Sapphire X1950 Pro 256 MB PCIe
Conclusion |
| When we compare the X1950 Pro to the X1900GT see that all the specs are identical except for the individual memory or core speeds set by the manufactures. Yet the X1950 with the new chip and native CrossFire is cheaper. If we compare it to the X1950 XT we find that the pixel shader processors have been cut down to 36, raster pipes are down from 16 to 12 and the floating point processing got cut down by a large amount from 128-bit to 32-bit. The memory has been down graded from the GDDR4 to the GDDR3 and the speeds are about 20-25 MHz slower. With these cuts it is obvious why the X1900 XT (both 256/512 MB units) out performs the X1950 Pro in benchmark test plus costing much more.
If you are trying to make a decision between the new X1950 Pro or the X1900 I would go with the X1950 for two reasons. One being it is the latest and greatest with new features and two is that there are rumors that the ATi might be trying to get rid of the leftover and slower R580 chips by putting them on the X1900 GT. So make sure you check the specs if you do plan on going with the X1900 GT. If you are looking at the 7900 GT you should also look at the X1950 with it comparable and sometimes better performance for a lower price.
The Sapphire X1950 should be selling for about $200 USD, but it seems that some online marketers are trying to get the best of us by driving up the price on a new product, like they always do. I would say within a week or two the prices will start to fall inline. At $200 bucks this a great card and I would be hard pressed to find a card that delivers this kind of performance with new features at a better price. Even if you doubled up and bought 2 for a crossfire setup (I would love to do this and see what kind of score we can come with) you are still under the price of a single high end card. For the budget minded gamer who wants to get the most thrills and performance for you dollar the Sapphire X1950 Pro 256MB PCIe is your right choice.
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