Sapphire X300SE - Card Layout
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The card has the X300 core, and has 128MB onboard RAM plus 128MB HyperMemory. The core is quite smaller then the other higher end graphics card’s core.
The card has 128 MB Hynix DDR memory. You can see the markings in the picture above. Not nearly as fast as the GDDR3, but a lot cheaper.
There are a few issues I have with the card. The first thing I noticed with this capacitor very near the heat spreader. I would have put it in another place, but I don’t design these cards. It will interfere with some 3rd party cooling solutions as well as water blocks. Of course, the target consumer for this card probably won't be buying 3rd party cooling.
When looking at the heat spreader, all I can do is shake my head and wonder. It’s passively cooled, nothing bad there. The card is not a huge heat producer, so the heatsink is effective. It's quieter that using a fan. Also, passive cooling will save the company money, rather than using fragile fans that will cost them money in RMAs.
The cooler extends quite a long ways from the core. It appears they have just extended it out over the memory without touching it. This could be because a normal sized cooler couldn’t cool the core, and extending the heat spreader was the cheapest means of cooling, but not the best. Throwing a fan on it would have kept it a lot cooler. Even with the extended cooler, this card heats up fast, even on a 2D GUI.
The good thing is that the card is low profile. This would make it really nice for a HTPC or other PC where it won’t be used for gaming and when space is a premium. Compared with a 6800, the X300SE is tiny. You may also notice that there is no extra power needed for the X300SE. The card draws all the power it needs from the PCI-Express slot. This will free-up your power connectors and reduce the wires going everywhere. You also don’t have to worry about the end of the card getting in the way of the memory slots or removable drives.
Next: HyperMemory and Overclocking >>
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