GeCube Radeon X1800XT 512MB

Overclocking:

We managed to overclock the GeCube Radeon X1800XT from its default 625/1500MHz clock speeds up to a reasonably impressive 690/1600MHz. From looking around the web, this seems reasonably average for Radeon X1800XTs. However, we can't guarantee that you'll be able to overclock your own Radeon X1800XT with the same level of success.

Value:

We found the GeCube Radeon X1800XT 512MB available in a few places, with Lowest On Web selling it for the best price at £329.41 including VAT. This isn't the cheapest Radeon X1800XT available, but it's pretty competitive with most other Radeon X1800XTs that include bundles. If you're looking for the cheapest Radeon X1800XT 512MB, you're best looking towards PowerColor's X1800XT. It's available for £293.69 including VAT on Micro Direct. However, much like their Radeon X1900XT, we would expect it not to come with a comprehensive software bundle.

The All-In-Wonder X1900 is not still available, despite the other members of the X1900-series hard launching. When it does become available, it's expected to sell for around £300 including VAT. Gainward's Ultra/3500PCX Golden Sample is going to reach its end of line soon, with new NVIDIA products coming in a few weeks. However, you can find it available on Dabs for £335.00 including VAT.

Since our Radeon X1900-series roundup, the price of PowerColor's Radeon X1900XT has come down a little. It's now available for £358.25 on Scan, down from just under £365. For comparison purposes, GeCube's Radeon X1900XT is available on Lowest for £369.85 including VAT - if GeCube's Radeon X1800XT is anything to go by, we'd expect their X1900XT to come with a reasonable software bundle.

Final Thoughts...

The Radeon X1800XT is still a good video card, despite the launch of Radeon X1900-series last month. There are some top games that don't benefit from the additional pixel processors inside the R580 GPU, so it's a purchase that's still worth considering. Games are slowly moving towards more mathematical operations in favour of texture operations, so the additional processors are going to provide more and more benefits over time.

As far as gaming performance goes, the All-In-Wonder X1900 has some benefits over the GeCube Radeon X1800XT, and this is going to increase over time, too. If you're thinking about spending £330 on a video card right now, I'd find it hard to recommend the Gainward GeForce 7800 GTX with new products from NVIDIA right around the corner, but then I'd also find it hard to recommend the Radeon X1800XT for similar reasons: there are newer products out there.

Unfortunately for GeCube, Sapphire seem to be blanketing the market with aggressively priced Radeon X1900s available for as little as £346.98 including VAT, which means there's little point spending £20 less to get something that is slower in just about every title. The price of Radeon X1900XT is testament to the real availability of the X1900-series cards, with the exception of the All-In-Wonder X1900. Ultimately, the low prices and real availability of Radeon X1900 is good news for the consumer.