ATI throws down Radeon X1950 series with GDDR4

Looks like ATI is still intent on making a name for itself while ATI's still ATI, busting out its most powerful graphics card yet, the Radeon X1950. Available in both XTX and CrossFire editions, the X1950 series are the first cards to pack GDDR4 memory technology (a full 512MB of it) clocking in at an impressive 2.0GHz, as well as an all-new fansink that should keep the card cool and keep your box from scaring the neighbors. Just make sure your power supply is up to snuff before forking over the $449 for one (or two) of these, cause you know any old off-shelf PC just ain't gonna cut it. Look for it to be available from all the usual sources September 13th, and shortly thereafter as an option from Dell and other OEM vendors.

[Via Impress]

[Ryan @ Aug 23rd 2006 10:22AM]

You can catch benchmarks, power consumption numbers and CrossFire playability information here:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?type=expert&aid=287

[Zac @ Aug 23rd 2006 10:23AM]

Why even bother with the rest of the PC anymore? Why not just hook this baby up to a Blu-Ray drive, and send it out the door?

[Alex @ Aug 23rd 2006 10:31AM]

Holy mackarel!

[Saffy @ Aug 23rd 2006 10:57AM]

I can get two of these for $449? That sounds like a sweet deal! :-p

[Tim T. @ Aug 23rd 2006 11:30AM]

Wow. I've always gone with nVidia, but this card seems too good to pass up.

(And I'm sure it puts my FX 5200 to shame.)

[Mini-Me @ Aug 23rd 2006 11:42AM]

Does anybody wanna buy me one?

[Pat @ Aug 23rd 2006 12:13PM]

So when do we transition to a conductively cooled, cPCI form factor and get real about thermal and power management

[Gamey McGee @ Aug 23rd 2006 12:17PM]

For those of you that don't already have a crossfire configuration, this is the thing to get. It's cheaper, faster, and can do higher visual quality than anything nVidia can offer. (This includes the 7950.) I'm not anti-nVidia by any means, but ATi rules the roost for visual quality at high resolution right now.

I have a Core 2 Duo e6700 rig (running at 3.1GHz) with ATI Crossfire 1900xt on an intel 975xbx mobo ... I can easily play any game on the market at 1920 x 1200 at max settings-- including Oblivion.

[Smeagol @ Aug 23rd 2006 1:09PM]

meh .. I'll stick to my integrated intel graphics chipset on my laptop thank you very much.

:- (

[Jack @ Aug 23rd 2006 1:11PM]

For those of you who are obsessed with correcting the editors who use the term "dropped" to mean released, you're probably not "down" with the vernacular. "Down" doesn't mean the opposite of up or the opposite of happy... just to clear things up.

[ChaosTheoryZealot @ Aug 23rd 2006 2:14PM]

This made deciding on a new video card a whooooooole lot easier!

[CrAzZyLeE @ Aug 23rd 2006 3:24PM]

supports direct x 10?

[Tom @ Aug 23rd 2006 4:51PM]

Jack, what is "vernacular" slang for?

[The Jeremy @ Aug 23rd 2006 5:40PM]

Does it come with a bundled pebble-based nuclear reactor to power that sucker?

[jim @ Aug 23rd 2006 7:50PM]

I'm curious how you came to the conclusion it beats the 7950 - I'd love to see a good comparison of the 1950 and the 7950. I'm not a fanboy of nVidia or of ATI. I think if ATI just put two of the processors on this thing like nVidia did with their dual GPU 7950, the ATI would be the winner. But as this unit stands now, I doubt it could compete with the 7950 in FEAR or some of the more challenging games. Again I'm not an nVidia fanboy, I'm just bummin ATI is so incredibly slow in adopting a dual GPU on a single card solution.

The 7950 goes for about $550 but easily outperforms a 1900 crossfire solution which would probably cost about $800 and take two slots. I'm sure if ATI released a dual GPU solution such as the 7950 - we the endusers would have a much better choice and the prices would drop. Frankly I think the 1950 is overpriced base on the 7950 as an alternative. I would probably get a nice dual x19(75) card if ATI made one.

Go to Toms today to see how the 7950 performs vs the 1950 - form your own conclusions. I know some fanboy from either camp will always doubt the results. Frankly I'm rooting for ATI but they are really letting me down - I'm guessing they are moving slow as people are more worried about keeping their job and not pissing off the new management to be inovative (or even competitive) at this moment.

[Stormy Dragon @ Aug 23rd 2006 8:28PM]

Is anyone going to make a single slot version of this board for people with liquid cooled systems who don't want to waste a second slot on a fan they're just going to remove anyways?

[Jack @ Aug 23rd 2006 8:39PM]

Tom- Sorry, you're right. Vernacular is street for "all dat stuff that the homies in da real world say."

[Flawless Computers @ Aug 24th 2006 2:40AM]

absolutely stunningly sexy. i'll be adding u to our product line shortly

[js @ Aug 24th 2006 3:50AM]

Looks like ATI dropped a bomb and the floor is rockin'

[hoochie @ Sep 14th 2006 7:36AM]

yeah lets all run out and get one! this card will
be obsolete in 6 months thanks to new more
crappy coded over bloated games that swallow huge processing power for trivial things, and directX10
will help this card into obsolecence fast too!

Buying an expensive gpu or cpu is the most stupid thing! gamers are so gouged and screwed by graphic card and cpu chip companies, i wonder
when they will learn.