Tidbits: Radeon X1950 XT, Vista Drivers, and overclocked 7950 GTs

Posted By: Michael Thomas - 06:13:49 Tue, October 17, 2006

As I ran around frantically today trying to get all the information on the new Radeon X1950 Pro sorted, I noticed a couple of interesting things. Sapphire, as expected, put up a page about the X1950 Pro on their website, but they also put up a page about an as-yet-unseen X1950 XT. The card has 256 MB of memory, and apparently only 36 shader processors. From the card pics, it appears to be based on R580 and sport the same cooling solution as the X1900 XT and XTX. Not sure what's going on here, but I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for more retail incarnations of this card. For more info head over to the Radeon X1950 XT page.

The second thing I noticed was brand spanking new WHQL certified Vista drivers from nVidia. I just installed them and all seems well. Unfortunately, nView and the nVidia control panel are still absent from the drivers. If you're running Vista you can pick up these drivers here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_96.85.html

Last but not least, I noticed the addition of several overclocked versions of the 7950GT to XFX's and evga's websites. Though nobody seems to be making a big fuss over them, I find it hard to believe that their appearance on the same day as the X1950 Pro is a coincidence. You can check out those cards on the GeForce 7950 GT page.

UPDATE: Connect3D put up an x1950xt as well, and Sapphire corrected their page to say 48 pixel shader pipelines. So all seems to be well.

10 Comments

Monday, October 23, 2006 11:43:34 AM

Nick
guest

There is also a Gecube X1950 Pro for the AGP bus users arriving at the end of November 2006. Happy days for us AGP users :D

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ATI_AGP_Graphics_Cards.html

Monday, October 23, 2006 10:14:15 PM

david
guest

NICE FIND NICK! I cant wait to get that for my ol junker and save the upgrade to lga 775, Now i cant wait just a little longer and get another gig of ram to keep my ol peice o' crap working till it dies a nice and quiet death.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 3:38:32 AM

I dont believe this. AGP is dead. Plus those ppl who posted the card know nothing abt graphics cards. They say that the X1950 Pro has the same performance as the X1900XT, while it has 3/4 of the performance.. wich is a big difference.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 4:09:35 PM

Mike
GPUReview Founder

As long as people are willing to pay money for an AGP card...it is, by definition, not dead (despite how much many of us would like to see it die).

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 6:46:35 PM

Nick
guest

I know that it only has 3/4 the performance compared to the XT Track, but so does an x800gto have 3/4 the performance to the XT model. So anyone looking to upgrade from an x800 agp isn't dead. Just goes to show that there still are many people with agp rigs and that there is still a profit to be made from making and selling agp cards.
And I can put on halt the upgrade to lga775 and pci-e too david.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:08:58 AM

This means that ATI will totally own the AGP market, wich can live for maybe even another year. If this IS true, i wonder what card nVidia will bring in to compete with the X1950 Pro AGP.. man an 80nm AGP card, never thougt id see the day.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:52:07 PM

Mach5Motorsport
guest

ATi will "own the AGP market" ?? Oh please, put the pipe down. How long did ATi sit on the sidelines without offering users a top-end AGP card since the x850? Nvidia and its third party vendors over the last three years has profited greatly. Yes AGP is going away and the x1950XT will be very good, but ATi is very late to the party in this aspect.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 2:10:50 PM

Nick
guest

I seriously doubt Nvidia will bring in another card Track. They already have the 7800GS which is like �50 more than the X1950PRO AGP and if im correct the X1950 has better performance than the 7800GS

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:27:48 PM

David
guest

Nick Ati only made this card to appease Amd.

Thursday, October 26, 2006 1:24:44 PM

Mach5Motorsport
guest

If the specs of the x1950Pro PCIe are any indication, then I don't think you will have a mad rush to get the AGP version, $200 price or not: "450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps, 12 volt rail is recommended (assumes fully loaded system)"! The 7800GS does not require anything over 400 watts and some vendors only require 350 watt PSUs. So to get that "hot" x1950 Pro a user is then looking to spend another $60 on a quality high output PSU.

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