The limited quantities of X800 cards have really kept the prices high, but
things are about to change. The coming weeks more cards will arrive on the
market and hopefully the prices will drop at least a little.
For the
moment only X800 pro cards are available but most companies will add an
XT-version to their lineup as soon as ATi makes them available.
On a related
subject Sapphire has chosen to name their new Ultimate-series “Toxic”. They are
keeping their blue PCB’s and adds a fairly large cooling solution. According to
Sapphire the large fan is suppose to operate at such a low soundlevel that
other periperal equipment will make it almost impossible to hear. The heatsink
will be made entierly out of copper and will also cover the memories.
Toxic
cards will also have the new feature APE (Automated Performance Enhancement).
This is a 100% software based overclocking utility that lets the user
overlock the memories. This utility is suppose to complement ATi’s
Overdrive technology, thus you can overlock both VPU and memories.
(click for
bigger picture)
