VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro 128MB

After a lot of requests, we finally have some retail ATi-powered video cards to review here at Bjorn3d. The card featured today in this review actually comes from a former top name in NVIDIA-based products -- VisionTek. I personally have never owned or used a Radeon graphics card, and I've been wondering how one would compare to the NVIDIA cards I've been accustomed to. Yeah, I've read reviews and seen graphs that can answer that question, but actually getting my hands on one is much better. Seeing is believing, right?

Although I haven't reviewed or owned any ATi products, I have reviewed and still own a VisionTek card, a GeForce4 Ti4200. VisionTek no longer sells NVIDIA products, but they have continued using the "Xtasy" moniker for their product line. In this review, I'll be comparing the VisionTek Xtasy 9800 Pro 128MB to the MSI GeForce FX 5900 VTD128 that I recently reviewed.

Specifications

• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro VPU
• 380 MHz VPU Core
• AGP Bus
• 128MB DDR Memory
• 256-bit, Quad-Channel Memory Interface
• Memory Clock: 340MHz (680MHz DDR)
• Dual 400MHz DACs
• API Support: DirectX 9.0, OpenGL 2.0
• Connectors: VGA, DVI-I, TV/S Video

Features at a Glance

• AGP 8x support
• CATALYST Driver support
• SMARTSHADER 2.1
• SMOOTHVISION 2.1
• HYPER Z III+
• TRUFORM 2.0
• 8 Parallel Rendering Pipelines
• 4 Parallel Geometry Engines
• F-Buffer Technology, 128-bit floating point color precision, 2nd generation N-patch higher order surface, FULLSTREAM VIDEOSHADER
• Integrated TV out support up to 1024x768 resolution. De-interlacing and frame rate conversion, dual integrated 10-bit per channel palet DACs, integrated 165MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI 1.0 compliant). Unique per-pixel adaptive de-interlacing. Optimized for Pentium 4 SSE2 and AMD Athlon 3Dnow! PC 2002 and FTF compliant.
• Lifetime warranty
• Toll-free tech support

Package Contents

• Radeon 9800 Pro Graphics Accelerator
• Quick Install Guide
• 3D Demos
• ATI Catalyst Drivers
• DVI-to-VGA adapter
• S-video cable
• Power cable

As you can see, the bundle is very basic. It's too bad that such a good card doesn't include much good stuff. The box is unique though. It's actually not the typical cardboard material most components come in. Instead, it's made of plastic! VisionTek is trying to be trendy and unique with its Xtasy line, and that's a very interesting approach. It should definitely catch a few extra glances on store shelves.

Cool, Plastic and See-Through Xtasy 9800 Box

Back of the Box With Some "Hip Hop" Marketing

Package Contents - Protective Plastic

Package Contents - Nothing Too Exciting

The Xtasy 9800 Pro comes with your typical connectors -- VGA, DVI and S-video out. It also has the standard ATi heatsink and fan for cooling the VPU.

The 9800 Pro with the Power Cable Attached

The 9800 Pro

Close-Up of the Heatsink and Fan

Card's Connectors

As you can see in the pics, the Xtasy 9800 Pro doesn't rely on massive cooling. Instead, like most Radeon cards, you find the stock cooler design, which might be kind of boring compared to some of the GeForce FX solutions out there, but the simplicity of a card like this will definitely appeal to many people. I think the silver heatsink looks great with the cool red PCB.

Please remember that you should have at least a 350W power supply if you want to use one of the new top-end cards, regardless of whether it's an ATi or NVIDIA card. Also, I suggest keeping the included power cable connected to remind you to actually plug it in whenever you have to uninstall / install it. It's been a good reminder for me!