SUMMARY: Today we're taking a close look at GeCube's new ATI Radeon X800XL graphics card with 512MB of GDDR-3 memory onboard. After looking at the package and the card, we're comparing the 512MB model against a 256MB model to see what type of differences we have in our usual array of gaming benchmarks. Is it worth spending the extra money for the additional 256MB of memory or not? Read on and we'll try and provide some answers.
ATIs Radeon X800XL is one of best value for money graphics cards floating around at the moment. With its implementation of 16 pipelines, GDDR-3 onboard memory and what would be considered quite a low price tag for a card of this caliber - it makes an absolute winning combination. Thanks to it being available in both AGP and PCI E, users of older systems also get the chance to play with the X800XL.
ATI and nVidia both announced their line up of 512MB cards a while back but with the GeForce 7800 GTX being released recently, nobody is looking at the 512MB 6800 Ultras and most people interested in the 512MB ATI variants are waiting to see what the R520 brings when it is released later this year.
Not everyone though is going to be in the position to buy a 512MB R520 and if the current price of the 512MB GeForce 6800 Ultra is used as a guide, the new high-end variants with 512MB are going to be out of reach for most people. This is where the 512MB X800XL comes in, it gives you the excellent performance of the X800XL series along with the 512MB needed to run those games just how you want them which is at a high resolution with all the settings turned up.
Read on and well take a look at GeCubes implementation of the X800XL 512MB and then well compare it against a 256MB version to see the difference.
