X1900 XT/XTX Roundup: A Closer Look at the Performance Leader in Graphics

Final Words

The X1900 is one of those cards that is on just about everyone's wish-list. Those who are lucky enough to own one are probably the envy of their friends and also perhaps became broke from the purchase. We know that these are the most powerful cards available right now, and therefore, won't be affordable to many people, but those who can afford one certainly won't be disappointed with their performance. Of course, it's worth pointing out that a card this powerful would only be a necessity (using the term loosely) to those gamers with monitors that can display very high resolutions, and computers that won't cause limitation to the GPU. This makes the card even less practical for the majority of gamers as most of us are still stuck at 1600x1200 or below on our monitors. Nonetheless, the idea of the biggest and the best is too enticing for some to resist, a fact that ATI is probably counting on.

We expressed puzzlement earlier over the big difference in price between the X1900 XT and X1900 XTX, and as we've seen by the numbers, X1900 XT speeds can be boosted up to higher than XTX performance levels. When you consider that the X1900 XTX costs around $80 to $100 more than what the XT costs right now, it makes it a lot harder to justify going with the XTX. Then again, if sheer gaming power is your only concern, the X1900 XTX will give you what you want and then some.

Let’s talk about the prices of these cards now. As we mentioned before, GeCube's X1900 XTX is currently only available outside of the US, and we found one on PC Maniacs for $919 Australian, which translates roughly to $680 USD. This makes this card our most expensive X1900 out of the five by far, and will not make obtaining this card very feasible for those in the US. The HIS and Sapphire XTXs are somewhat similar in price (Sapphire: $582, and HIS: $596), but you'll have to mail in a rebate to get the HIS for this price ($650 before rebate). The two X1900 XTs by Sapphire and Powercolor are both about $500, so either of these might be your best choice when looking for an X1900. We would recommend the Sapphire X1900 XT over the PowerColor because of the game bundle, as well as the slightly better overclocking results that we saw with this card. But if adding more games to your collection isn't a factor, and overclocking seems too dangerous, the cheaper card gets our vote here.

For those who absolutely must have an X1900 XTX, their choice should be fairly clear. At $580, the Sapphire X1900 XTX is the cheapest, and also gets more-or-less the highest overclock of the three. All of these X1900s have very high power draws and noise levels, so if these areas are a concern for you, then the X1900 is not your card. All in all, the X1900 was worth the wait, and with ATI starting to phase out X1800, we're curious to see what might come along from them in the near future. Regardless of this, the X1900 is the embodiment of “next-generation” graphics, and will continue to set the standard for graphics solutions (for at least the next month or so anyway).