Don't Throw Out Your ATI Radeon X800 Yet

Conclusion

As you can see from the scores, the Connect 3D Radeon X800 GTO does not use the R430 or the R480 core, as the results from the overclocking test do not represent the results we were able to achieve. Most likely this indeed is the R423 core. That being said, if you are adventurous enough, you might want to look up some of the BIOS hacks for the R480 and see what you can do from there to enable more pipes.

Both cards are good buys, in that for under $175 you can get solid frame rates. For those looking to overclock, the Connect 3D card takes the cake, with an additional throughput of 23%. This is well worth the additional $15 over the PowerColor Radeon X800 GT.

If you are like most of the consumer base, the Connect 3D card will give you the best value out of the box, both at stock speeds or overclocked. Compared to the ATI Radeon X800 XL, the GTO from Connect 3D provides similar performance, but when overclocked, the GTO even outperforms the XL. The $100 saving of the Connect 3D Radeon X800 GTO is money well saved versus the XL.

The GT and GTO graphics cards are both good in their own right, but we still want to advise our readers on another option. A few weeks ago we reviewed the XFX GeForce 6600 with DDR2 memory. The card is currently under redesign in that XFX decided to have 2 DVI ports instead on a VGA and a DVI configuration. XFX told us last week that the new cards should hit the street in 2-3 weeks with the same price point of only $99. For more information on the XFX GeForce 6600 with DDR2, please look through the review.