X600XT 4xAA/8xAF

PCX5700 4xAA/8xAF

I have to apologize here, but I've misplaced the screenshots I wanted to use so have gone back to using some FarCry screenshots instead. It's actually quite interesting to use the FarCry screenshots since this game actually shows the ATI card to be the worst for image quality, although in my experience this is a unique situation. Anyhow, its doubtful that even with a game that looks as good as FarCry does that you will take the time to study the scenery carefully enough to notice the differences.

2D Image Quality

We loaded up a 1600x1200 colour bitmap image we normally use in our video card reviews. I also pulled up an HTML document with various sized fonts to judge the text rendering. The document uses white text on a black background, and vice versa. The screen resolution for all tests was 1600x1200 @ 72Hz on a Sony 19" Trinitron.

Scores are subjective, but having worked with many video cards over the last few years, I'm confident I can provide an opinion on what cards render 2D better than others. The scores will be out of 10, with 10 being excellent.

	FX5950 Ultra	HIS X600XT
Black Text (12pt)	8.5	9.5
Black Text (6pt)	8.0	9.0
White Text (12pt)	8.0	9.0
White Text (6pt)	7.5	8.5
Bitmap Quality	9.0	9.5

2D displays from the HIS Excalibur X600XT are clear and concise, with a nice contrast but a some what softer image than the NVIDIA card, especially noticeable when comparing fonts. ATI usually dominates in this area, although the differences are minimal, but certainly enough to take into account if you spend all day looking at a 2D display.

Final Words

This is my second outing with an product and again I'm very happy with the product. Although the PCI-Express interface has done little for performance in comparison with AGP cards, this was not an unexpected result since currently games don't use all the bandwidth of an 8x interface. However as time progresses no doubt the 16x interface will make its presence known.

The package is once again excellent; we don't have any useless items or games, but what we do have is some of the latest games (in terms of retail release) including Counter Strike: Condition Zero as well as some nice video editing software. The extra cabling is a standard affair found with many cards but the quality of those components is enough to be used for the average end user. This usefulness extends to the I/O Panel of the card itself which gives you the option for VGA, DVI-I and VIVO (via the dongle provided to give you S-Vid and Composite in and out). The box and its artwork are just right with enough information to ... er ... inform you, but without bombarding you.

Aesthetically the card has the usual bright red PCB and the rather fetching iCooler with its 24dB noise level and cool blue LED lit appearance. Compared to the ASUS Extreme X600XT, the HIS card is much quieter while offering similar performance.

Gaming performance is mid range which is what the card is designed for. Modern games will run at about 1024x768 very happily with mild AA and AF applied. Older games will have no trouble, but the latest games such as FarCry and Doom III will push the card to its limits. If you are serious about playing either of those two then you would be better served by looking at a higher specification card. That's not to say that the HIS X600XT VIVO PE can't handle those games at all, which it can comfortably enough, but that (obviously) performance would be higher from a more expensive card.

Image quality ... well this is an ATI card, and whilst NVIDIA has made great strides lately ATI still just pips them to the post. We did find texture quality a little better with the NVIDIA card in Far Cry, but all of the other tested games were about the same.

There is some headroom for overclocking, quite a bit in fact, and this is reflected in the adjusted scores for games, with many of the frame rates getting into the more desirable higher areas.

Currently we are rather limited in choice by mid range PCI-Express cards, and since the 6600 from Nvidia isn't on the shelves yet, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the X600XT is the current best mid range card you will get for the money. The reflects this in providing you with a good all round card, all round packaging, and of the extra headroom afforded by the overclockability. Recommended

Pros: Quiet - Less than 24dB, No extra power connectors needed, Overall useful package - no out of date games included (matter of opionion), ViVo features, Dual Display, Decent overclocking potential, Will play pretty much anything you throw at it - albeit the more intensive games will need a little tweaking or sacrificing of screen size.

Cons: None really, the padding for the card in the box could be improved but it's not a big issue.

Bottom Line: If you've just blown your budget on an LGA775 CPU and motherboard, you can save yourself some cash without having to compromise to much on performance by getting an X600XT. The overall package is great, very good value for money. Though we don't have confirmed pricing, it should retail in the same price bracket as most other X600 XT cards.

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