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Technical Specs

RADEON X1950 Pro AGP in Comparison

*,** The R580/570 cores used in the RADEON X1900/1950 series use 48/36 pixel shader "processors" but internally, three of these shaders are feeding into a single shader backend. This leaves a total of 16/12 shader outputs that are working in parallel. The XTX cores are, at least in theory, capable to process 31.2 Gpixels/sec however, the 16 render back ends can output "only" 10.4 Gpixels/sec. The same principle is realized in the plebeian x1950 Pro which, misses one of the "quads" and runs at a slower frequency for a peak output of 6960 Mpixels per second by the 12 backend render units.

Dual DVI-I ports and s-video connector. The X19xx series supports HDTV through the S-Video - YPbPr Connection for HDTV

Detailed Specs

Layout and Power Connectors

Sapphire's X1950 Pro AGP pretty much conforms to ATIs reference design featuring a single slot cooler that marginally suffices to keep the R570 GPU within operational temperatures. In terms of memory, Sapphire's "Pro AGP" features an octet of 512MB memory components supplying a total of 512 MB of GDDR3 clocked at 702 MHz nominal clock speed or 1404 MHz data rate. The GPU of the test sample was clocked at 581 MHz. Both frequencies are at the upper end of the spread within the R570 releases, essentially, both the core and the memory are slightly overclocked out of the box. In real live, that also means that there is little if any headroom for additional overclocking, when we tried, we got a whopping extra 3 MHz out of the memory before the display decided to paint it black on black in black - with the status LED of the monitor turning amber.

The cooler blows the hot air out to the front of the card but not out of the case

With respect to noise, the cooling solution is acceptable but still a far cry from any silent thermal management. The fan throttle is controlled via two thermal sensors keeping track of the "environment temperature" and the core temperature and under idle conditions, the noise levels are essentially negligible. Under load, the noise ramps up to approximately 55 dBa which is still acceptable.

Needless to say that AGP or PCIe - it really doesn't matter for power consumption - except for the way it is supplied. Whatever the reason, putting two Molex connectors on the PCB appears a bit overkill in nostalgia, a simple adapter for the 6-pin PCIe-style power connector would have served the same purpose as the current solution, especially since the supply rails really only use 12V anyway. On the other hand, speaking from experience, there is always the one or the other clerk in the store that mixes up the package and accidentally puts the AGP card into the PCIe box while restocking. And there is also the one or the other end user who goes by the package label and shoves an AGP card into the PCIe slot. In so far, the Molex vs. PCIe connectors distinction is probably the easiest way of telling things apart and avoid damage to the card and the system. Or maybe they would be if the manual made a point of it. One thing to realize is that both power connectors are necessary for any 3D operation of the card. Each connector (or actually 12V wire) can carry 5A of current, which at 12V provides 60W of power. For desktop operation, this amount of power suffices but any 3D application will push the card beyond those 60W and whatever power is supplied through the AGP connector. Keep in mind here that it is not only the GPU that is drawing power but also the 512 MB of frame buffer that need to be fed.

Owners of large screen LCD displays - or those who still saving up for one of the 30" flat panels - will be thrilled to see that the card features two Dual Link DVI-I connectors to enable resolutions up to 2560x1600 pixels.

HDCP

A major push in the movie industry has been the protection of digital content. Briefly, High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection is one of the new obstacles to disallow reproduction of HD DVDs - or even watching them without the appropriate hardware. Along those lines, the next buzzword is the Image Constraint Token (ICT), that, if present, will force downsampling of a high definition image output to 960x 540 pixels. Whatever is going to happen in this field is still somewhat at large, particularly given the steady stream of hacks popping up like mushrooms and the sensitivity of the HDCP media to for example dust and scratches. A simple flood of RMAs of "defective media" might just end the entire spoof. Whatever it is, though, the X1950 Pro AGP is HDCP-Ready at least according to the current state of the specifications even though this may not help the end user since it is hardly fathomable that an AGP system will conform to any HDCP specification including but not limited to an HDCP ready monitor, disc drive and computer system .

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