For comparison, 2005's ATi X1800 XT used an R520 GPU on 90nm process. Those were big gains at the time.
I decided to poke around for recent “reviews” or forum discussions about the X1800 XT and X800 Pro, but couldn't find much other than a parody user review written pretty recently (from that 'review:' "The only problem I have with this card is that it's PCI Express. At least the X800 had the decency to commit to AGP, which is the only real graphics standard going forward"). One thing this user did remind me of, though, is that the X1800 XT was among the first PCI Express video cards to hit the market. PCI-e coexisted briefly with AGP, a technology that was overshadowed and phased-out relatively quickly.
I'm not sure of the X800 Pro's actual market positioning at the time – I wasn't really part of the industry yet – but it seemed like a top-of-the-line card. I coupled the 256MB powerhouse with a hyperthreaded Pentium 4 CPU. Two threads – phenomenal. And I've still got it, too. I've been considering breaking it all back out and seeing how the X800 Pro handles the games with which it is compatible (within API limitations, anyway).
(Above: What's 'HDMI?')
Looking at older sites than ours, like GPU Review, it appears that the X800 Pro was relatively well-liked at the time – and that makes sense. The GPU operated at a blazing 475MHz clockrate, had a memory clock of 450MHz (900MHz double data-rate), and pushed 48GB/s memory bandwidth. Sure, most IGPs would outclass that these days, but those didn't exist in a useful fashion in 2004 and 2005. At least, not like they do today. I still remember joking with friends about the early “Intel Graphics Decelerators,” as we called them.
The X800 Pro was a powerful card and I used it for a number of years. It was my first system build – a project that my dad proposed, back in the days when you could wander through CompUSA and throw $1500 of parts into a cart – and it held on until it was replaced with an 8800 GTX or GTS. Whatever its replacement, the X800 Pro held on for a number of years. And, after some repair work done on the fan (replaced the original fan, whose bearings burned-out), the thing still works. We'll try booting it up sometime and do a less intensive version of our benchmark on the poor thing.
- Steve “Lelldorianx” Burke.
