Wow, What a lovely card! And thank god for that. I had to find a graphics card for my downstairs PC as I bought a 7600GS that didn't work…. Boohoo. I won't review that card as I know it works on most computers just my one didn't so I don't think it's fair I review it.
This card however- well installed it and bingo! Games work. The problem with the 7600 was that 3D applications wouldn't work. So I went back to my norm and stuck with ATi- I've never gone wrong with them.
The X1650Pro is the step up form the X1600 and it has 512MB of RAM. I'm not too sure of the differences between the two but I'm sure this one is faster and has its 512mb of RAM. This enables
your games to run smoother and faster. The clock speed is fast and I won't bore you with the details of that but its fast.
The cooling on this chip is done by a fan. It is quite small but kicks out a bit of noise, but sacrificing the noise for the superior cooling capabilities of a fan is a sacrifice I will take as fans cool better.
The best point about this card is that it's a lovely mid range card that is extremely affordable- coming in at only 75£. It can be purchased at www.ebuyer.com for example. By looking at the price on this to a slightly older card, you can see the nice drop in prices due to improved manufacturing techniques. This card matches the specs of a card a year ago that would cost about 150£ so a nice 50% cheaper.
This card can be used in crossfire setup. This is when you install two of the same card on a motherboard to increase output speeds. You need a motherboard capable of it, and a PSU with enough power. Other than that I would say don't do it. This card can handle a game like oblivion with all high details smooth enough so there. For other comparisons (all on extreme settings) I have managed: • Carbon • Company of Heroes • Call of Duty 2 • Freelancer (old game) to check if it was compatible with older games which appear as a yes. • Prey • Doom 3 • GTR2 • And several others… yes I play too many games :pIt comes in a box with an installation CD, a cable to connect to TV, a small yet simple and useful installation manual and the card itself. Although the manual doesn't say how to put it in, I suppose it just hopes you know how to install I card into a PCI slot. It is fairly simple, just push into the slot labelled (1 or a). It took about 15 minutes from its beginning of install until end when I could use fully so fairly quick for a hardware setup. On scale of 1-10 on difficulty I would say a 4 mainly because it didn't say how to install a PCI card even though I know how to- others may not.
The maximum monitor resolution output for this card in 2D is 2560x1600 this is well over High definition so take that console users! He-he The maximum 3D output is 1.07 billion colours at 2560x1650 (taken form rear of box) It can run two monitors and can have TV output so if you have a nice huge TV then why not!
There is some pretty nerdy stuff on the back of the box here so I won't list it- example being "Up to 128-bit floating etc" now I understand LOL. But to save your minds I won't put up. You can find out that stuff form the product website on www.ati.com or ati.amd.com since they have been bought by AMD. - Great that because now if you own an AMD processor, some of the newer Processors and graphics cards will be designed to do special things with each other unleashing a whole new range of features. Yummy.
The only downsides I can think to for this card are the fact it isn't Direct X 10 but being that that won't be industry standard probably until next year it make s a great gap card as its affordable and powerful. Also the card is slightly noisy- not as bad as my X850XTX but still, nothing is quieter than silent but you are better to go for the more reliable fan as it has pretty much no risk of overheating.
There are alternatives to this card. • If you are a quiet PC dude then it is available in silent edition. It is made By Asus as I know they do one. • ALSO, you can save a few more pounds by buying a 256MB version (half this one) for 60£ on ebuyer.com. Its cheaper but not by much so stick with this or you'll lose half the RAM which is a good thing to have. • FINALLY you can go for the lower versions of the X1000 series. The 1600 is good as my friend has it and is avliable in both 256 and 512 models form ebuyer.com • If your desperate for power and want the ultimate edge then yeh you can go better than this. It is the X1950XTX and comes form several brands. It is costly coming in at up to 300 pounds so up to you. I'd say get this one and wait for DirectX10 cards to be released. I hope you found this review on the X1650Pro informative and you have decided it will make an excellent card for a replacement as this is what I am getting at in this review. Thanks for reading- Coopsta
Its very rare I undertsnad reviews on these types of products, but your review was extremely clear and made a lot of sense!
Lizamabug 31.01.2007 02:42
I have to be honest, I haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Said the same thing to the bloke in Halfords today so don't let it get ya down. I hope you're not gonna come and sit in my car and start grinning inanely at me whilst fiddling with my car stereo as well though? Have given you a "VH" on the grounds it all sounds very impressive. In future I shall stick to rating reviews on toys and lipsticks. Elle x.
exceptional by (8%):
very helpful by (91%):
helpful by (2%):
