The Card

The X800 XL 512MB is not just a carbon copy of either the X850 XT PE or the X800 XL. The additional memory on the card seems to have required some extra real estate on the PCB as it is the longest card when compared to the X850 XT PE and the X800 XL. Unlike the 256MB version of the X800 XL, this particular card requires extra juice from the PCIe video power cable. Beside the power connector is the analog video in port that usually does not make it onto production boards.

The size of the heatsink has increased quite a bit and the placement of the fan almost suggests that the location of the VPU has moved but upon a closer look this is not the case as there is nothing but plastic and PCB directly below the fan unit. From the back, the fins of the actual heatsink can be seen and air is driven through the heatsink unit which is more akin to the design of the X850 XT sans the extra plastic shell.

The heatsink is not all looks though as the weight of the board has increased significantly. While I do not have a scale handy here at the lab, I would not doubt that the card has not only doubled the amount of memory but is also double the weight. The fan is of a bigger diameter than what was seen on the X700 Pro and the X800 XL thus it has to spin slower to move the same volume of air and the 512MB card is noticeably quieter than both of the aforementioned cards.

R420 Technology

It's hard to believe that it has almost been a year since ATI took the wraps off of the R420 line up. We encourage readers that are not familiar with the RADEON X line up to take a look at our previous article. Some of the high lights include 3Dc and temporal antialiasing (which has also made its way into the R300 family).