If you're one of the many people who have an AGP motherboard, you may be wondering where the new graphics cards are for your PC. GeCube hasn't forgotten you - it has released the Radeon X1600Pro.
The Pro has 12 pixel pipelines, a core running at 500MHz and 256MB of DDR2 RAM running at 800MHz (1.6GHz effective). For comparison, the X1600XT has a 600MHz core and 256MB of GDDR3 RAM running at 700MHz (1.4GHz effective). There's little, on paper at least, to differentiate between the two cards. In our games tests there was little difference, too, although the XT has the slight edge.
As you can see from the performance results, the card struggled in all our tests at a resolution of 1,280x1,024. However, dropping Doom 3 to a resolution of 1,024x768 improved the frame rate to a playable 29.3fps. Slightly older games will run well at this resolution, while new, more demanding games such as Call of Duty 2 will require you to drop the detail levels. This is a mid-range graphics card, though, so it's best suited to occasional gamers or those more interested in strategy games than first-person shooters.
This card will serve you well if you're interested in entertainment, as it provides smooth playback of high-definition video files. This is a good mid-range card for AGP systems, but nVidia's 6600 GT is a slightly better buy, while those looking for faster performance should get the 6800 GT.
System Specifications
GRAPHICS CARD ATI Radeon X1600Pro graphics, AGP 8x interface, 500MHz core, 256MB DDR2 RAM running at 800MHz (1.6GHz effective), two DVI interfaces, TV out
Author: David Ludlow
Computer Shopper Online