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- Date:
- Sunday , May 13, 2007
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT
ATI’s DirectX 10 capable GPU is finally here in the form of the Radeon HD 2900 XT. Does this $399 video card have what it takes to compete with NVIDIA’s 8800 series? We explore the architecture, image quality, and real world gaming that shows a different experience than canned benchmarks.
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT
The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT runs at 743 MHz for the core frequency and 828 MHz (1.656 GHz) for the memory. Powerstrip is most likely rounding up the actual 742 MHz core frequency and memory frequency. Our built by ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT is an engineering sample, but does resemble what you will find in retail.
First let’s look at a size comparison. In the first photograph above we have a BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB (top) compared to the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT (bottom). In the second photograph we are comparing the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT to a BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB.
The Radeon HD 2900 XT measures 9.5 inches in length, 3.75 inches in width and is a standard two-card slot in height. In comparison the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB is .5 inches shorter at 9 inches in length. The GeForce 8800 GTX is 1 inch longer at 10.5 inches in length. Weight is something that is also noticeably different; the Radeon HD 2900 XT is heavier than even the GeForce 8800 GTX because its heatsink, in its entirety, is made of copper.
As mentioned the heatsink is entirely made of copper and uses a dual heat-pipe solution with the fan offset. In the center of the video card sits the primary copper heatsink block directly in contact with the GPU. There are two heat-pipes that emanate from this block and swing around to the rear end of the video card through another section of finned copper heatsink. The heat-pipes help transfer heat toward the rear of the video card away from the GPU.
The fan sits offset from the GPU with the entire system being enclosed in a shroud. This ducts the air from the fan pulling it in over all the heatsink material and out through the back of the video card. The fan is variable speed and ramps up and down in RPM depending on the temperature. You’ll be happy to know there is no “whine” to the fan, but when the fan gets going at full speed there is a decent amount of audible wind noise and the air exhausting can be felt a few feet away from the back of the video card. The actual change in the fan rotation speed is also noticeable as it will go from quiet to somewhat loud very quickly.
You will notice the power connectors on the top of the video card. They are now placed on the top, like the GeForce 8800 GTX instead of on the end like the GeForce 8800 GTS and all previous generation ATI video cards. You will also notice there are two of them that are required for proper operation of this video card. The GeForce 8800 GTS needs only one, the GTX two, and now the Radeon HD 2900 XT requires two as well.
One is a standard 6-pin auxiliary connector (2x3) but the other is a new 8-pin 2x4 connector that is part of the PCI-Express 2.0 spec. The 8-pin connector is not required for default operation of this video card however, but two 6-pin (2x3) power cables are. The 8-pin power connector on the video card is backwards compatible with a 6-pin plug. You need to plug in two 6-pin power cables to run this video card. If however you want to overclock, you will need to plug in one 8-pin and one 6-pin power cable. ATI Overdrive application overclocking is physically disabled with two 6-pin power cables. The driver will detect what kind of power the video card is receiving and not allow you to overclock unless you have that 8-pin and a 6-pin plugged in. Third party apps, such as Powerstrip, are currently limited as well to being usable only with the 6-pin and 8-pin connected.
The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT has two dual-link DVI ports and HDMI output support. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT is simply a pass-through device for the HDMI video and audio signal, but does require a driver install, and uses the DVI ports to change the signal to HDMI. There is an included DVI to HDMI adapter that plugs into the DVI ports and provides the HDMI connection of audio and video. We’ll talk more about this later.