ATI Mobility Radeon X800 XT: More Pipes in Notebooks
by Derek Wilson on June 6, 2005 7:48 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
Again, for a refresher on the technology behind the Mobility Radeon X800 XT, check out our earlier review of the original M28.This has been quite an interesting weekend for us. Here, we are testing the latest mobile graphics card from ATI, which keeps up with the fastest desktop part that they have to offer. Back when the NVIDIA Go 6800 Ultra was released at a higher clock speed than the desktop part, we were happy to see parity between desktop and mobile offerings. We have felt for quite some time that the "chicken and the egg" problem of getting more users to buy mobile hardware could be solved by taking an "if you build it, they will come" perspective. It is fitting that ATI should launch this new mobile speed demon just after the first month in history that saw mobile platforms outsell desktop computers.
The 3.8GHz Pentium 4 Alienware system with 1GB of RAM, 2 DVD players, all sorts of I/O, and the Mobility Radeon X800 XT surpasses the performance of most of our desktop test beds in many areas. As this article is typed on an IBM X31 notebook with the rain clearing up outside, the feeling that the much predicted mobile revolution is in full swing overwhelms the moment. Of course, the moment is lost when the fans spin up on the Alienware notebook and the ear plugs are just out of reach.
It is quite impressive that both ATI and NVIDIA are competing as hard in the mobile space as they are on the desktop. But the real credit needs to go to these notebook designers who can offer the graphics vendors all the power and thermal headroom that they want. We still haven't seen a truly mobility oriented graphics solution as of yet. Intel had the right idea when they ventured down the path to the Pentium M, and it's about time that the rest of the industry followed suit and designed a mobile part that offers good performance rather than retrofitting a performance part for mobility.
In the case of the Mobility Radeon X800 XT, we are quite impressed. We would love to get our hands on a platform in which we could test both the MRX800 XT and the Go6800 Ultra for a fair comparison. Unfortunately, such an itch is difficult to scratch. The few real concerns that we have are the same as what we had back at the launch of the original M28. We are very happy to see this part in Alienware's latest offering, but (like the NVIDIA counterpart) this is still a very niche product.
We'd love to see parts like this move into a tighter and tighter thermal and power space. As excellent as it is to see products like this on the market, we want to see this type of graphics power available to users who want to actually be able to lift their notebook or hear themselves think.
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Hatglance - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
I haven't had the fan noise problem at all. My Area 51m 7700 is totally quiet. But, I'm running 'only' a 3GHz P4 and GeForce 6800 non-Ultra. This configuration uses a 180 watt power supply vs. 220 watts for the same machine with the 6800 Ultra.Hopefully your preproduction (I assume) machine won't be typical.
Heat is a little bit anoying. I'm left handed and the hotest outflow is a few inches from my mouse hand. Lefties get screwed once again!
These AMD lovers sound like some friends of mine who tell me how great their Athlon's are as they once again reformat their hard drive.
DerekWilson - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
Over the past year notebook prices have fallen 17% and desktop systems 4% (from the same company that showed notebooks outselling desktops last month) ...So prices should get closer over time, but building a notebook just costs more than building a desktop.
Shadowmage - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
I can get a Dell Inpsiron 9300 with a 6800 go for ~$1200 with coupon.yacoub - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
Well considering I'd spend $1500 max to build a new desktop/SFF (have an LCD already, but say that's a $400 value), and I'd spend maybe $2100 max on a laptop, it looks like the reasonable premium for me is around 10% ($1900 vs $2100) and that's assuming equal performance.Considering most people who need a laptop for business use, have one provided by their employer or buy one that is spec'd for business use not gaming, and they will own a desktop or SFF system at home for gaming, the OMG HIGH END gaming laptop is already targeting a much smaller market of gamers who wouldn't mind the extra portability for their main gaming rig. (And let's be honest here - no one's gaming on the move. The battery life alone makes sure of that.)
They will HAVE to drop their outrageous prices if they expect to sell any reasonable amount of them (or they can continue to overprice them in order to try to turn a profit on limited sales - and by doing so sacrifice future growth for smaller immediate returns).
It becomes a strategic sales issue where it comes down to whether or not they want to think longterm. They will have to price them competitively now so they increase their future customer base and reap greater profits later. If they continue to be short-sighted, they will never achieve the growth they could with proper pricing.
coldpower27 - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
There always gonna be a price premium for that extraq mobility right?yacoub - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
So will laptops always have a bogus 35-55% price premium on them or, if they become more popular, will the pricing start to fall in line with desktops?I can build a desktop sans monitor for say $1500 that's essentially top-of-the-line. Throw in a stereotypical Dell LCD for, what, $400. $2k at most.
Laptop with similar specs/performance (and a smaller display at that)? $3500-4000.
Ugh.
Johnmcl7 - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
Rock are going to be selling this machine with the A64 X2 or FX-55 in the UK:http://www.rockdirect.com
Their forums:
http://www.rockforum.com
msanto - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
Found this by accident (searching for something else). In a D900T chassis (Sager, i.e.), A64 + X800 XT! This is a UK company, though, and of course it's not for sale yet.http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=49...
yacoub - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/area-5... then load it up with the specs as tested. aka Too Much. =PAzsen - Monday, June 6, 2005 - link
How much do these cost and where cam ypu get one custom made with this chip?