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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed analysis of the ATI Radeon X1950 Pro GPU and graphics card. For all the in-depth analysis and testing you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

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The ATI Radeon X1950 Pro card is based on the same R580 GPU that we saw the X1900 and X1950 graphics card released on.  There are of course some changes though, since the X1950 Pro is priced well below the X1950 XTX product.

First up, the clock speeds are set at 575 MHz core and 1380 MHz memory, well below the 650 MHz core and 2.0 GHz clocks on the flagship X1950 XTX card.  The X1950 Pro will ship with 256MB of GDDR3 memory as well, half of what hte X1950 XTX ships with.  The Pro card includes two dual-link DVI connections and standard definition VIVO support.  A new feature though, is that all built-by-ATI cards are going to have HDCP support out of the box, though third-party manufacturers will have the option of including it; so check carefully!

The X1950 Pro uses a single slot cooler that spans nearly the entire distance of the PCB board: from DVI connections to the back of the power connector.  The fan is located farther inside the case, an attempt to keep any fan noise from escaping the case and getting to the gamer's ears.  In my testing, the fan on the X1950 Pro was very quiet, much better than anything we have seen from ATI in a long time, and the heatsink didn't get too hot for me to touch either.  Overall, the thermals and acoustics of the X1950 Pro were pretty impressive.

Here a few performance metrics:

Assuming all goes well for ATI, the price of the X1950 Pro at $199 is putting it in a very good position against the NVIDIA 7900 GS cards.  The XFX model we used in this review currently is selling for $200 as well and this EVGA model (overclocked) is selling for as low as $216. 

Final Thoughts

The new ATI Radeon X1950 Pro is a great mid-range enthusiast graphics card that offers best in class performance as well high levels of image quality offering the user a great selection of choices for their gaming scenario.  1024x768 with HDR and AA enabled or 1600x1200 with 4xAA/8xAF?  The X1950 Pro has you covered on both for under $200.  And with a CrossFire solution that is much improved, ATI can be confident that their multi-GPU platform is no slouch either. 

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