When ATI recently announced their new X850 line of graphics cards, a mysterious little fellow by the name of the "Radeon X800 XL" came along for the ride. It wasn't long after that it was made clear this little puppy could well be a 6800 GT killer. Whys that? Ooooooh, perhaps due to a fully enabled 16 pipeline treat with a sweet sweet little price tag, a mere $299MSRP in fact.

Interested to see how it fairs? Here's some nice fresh reviews for ya'all :-

- Anandtech
- Toms Hardware
- ExtremeTech
- FiringSquad
- Beyond3D
- Hot Hardware
- PC Perspective
- Tech Report

Tech Report:-
This PCI Express x16 graphics card comes with a single-slot cooler attached, and it doesn't require any auxiliary power connections. The 75 watts supplied by the PCI-E x16 slot should suffice. Otherwise, the X800 XL is nearly a dead ringer for a Radeon X850 XT card. Closer inspection reveals some minor differences, but the two PCB designs obviously share a common pedigree.

The XL's real distinction comes in the form of its R430 VPU. The R480 chip that powers the more expensive X850 line is manufactured at TSMC on a 130nm fab process. The R430, by contrast, is fabbed using TSMC's 110nm process.