Introduction

Crucial is well known for their excellent and competitively low priced PC memory sticks, but as some of you may know, they also sell graphics cards based on the ATI graphic chipsets that have been released. While many users are switching over to PCI-Express based motherboards, a massive user base still remains for AGP based boards, so it's refreshing to still see cards are going to be released in AGP format, albeit less and less over the next year. The card we have on review today is the Crucial ATI X800 Pro 256mb AGP based card.

The RADEON® X800 graphics technology set a new standard in graphics performance and visual realism. With up to 16 pipelines, higher clock speeds and breakthrough image enhancement technology, RADEON® X800 Graphics Technology introduced a whole new gaming category called High-Definition Gaming.

Ground-Breaking Speed
RADEON® X800 Graphics Technology delivers frame rates that surpass all previous graphics processors and up to two times the performance of the acclaimed RADEON® 9800 PRO. RADEON® X800 graphics technology provides an extremely smooth, responsive HD gaming experience, putting capable gamers in complete control of even the most demanding game titles. A new architecture based on the latest .13 micron, low-k manufacturing process with ultra fast and efficient GDDR3 memory combine to produce extreme data rates and unbelievable acceleration in a quiet, cool, single-slot solution.

Breakthrough Image Quality
RADEON® X800 Graphics Technology defined a totally new High-Definition Gaming experience for the avid gamer by maximizing performance and image quality in higher detail and at higher resolutions than ever before. ATI‘s new and revolutionary 3Dc™ image enhancement technology brings characters to life and scenery to greater realism by enabling significant improvements to the image detail of character art with increased performance and lower memory usage.3Dc™ is slated to become the industry standard to support more complex high-definition visual effects in real time.

Technologically Advanced 3D Architecture
RADEON® X800 graphics technology features SMARTSHADER™ HD, the most advanced pixel shader engine with up to 16 parallel pixel pipelines capable of an incredible 6 gigapixels/second fill rate in full precision! With six programmable vertex shader pipelines, capable of up to 700 million vertices per second and an overall capability of over 200 billion floating point operations per second(Giga FLOPS), RADEON® X800 Graphics Technology delivers beautifully rendered high-definition 3D animation for intense, interactive game play.

Cutting Edge Video Technology
RADEON® X800 graphics technology gives you more than just a great gaming experience. It also has sophisticated video processing, filtering and acceleration features that make multimedia applications more efficient, inspiring and fun. With VIDEOSHADER™ HD, RADEON® X800 graphics technology takes advantage of its advanced shader processing engine for user programmable video effects, video quality enhancement, and encoding and decoding of many video standards, including MPEG1/2/4, Real Media, DivX and WMV9. RADEON® X800 Graphics Technology also supports the latest high-definition and wide display formats, giving users bigger and more vivid movie, gaming and Internet experiences.

DirectX® 9.0 Leadership Continues
Over the past several years ATI has established a legacy of providing the highest performing Microsoft® DirectX® graphics card solutions. RADEON® X800 graphics technology offers unparalleled DirectX® 9.0 and OpenGL® 2.0 shader support to ensure that current and upcoming games look and play brilliantly, especially in high-definition.

Stability is the foundation of the RADEON® X800 Graphics Technology
Acclaimed by industry leaders, ATI’s award winning CATALYST™ software driver suite optimizes the graphics processor performance of ATI’s desktop products while ensuring maximum stability and user control. CATALYST™ provides frequent driver updates backed by ATI customer support, to ensure complete satisfaction.

The package came with the following:

• Power Adapter
• VGA Connector
• S-video cables
• TV-Out Connector
• PowerDVD 5
• Driver Disc

First thing to note here is the lack of any demos or any sign of a bundled game, and while I don't personally have a problem with manufacturers shipping products without games, I would prefer they do when the product is quite expensive. This is one of the very few bad points I could find about the Crucial card.

System Setup

For this review we're using 3 different PC's each running 1GB Crucial Ballistics Memory, 180 GB Western Digitial Hard Drives 7200RPM, 8mb Cache, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 and Windows XP SP2. The only difference in each pc is the processors, we're running 3000+, 3800+ and 4000+, reason for this is to spread out the benchmarks across the kind of PC's our readers are using right now. Each benchmark was ran 3 times.

The software we are using is as follows:

• Windows XP Service Pack 2

• ATI Catalyst Drivers 5.5

• Via Hyperion 4.51

• DirectX 9.0c

• 3D Mark 2003

• 3D Mark 2005

• Half Life 2

• X2: The Threat

• Far Cry 1.3

• Doom 3

Benchmarks

Doom 3 has become one of the more used benchmarks for graphics cards since its recent release, it shows off the great power that the graphics engine has, although the gameplay leaves a little to be desired. Once more ID has used OpenGL in the game, this is where ATI lacks a bit of power, although most gamers won't really notice it, those that want the increased FPS will.

Doom 3 1280x1024 High Detail

Doom 3 1600x1200 High Detail

Farcry is easily one of the best titles released this year, and that is saying something when you consider it has been up against the likes of Doom 3 and Half Life 2. Graphically in my personal view this is the 2nd best looking game out right now, just one behind Half Life 2, not only that but Farcry is so good looking on an ATI card you'll be well happy with the results.

Farcry 1280x1024 Ultra Detail - Athlon 64 4000+

Farcry 1280x1024 Ultra Detail - Athlon 64 3800+

Farcry 1280x1024 Ultra Detail - Athlon 64 3000+

Half Life 2 was one of the most sought after titles ever released when it came out last month and I am glad to say I don't think anyone was disappointed with the game. The graphical performance is as good as I hoped it would be, there are some areas in the game where it does slow down, but not enough to distract from the excellent gameplay on show here. Half Life 2 is probably the best looking title out right now, and with the excellent graphic effects and some great physics on show, it has to be the title you buy to show off a spanking new PC.

Half Life 2 1280x1024 6x Anisotropic 4xAA