PowerColor X1300 HyperMemory 2 PCIe Video Card Review

Videocards/VGA Reviews by SidneyWong @ 2006-02-20

Sales of video cards, manufacturers depend on high volume mainstream cards. They know gamers are no different than exotic car or sports car owners, who are in fact the minority in car ownership. Today, we are looking at just one of these video cards, PowerColor X1300 PCIe with 128MB onboard, HyperMemory? 2 supporting 512MB in total in 64-bit.

  • prev
  • next

Performance

Performance:

Lazyman Test Setup
Case and Cooling X-Dreamer II case with fans at 2000rpm:
- 2x80mm intake
- 2x80mm exhaust
- 1x80mm top blower
CPU AMD Opteron 165 @2.6Ghz 1.427 vcore
Motherboard DFI LanParty UT Ultra D (2x40mm fan added over PWM)
Memory GSKill PC4400 2x512Mb 2.5-3-3-7 1:1 290 HTT
Other
  • Seasonic S12 500W PSU
  • PowerColor X1300 128MB
  • Hitachi 160GB SATA HDD
  • Windows XP Pro SP2 - lastest updates
  • ATI Driver 8.221 (6.2)


  • I ran Futuremark’s 3DMark benchmark suite fully aware of the fact that gamers are not totally relying on synthetic results but real game play. Nevertheless, it may show to those who use 3Dmarks for reference.

    I tried using both ATI tool and Riva Tuner; both were unable to unlock memory setting; since the BIOS has a default 450 core, I ran 3DMarks using default (450), "factory overclocked" (600) and 650 MHz. While the core is doing very well, the memory cannot be changed.

    Madshrimps (c)


    For comparison, I am using Nvidia 6200 128MB memory and 128bit bus bandwidth card at BIOS default; a card that is similar in value with older generation technology (110nm versus 90nm GPU).

    Madshrimps (c)


    With only 64bit using system memory to arrive 512MB, this card doesn't respond well to the scores despite the overclock in 3DMarks.

    Let's see how the X1300 does in games. Knowing any gamer may be uninterested with these numbers and X1300 is aimed for different group of audience, I am merely trying to show that this card can be used for game provided you are not demanding for a lot.

    While 3DMarks were artifacts free, I could not hold 650mhz core speed without seeing artifacts in games. 637mhz was used for however slight the gain is, free of charge nevertheless.

    Madshrimps (c)


    Madshrimps (c)


    Both BF2 and Doom 3 were set to medium quality; 1024x768 and 75Hz refresh rate, both games were "playable" marginally at these settings with 4xAA in BF2 and no AA for Doom 3 which I found unplayable at 4xAA. As you can see there is no loser in choosing ATI or NVIDIA. Depends on what your favorite game is, Doom 3 likes Nvidia and BF2 is pro-ATI. I am sure Half Life 2 will be better in performance with ATI card; most of the time.

    Madshrimps (c) Madshrimps (c)
    Click to enlarge


    Conclusive Thoughts ->

    • prev
    • next