Powercolor X1800GTO Review

Name: Powercolor X1800GTO
Brand: PowerColor

D_o_s

on May 10th, 2006,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: PowerColor

(1 Comment) »

Introduction

Tul kindly provided the test sample. Thank you.

What started with the X800 GTO now continues with the X1800GTO. Furthermore, the GT/GTO line looks like its here to stay: recently, ATI launched its X1900GT series.

So what are ATI’s aims with GT/GTO chips? Basically, nothing less than affordable gaming performance. Most GTOs are within the “middle” price range (the X800 can be bought for around 120 USD, the X1800GTO for around 200). Another thing worth mentioning is that GTO cards usually feature cut down versions of high end GPUs, so unlocking the missing features is not out of the question.

Today, our “test” subject will be Powercolor’s X1800GTO. Below is a summary of the various X1800 flavors:

Product	Pixel Shaders	Vertex Shaders	Core Clock (MHz)	Memory Clock (MHz)
Radeon X1800XT	16	8	625	1500
Radeon X1800XL	16	8	500	1000
Radeon X1800GTO	12	8	500	1000

We will be looking at the latter – and most of you have spotted that the X1800GTO is unsurprisingly similar to the X1800XL, pixel pipelines being the only difference.

The Card

Once I saw this box, one word came to mind – bling. I mean, if this box was nicely polished up, with lights shining on it, it would definitely be an eye catcher… um, let's just get back on topic.

OK, this card has an awesome box – well done Powercolor! I mean, packaging is probably the last thing you care about (I'm a performance junkie), but I was so taken aback by the box that I just had to write about it… one thing that I would recommend, to further improve the looks, is a window at the back, revealing the card.

The box also features useful info for “newbies” wanting to build a Crossfire system: it has a nice table which tells you what is in the box, and what you still need to get.

Some might like the look; some might not – in my opinion, simplicity at its best. All this talk is worthless without pictures, judge for yourself:

The inside is rather dull, a plain white box, but most of us are used to that:

Now the card:

The card is very similar to the X1800XL – the fan is bigger though. 2 DVI outputs are more than welcome. In case you still need analog VGA conversion dongles are included.