The stakes are high.

That?s the first thing to keep in mind as you read this review and evaluate the X700 series.  Ever since they launched the 9700 Pro, ATI has increasingly owned the high-end 3D market.  First R300 blew the Ti 4xxx series out of the water, then NVIDIA?s NV30 hit the market with all the grace of a bellyflopping whale.  NV35 may have improved on NV30?s performance trainwreck, but a long series of optimization controversies in multiple products damaged NVIDIA?s credibility and hurt perceptions of the card.  Valve?s performance demonstration using a half-completed engine they billed as ?ready to ship? was the final nail that left the FX series looking like an also-ran. 

ATI, meanwhile, cruised to dominance on the strength of first the 9700 / 9500 series, followed by the 9800 / 9600.  The 9800 Pro and XT may have been comparatively small advances over the 9700, but that card?s design was strong enough (and NVIDIA in a weak-enough position, comparatively speaking), that ATI was able to tweak the feature set and introduce incremental improvements and remain in the driver?s seat.

The arrival of the 6800 series from NVIDIA gave ATI its first serious competition in years; but until a few weeks ago so few of these products were actually on the market that it scarcely could?ve mattered.  As things currently stand, GeForce 6800 Ultra?s are still unavailable in channel at any volume, while XT PEs are finally appearing for the low, low price of $660 and up. 

The launch of the GeForce 6600GT, however, changed the entire shape of the mid-range market.  With fabulous performance and a $199 price point, NVIDIA left ATI?s midrange competitor (the X600XT) in the dust.  ATI?s advantage, in this case, was the ability to fine-tune X700 core speeds to match whatever NVIDIA cranked out with the 6600GT, we?ll find out today if they can match NVIDIA?s fair-haired child or not. 

The reason all this matters so much is because the mid-range market is where companies strike the balance between volume and profit.  So how?s the X700?s footing?  Lets take a look.

next >

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• The Card, Architectures. (1 of 8)
• X700 Features (2 of 8)
• PS 3.0 vs. 2.0b: How much does it matter? (3 of 8)
• Test Configuration, Catalyst Oddity (4 of 8)
• Benchmark Results: Fillrate, 3DMark 2001 (5 of 8)
• Benchmark Results: Far Cry, Halo (6 of 8)
• Benchmark Results: Doom 3, Hl2 Stress Test (7 of 8)
• Conclusion: Vertex Power Fails to Trump Bandwidth Efficiency. (8 of 8)