Radeon X1800 GTO swims mainstream

ATI got served with Geforce 6800 GS. This card has hurt ATI big time. ATI started shipping Radeon X1600 XT and PRO around December 2005. The card is certainly faster than Geforce 6600 GT but it could not beat reintroduced Geforce 6800 GS. The 6800 GS won't simply as it had 256 bit memory interface, that was its key.

Since then ATI was working on the revenge and it decided to brand it Radeon X1800 GTO. The GTO series was very successful for ATI and it sold a lot of X800 GTO based cards. That's why it decided to continue the tradition and to introduce the new X1800 GTO.

Radeon X1800 GTO is not a new card it is rather reinvented and crippled X1800 XT card. It works at 500 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory but its pipelines number is reduced to twelve. The standard X1800XL has sixteen pipelines.

Both cards are based on R520 core and as you know every new revision of the core is highly overclockable. Radeon X1800 GTO has 256 MB or 256 bit memory and we think this is the key element why this card might win the game against just announced Geforce 7600 GT. Nvidia still has to launch a its 7600 GS but that will not be able to compete the new GTO.

ATI is using its well known old lams for new ones but we know that the card comes priced at $199 and it will definitely offer a nice value for the money. We can not stop loving this crazy graphic fight as it brings the prices down.

Just before we went to SnoBIT 2006 we managed to test the new X1800 GTO and this is what we think.

Benchmarketing:
We used :
ATI 1800 XL card at 500 MHz /1000 MHz
Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe, RD580 based motherboard
2x1024 MB OCZ gold edition PC 4000 memory
Western Digital 8MB 160GB SATA drive
Akasa AK128 EVO Athlon 64 cooler
Akasa 650W multi rail PSU
OCZ Power Stream 600W

Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	91.3	71.6	55.3	33.3
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	96.1	81.9	63.7	41.6
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	69.1	47.8	35.8	19.9
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	79.1	59.1	43.4	24.7
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	129.8	112.6	91.1	57.7
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	132.6	124.4	105.7	73.2
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	114.1	87.6	68.5	42.0
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	122.9	104.1	83.3	56.7
FEAR	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	69	49	35	19
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	80	61	43	26
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	51	37	24	12
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	62	45	28	17
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	12873	99.1	76.0	82.0
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	13634	110.0	79.5	85.9
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Vertex Shader
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	2740.3	5758.9	49.0	135.5
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	2896.5	7420.2	49.0	135.4
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	6805	29.2	20.6	33.6
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	7264	30.8	22.2	35.8
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	2901.6	5979.3	144.9	75.2/46.6
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	3204.7	8082.6	186.0	68.2/46.8
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	2994
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	3404
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	1220	9.239	11.103
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	1432	11.066	12.798
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	1220	11.859	12.540
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	1420	14.056	14.339
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
ATI X1800GTO 500/1000 MHz, 12 piplines	1084	0.342	0.550
ATI X1800XL 500/1000 MHz, 16 pipelines	1085	0.342	0.551

As expected Radeon X1800 XL is faster in Doom 3. It can run up to 10 frames faster but X1800GTO it gives fifty five frames per second even at 1600x1200. Even with 4X FSAA and 8X anisotropic the card can stay up to ten frames slower than the sixteen pipelines card.

Radeon X1800 XL is faster in Quake 4 and it can get even more than ten frames faster. X1800 GTO can keep up and give very playable 57 frames per second even at 2048x1536. X1800 GTO can keep up at Quake 4 with FSAA 4X and 8X anisotropic and we were amazed to learn that even at this settings can get 68.5 FPS. X1800XL scores 83.3 at the same settings but it is at least $100 more expensive.

FEAR is a good way to torture the next generation cards. X1800XL is naturally faster but X1800 GTO can kee up. At first two resolutions it is eleven frames slower than sixteen pipelines card while the numbers gets closer at higher settings. With FSAA 4X and 16X Anisotropic the difference gets narrower and the scores gets much closer. Overall X1800 GTO will be able to play the game quite well.

X1800 GTO scores 12873 at 3Dmark03 some 800 points less than the sixteen pipelines brother, it scores 6805 in 3Dmark05 while the faster card scores 7260. At the latest controversial 3Dmark06, X1800 GTO scores just a few points less than 3000 while the sixteen pipelines card scores 3404.

Conclusion
This is not our final review but we wanted to share some numbers before we go to SnoBIT 2006. We have to compare this card with 7600 GT but at press time we didn't had any in our hands. We should bring you a few more mainstream cards and compare them together to find the optimal solution for the money. We think that ATI did a good job with X1800 GTO. It is new lamp for old ones strategy but as long as it means a good card for not so much money we are happy about it. The card won't be available today but we learned that it will be in retail and etail stores around 20th of March. It is not that bad but we have to say that ATI did paper launched the card as the hard launch means you have to have the hardware in stores.

We suspect that X1800 GTO should end up faster than 7600 GT as it has 256 bit memory versus 128 bit memory in Nvidia's case. Last time Nvidia wont because of 256 bit memory interface.

X1800 GTO looks like a good card to us and the pricing is right, so the card has the every chance to be the real successor.

Tested and reviewed by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic