At the release of the new Radeon X850 and X800 versions two weeks ago, we found it unfortunate that ATI didn’t sent us its most interesting graphic card, the Radeon X800 XL. Now they have.
The Radeon X800 XL / R430
Of all the graphic cards released by ATI since early December, some were based on the R480 chip and others on the R430. Their only difference is a 130 nm or 110 fabrication process. Other than that their architecture is identical. Below are graphic card specifications for those costing over $300.
You might have noticed that the X850 XT doesn’t have anything new compared to the X800 XT that it replaces, while the X800 Pro does compared to the X850 Pro. The most interesting graphic card, however, is still the X800 XL. ATI has also revised their prices for the release of this product reducing it from $349 to $299. It’s $100 less than a X850 Pro, but it should provide comparable performances. Indeed, geometrical power only rarely reduces performance, and it has a slightly higher overall rendering power and a slightly smaller memory bandwidth.
In the Radeon X850, the R480 chip is able to reach the highest frequencies thanks to a 130 nm fabrication process with Low-K providing the best results at TSMC. Because of a smaller fabrication process, the R430 found in the Radeon X800 XL and X800, doesn’t reach such high frequencies. The compensation is that it’s cheaper as there are more die produced out of the same silicon wafer.
A chip study in practice showed that the R430 is smaller, the R423 having a 23 % bigger surface. You may have also noticed the misprint on this R430 manufactured in mid- November, stamped as a X800 Pro. It is, however, a 130 nm fabrication process R430 equipped with 16 functional pipelines
