Features

     Offering 475 MHz core/450 MHz memory clocks, and using a new 420 series core, and GDDR3 memory, the x800 Pro is a proven performer just on paper compared to the 9800 series, or anything else for that matter. It makes me wonder where is nVidia? With VisionTek's gesture of offering a full retail version of the x800 Pro no more than 14 days after the 6800 series of nVidia cards were paper-launched makes you really wonder which card will be your first buying decision, and that should be fairly easy. With the majority of us new x800 Pro owners enjoying the power of our new cards, the nVidia boys will be trying to play catch-up with their inferior 5900 FX cards. Even if the 6800 series is eventually launched you'll find out later in our testing that the huge margin of overclocking on the x800 Pro will minimize the margin of competition that the 6800 may have.

     I had no idea what a x800Pro retail box would look like, but this is a nice change from what I've seen in the past. Plain and simple is what I look for, that way I know what I'm paying for...

     This card comes with just about everything you need to make your computer a full-on multimedia center. The RCA to S-Video is the first time I've seen such a cable included with a non-TV out card.

     You may have observed the lack of demos or games. Visiontek insured that the disk included was not a full representation of what the retail would include. I personally have all the games I want, although I vaguely remember getting a retail card some time ago that had a full copy of Splinter Cell with it, but they spent so much money on the games they forgot to hire any kind of tech support, so when I had problems with the card, they basically tried to get rid of my phone call, but that's another story. I just figured I would note that you shouldn't buy a card for the games it has, buy a card for the performance it offers and the way the company perceives you as a customer.

     Look fairly familiar to the XT doesn't it? With the exception of no ram sinks, this OEM cooler is more than capable of its cooling duties on the .13 micron 420 core. We found out during testing that cooling the memory isn't an issue at all...

     The back of the card is also very simple. Hard to believe that there is 256mb of memory on-board.