Sapphire Radeon X800 XL

MSRP of $299, huh? Yeah, right. That's a joke! Big time! I like to think of MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) as the high point when it comes to actual retail pricing. Video cards prove that wishful thinking wrong all the time, but ATi's new kid on the block - the X800 XL - is selling for much higher than its announced MSRP. We all knew this card would rock (or rather violently shake) the successful NVIDIA 6800 GT boat if it really hit streets at $300. That's not happening though...try adding $100 to the MSRP. What was looking like a dead-on, hands-down lock for best-bang-for-the-buck glory is now on a more even playing field.

At a street price of $400 though, the X800 XL makes for a great competitor for the similarly priced 6800 GT, which is exactly what it's meant to do. Does it make a great competitor as far as performance is concerned though? We have a Sapphire Radeon X800 XL here to find out.

I will be comparing the Sapphire X800 XL to a reference NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT. Both cards are of course PCI Express and will run in the Foxconn nForce4 Ultra motherboard that I recently reviewed. Read on to check out the Sapphire X800 XL's features, specs, performance and overclocking potential.

Features

• 256MB of GDDR3 memory
• 256-bit memory interface
• 16 parallel pixel pipelines
• PCI Express x16 lane native support
• Dual display support
• Dual integrated 400MHz DAC's
• 2048x1536 @ 85Hz Maximum Resolution
• S-Video TV-out port
• Full support for DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® 2.0 functionality
• SMARTSHADER™ HD technology
• SMOOTHVISION™ HD technology
• 3Dc™ High quality 4:1 Normal Map Compression delivers beautiful scenes without the performance hit.
• Unique VIDEOSHADER™ HD engine uses programmable pixel shaders to accelerate video processing and provide better-looking visuals
• HYPER Z™ HD is optimized for performance at high display resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions

Specifications

You might wonder where the X800 XL fits in the X800/X850 family. The following table sheds a little light on this matter. You can read our brief look at the ATi reference X850 XT PE and X800 XL right here.