We are closing in so to wrap everything up, I'll start from the beginning. The long awaited SM3.0 support has finally landed on ATi cards. All X1K products support this shader model though obviously not every card will perform the same way. We've showed you how X1800 XT from PowerColor and X1800 XL from HiS stack up against each other and the older X800 XT. From technical standpoint, X1800 series of cards are highly advanced. Besides Shader Model 3.0, the biggest of all changes was the introduction of what ATi calls Ultra-Threading Dispatch Processor and Ring Bus. Considering these chips carry only 16 pixel pipelines, performance seems quite consistent and eloquent. Throw in additional 2 vertex shaders and we have 8 in total.

Taking this flagship board for a long spin by benchmarking the latest and hottest games around the block reveals a lot about R520 architecture -- changes that were made are effective and powerful. Although quite late, X1800 series has a lot of potential especially with the next generation of games. As for the product itself, PowerColor X1800 XT is something many will consider a good bang for the buck. Albeit it comes with weak game bundle and looks exactly like ATi's reference design it might be a plus to some people. Whether you are upgrading or looking for a new killer video card, consider PowerColor as your brand. I'm sure many enthusiasts will choose their X1800 XT as their graphics powerhouse and they wont regret it.

Bjorn3D