PC Partner ATI Xpress 200 Review - Built-in X300 Graphics
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Built-in X300 graphics
One of the features I was most interested in when I heard about this motherboard was its integrated X300 graphics. Providing integrated graphics can dramatically reduce the cost of a computer system. There’s no longer a need to spend an extra $80-100 on a graphics card. This also offers the user the ability to install the system in an extremely low profile computer system, since no video card needs to stick up from the board.
The integrated card is Direct X 9.0 compliant, so all the current games should play without a hitch. This is great for media center computers, which for the most part are are used for watching videos and playing some games, The only limitation I have noticed is that, unlike its bigger brother the x300, the Radeon Xpress 200 graphics processor is not overclockable.
Overclocking something as delicate as an integrated graphics card could cause more severe problems than it is worth. As frequencies are increased in overclocking, the video card produces more heat. The graphics here have passive cooling, but even with additional cooling issues could still rise and reek havoc on the system. It’s really not a good idea to overclock the integrated graphics, and it’s not how it was designed to be used.
Another downside to integrated graphics is that they use shared memory. This takes a set amount (usually 32-128MB) of system memory and allocates it for graphics processing. This can decrease CPU performance while gaming, and of course affect how smoothly games can actually play. At the same time, buying more system memory is likely less expensive than buying a graphics board with more onboard memory.
Next: Overclocking the Motherboard and Benchmarking >>
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