TI introduced two new AIBs last week with the x1950 Pro and X1600. The X1950 Pro is targeted at the performance segment and can be categorized as a totally new product for ATI despite the fact the RV570 is a very close relative to the R580. The RV570 is manufactured in an 80-nm process as opposed to the 90-nm. ATI obviously has confidence in its 80-nm proc-ess because the X1950 Pro cooling fan is significantly smaller allowing the x1950 Pro to be a sleek single-slot solution.

The X1950 Pro comes equipped with a 330 million transistor processor with a 575-MHz core, and a memory speed of 1.38 GHz driving 256 MBytes of GDDR3. The memory bandwidth was increased to 1.38 GHz from 1.2 GHz for the R580. The R580 has 48 pixel shader processors, while this new chip makes do with 36 pixel shader processors with 8 vertex shaders.

The most impressive aspect of the new card is its new, long-awaited native Crossfire capabilities. Native Crossfire means that it’s not necessary to use a special Crossfire Edition board. ATI has gotten rid of the kludgie outside dongle, which we’ve managed to break half the restrainers off of, and figured out they could save costs and installation difficulties by using two internal bus straps. Woe be you if you forget to put on both straps, and snap them in smartly. Crossfire is not going to work. These new straps are vastly superior and exactly like Nvidia’s SLI strap, but there are two for ATI—hey, if one is good, don’t two have to be better?

As we said the x1950 pro is a mid-range product hitting the <$200 price point, which puts it up against Nvidia’s 7900 GS. So how do the two compare in performance? The X1950 Pro came in at 4679 on 3Dmark06 tested at a resolution of 1280 x 1024, while the 7900 GS scores a 4390. With Crossfire enabled the x1950 ramps it up to 7937. Keep in mind these current duels in the Performance range this season are the undercard to the main event when we finally see the R600 and G80 processors introduced.

The Radeon X1950 Pro is a single-slot AIB, with two DVI and a S-video connector, and, like its bigger brother, it needs an extra 12v plugged into it.

What do we think?

We think we like it. It’s a lot of performance for the price, it’s dual-AIB compatible, and it’s single-slot—what’s not to like? It gets good scores; if you haven’t upgraded for a while and are on a budget, or don’t want to add an A/C to your PC this is a great choice.

Radeon X1650XT

The 1650 XT, which will be introduced on the eve of Halloween (and just before we went to press), will attack the mainstream segment. The new 1600 class offering is 80-nm process like the x1950 Pro as well as the superior new Crossfire internal strap. The x1650 XT checks in with a 574-MHz core clock speed, 1.35-GHz memory speed, 24 pixel shader processors and 8 vertex shaders. The X1650 XT will hit the $150 price point, pitting it against Nvidia’s 7600 GT; for now, though, Nvidia is expected to launch new AIBs based on the upcoming G80, which might hit this price point as well.

Performance-wise the X1650 XT scores a 3219 at 1280 x 1024 on 3Dmark06, and with Crossfire enabled those scores balloon to 5686; impressive for a lower-range board.