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. With the introduction of the X850 ATI has shown their support for the PCI-Express format. The card we have on review today is the Crucial ATI X850 XT 256mb PCI Express based card.

Details

• Incredible 3-D gaming performance
• PCI Express™ 16X technology with 16 parallel pixel pipeline utilization
• 256MB of DDR3 memory
• 256-bit quad-channel GDDR3 memory interface
• Dual display support for simultaneous viewing on analog and high-definition digital monitors
• Powerthrottling technology for cooler running temperature
• Integrated SmartVision™ technology, providing high-definition gaming
• Complete DirectX® 9.0 support
• TV-out functionality

Box Contents

• CD manual/driver
• TV cable set
• DVI-I to VGA adapter
• S-video to RCA adapter
• S-video to HDTV adapter
• Power cable
• DVD playback CD

Display support

• CRT monitor: 15-pin VGA connector
• S-video connector for TV output
• 1 DVI-I and 1 analog or 2 analog (with included 15-pin VGA adapter)

Operating System Support

• Windows® XP®
• Windows® 2000®

System Requirement

• A PCI Express™-based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard and one additional adjacent expansion slot available
• Intel® Pentium® 4, AMD® K6/Duron™/Athlon® or compatible with PCIe 4X (1.5V) and 8X (0.8V)
• 256MB of system memory; 1GB or more for improved performance
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
• 300 watt or greater power supply recommended

Sophisticated Features

• SMARTSHADER™ HD: Users will experience complex, movie-quality effects in next-generation 3-D games and graphics.
• VIDEOSHADER™HD: Enables seamless integration and use of pixel shaders to accelerate video processing and provide enhanced visuals.
• SMOOTHVISION™ HD: Enhances image quality by removing jagged edges and bringing out fine texture detail without compromising performance.
• HYPER Z™ HD: Ensures optimized hardware performance by excluding irrelevant data not visible to the end user, enabling new levels of rendering.

General Specifications

• Powered by RADEON™ X850 XT Series VPU, driven by 16-pipe rendering architecture
• Full support for DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality 256-bit DDR memory interface, featuring HYPER Z™ HD bandwidth-conserving technology
• 256MB GDDR3 memory
• 400MHz RAMDAC
• Native x16 lane PCI Express support
• VGA connector, TV-out connector

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 Digital 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 5.7

• Via Hyperion 4.51

• DirectX 9.0c

• 3D Mark 2005

• Half Life 2

• X2: The Threat

• Far Cry 1.3

• Doom 3

Installation is a breeze as always with graphics cards. The Crucial based X850 XT is yet another reference board number, if you peel off the sticker from the card you have what is exactly the same as all of the ATI X850 reference designs, it's a shame that Crucial hasn't decided to make any changes to thinks like the heatsink or the fan on the card.

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+ X850

Farcry 1280x1024 Ultra Detail - Athlon 64 4000+ X800

Farcry 1280x1024 Ultra Detail - Athlon 64 3800+ X800

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.