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ATI Radeon X800 GT: A Quality Mid-range Solution

 by Josh Venning on September 28, 2005 12:05 AM EST
48 Comments | Add A Comment
48 Comments
Power Consumption

Power draw is something worth looking at when comparing graphics cards, as there are distinct advantages to having a cooler-running GPU, especially in applications like mobile computing. Those who don't purchase high-end, 600W PSUs might also appreciate a less hungry GPU.

We tested the power draw of these cards similarly to how we have in the past. First, we measure the total wattage of the system with the graphics card installed while the system is idle, then we loop several game benchmarks to stress test the card, and take the highest wattage generated. This gives us a relative idea of what kind of power load each card generates.

Idle Power

Load Power

When we look at the graph, it makes sense that since the X800 XT is the only one of these cards that requires an external power connection. It would create the largest power draw on our system. While 236 Watts might seem like a lot, keep in mind that with NVIDIA's 7800 series cards, we've seen power draws as high as 280 Watts (not to mention the massive power draws that SLI setups create). As you can see, the other four cards received fairly similar results, except for the NVIDIA 6800, whose slightly lower power draw is understandable given the card's 128MB of memory. An interesting thing to note here is that the X800 GT and 6600 GT have nearly the exact same power draw, showing another aspect of these cards' similarities.

Unreal Tournament 2004 Performance Final Words
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  • drinkmorejava - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link

    But how does the 6600gt compare in SCCT with SM3.0 on. It's not an unbiased test if you're not using the cards to the best of their abilities. SM3 was built to give a performance boost that would encourage people to by cards with it, no sense in leaving this out.

  • lifeguard1999 - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link

    Why?

  • coldpower27 - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link

    Remember the 6800 Strength lies in situations where AA & AF are applied. it's overall pixel fillrate is only 3.9GPixel compare to the 6600 GT 4.0GPixel, if not memory bandwidth limited, there is potential for 6600 GT to outperform 6800 Vanilla. Vertex Shader power doesn't matter also all that much as the amount 6600 GT has seems to be sufficient. Pixle Shader fillrate is one of the most important indicators of performance when comparing across the same architecture.

  • Cybercat - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link

    I was wondering about this myself. I've seen a number of benchmarks from other sources showing the 6800 to be the better performer. I hope Josh used a genuine NV41/42 6800 rather than just taking a NV45 and cutting it down.

  • Kagjes - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link

    hmm, could someone plz tell me what's the overclocking like with 6800s? is it worth buying at all?

  • DerekWilson - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link

    they have different strengths

  • jkostans - Sunday, September 25, 2005 - link

    I just built a computer for a buddy a X800 GT 256MB card plus a A64 3500+ in it. The 3500+ overclocked to 2.63GHz prime95 stable, and the video card was running solid at 580Mhz Core 595Mhz Memory and looped 3dmark tests all night without a single problem. Probably the best bang for the buck system I've built so far. Performance wise better than the 3800+ and X800 XL system I built prior to it (stock speeds) and a lot cheaper.

  • Thatguy97 - Wednesday, June 24, 2015 - link

    dont see how the x800 gt was a quality mid range solution as the x800 xl and x800 were much better cards
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