you might get very similar performance as with a x850 XT PE due to that CPU limitation. You need to consider this and remember it when you upgrade your PC, okay ?

Both Radeon x850 cards will play any game to date with all quality gadgets enabled very well in acceptable resolutions. When we enable 4x Antialiasing and 8 or even 16 levels of anisotropic filtering then at 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 we still have amazing performance.

Now then, what to recommend? Well, purely from a performance point of view of course the spectacular X850 XT Platinum Edition floats my boat, followed closely on its tail by the standard XT version (standard probably isn't right choice of wording though). From a budget point of view and actually a lot of other reasons it makes way more sense to buy the standard x850 XT version. With iTurbo software you can get way more performance straight out of the box and that really is true value.

Both x850 products really are expensive though. But hey, if you have the money to spare and want the best of the best, then look no further as HiS is offering two extraordinary x850 products built with the highest quality, the best cooling and an amazing bundle. The sum of all these factors make both the Radeon x850 XT and x850 XT PE a product that I can recommend from the heart, if your budget suits that of course. And if your budget does not cut it, hey go for a really fantastic Radeon x800 XL.

And although it's becoming somewhat weird to give HiS another two editor's choice awards, I can not find any reason not to do so. The products deserve it, it's Guru3D stuff and offers the high quality standard we love so much. My sincere congratulations to HiS technology for again doing it right. This is Guru3D certified hardware my friends.

HiS Radeon x850 XT IceQ II Turbo (AGP)	HiS Radeon x850 XT PE IceQ II (AGP)

HiS Radeon x850 XT - x850 XT PE - IceQ II (Turbo) (AGP)

Product type: Graphics card
Memory: (256 MB GDDR3)
Manufacturer: HIS
Website: www.HISdigital.comMSRP:  450-500 USD

Guru3D.com Cheapest Prices for
Radeon x850 XT PE 
Radeon x850 XT
Radeon x800 XL