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Introduction:::...
Crucial
have emerged from an unusually lean spell, product announcement
wise, with a barrage of new products including a new, high-speed
version of their popular Gizmo USB Flash drive, a new line
of enthusiast memory that they've called "Ballistix"
and the introduction of five new graphics cards including
a RADEON™ 9200 SE 128MB, 9600 SE 128MB, 9600 XT 128MB,
9800 Pro 128MB and X800 Pro 256MB.
After
a slightly shaky start, Crucial's Radeon 9800 went on to
become a high quality high value product that firmly established
the memory giant as a viable player in the graphics market,
and their announcement regarding the new lineup on the 7th
July suggests they're planning on staying the course, for
now at least.
With
several exciting new games either due to market or already
on shelves, thoughts are turning to upgrading that flagging
graphics card, and with this in mind we took a look at the
current top card in Crucial's arsenal, the X800 Pro.
It
may be top of Crucial's lineup but as I'm sure you know
it's not the top of ATi's lineup. The X800 Pro runs with
a core frequency of 510MHz and a memory frequency of 450MHz
(900MHz DDR) and has four of its sixteen pipelines crippled,
effectively making it a twelve pipe part. This certainly
impacts performance but as we've already seen, it remains
a remarkably competent gaming card with power to spare in
all but the most demanding situations. A fill rate of 5.7
Gpixels/sec and a geometry throughput of 475 Mtriangles/sec
make sure of that.
Sophisticated
Features
- 3Dc™:
Image enhancement technology brings characters to life
and scenery to greater realism with significant improvements
to the image detail of character art with increased performance
and lower memory usage.
- SMARTSHADER™
HD: The most advanced pixel shader engine with 12 parallel
pixel pipelines capable of an incredible 6 gigapixels/second
fill rate in full precision. The Crucial RADEON X800 Pro
delivers the most beautifully rendered high-definition
3D animation for the ultimate in intense, interactive
game play.
- VIDEOSHADER™
HD: Take advantage of the advanced shader processing engine
for user-programmable video effects, video quality enhancement,
and encoding and decoding of many video standards.
- SMOOTHVISION™
HD: Enhances image quality by removing jagged edges and
brings out the finest texture detail without compromising
performance.
- Hyper
Z™HD: Bandwidth-saving technology allows unprecedented
levels of rendering performance. By adding a more flexible
Z-buffer, the Crucial RADEON X800 Pro can be optimized
to render dynamic real-time shadows, producing realistic
and immersive virtual environments.
General
Specifications
- Powered
by the RADEON X800 Pro VPU, driven by 12 parallel pixel
pipelines, eight extreme parallel pixel pipelines, and
six parallel vertex processing engines
- Fully
supports Microsoft DirectX® 9.0 and OpenGL® 2.0
- 256-bit
quad-channel GDDR3 memory interface
- 256MB
GDDR3 SDRAM memory
- 400MHz
RAMDAC
Crucial
Quality
Crucial Technology, a division of Micron, provides high-quality
memory upgrades, video cards, flash memory, and a host of
products to enhance the entire computing experience. Recognized
in the computing industry as a leading provider of memory
products, Crucial has built an expanded product line to meet
the demands of mainstream computer users and hardcore gamers
alike.
System
Requirements
RADEON™ X800 Series of products requires connection
to your PC's internal power supply for operation. Consult
your computer manufacturer to ensure your system has an adequate
power supply. Otherwise, ATI recommends a 300-watt power supply
or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number
of other internal devices are installed.
- Intel®
Pentium® 4; AMD Athlon® or compatible with AGP 8X (0.8V),
4X (1.5V), or Universal AGB 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X).
- 128MB
of system memory; 256MB or more for best performance
- Installation
software requires CD-ROM drive
- DVD
playback requires DVD drive
- 300
watt or greater power supply recommended
Operating
Systems Support
- Windows®
XP (Home and Pro)
- Windows®
2000
- Windows®
Media Center Edition
Display
Support
- VGA
connector for analog CRT
- S-video
or composite connector for TV/VCR
- DVI-I
connector for CRT or digital flat panel
- Drive
two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions
and refresh rates
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