PowerColor X800 GTO 128MB 256-bit Video Card Review - Conclusion
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This Powercolor X800 GTO 128 MB is the 12 pipeline variety. This particular card costs about $115 from Newegg, which is about as cheap as you can find any X800 GTO 128MB cards at the moment. That is about $10 less than a cheapo 6600GT, which currently runs at about $125. At this price point, these two cards are directly competing with each other.
The only discernable advantage of having a 6600GT is that it can be used in an SLI setup. But for the added cost of two video cards, an SLI motherboard, and a special power supply, 6600GT SLI is not for a budget or casual gamer. On the other hand, the 6600GT is often troubled with high temperatures and power consumption.
This X800GTO 128MB is faster than the vast majority of 6600GTs. On similar test beds, 6600GT cards often score around 3000 in 3D Mark and can reach 3500. The Powercolor X800 GTO outperforms Nvidia’s cards by scoring just under 3500 points at stock speeds and exceeding that score by quite a bit when overclocked. Powercolor’s offering is also very efficient and runs at reasonable temps, which is much better than having the equivalent Nvidia card. That’s good news for anyone watching their case temperatures or who has a weaker power supply.
If you want higher performance without getting too expensive, Powercolor’s 256 MB version with 12 pipelines can already be found for $170. The 16-pipeline GTO (a model only available from PowerColor as far as I’m aware) is about $185. The GTO 256MB with 16 pipelines seems to be competing with the 6800GS.
The truth is that $500 video card are fantastic, but most people can’t justify paying the entire cost of an Xbox 360 toward only one piece a PC. Different strata of gamers will find value at different levels. For this card’s price point, its performance on our benchmarks was fantastic. System builders and casual gamers who want a rock solid card that tears through modern video games will be thrilled with what Powercolor’s X800 GTO can do, give you the newest games in all their detail.
Highs
- Great price for performance ratio for an inexpensive gaming rig
- X800GTO 128MB is faster than most 6600GT 128MB
- Power demands are reasonable
- Nice heatsink
- Temperatures stay fairly low
- X800 core on a budget card!
Lows
- Lacks Shader Model 3.0 and SLI support
- Somewhat weak overclocker, but honestly better than expected
Thank you for reading Dev Hardware’s review of PowerColor’s X800 GTO 128 MB. Please visit PowerColor’s website for more details and reviews on their full line of video cards. Also, you can visit our forums or discussion link to talk about this review.
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