ATI's Radeon 2600 XT Remixed

Test Setup & Methodology

Swipe to scroll horizontally
System Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core Duo e4300 @ 2.25 GHz, 1400 FSB, 2 MB Cache
MotherboardASUS P5B, BIOS: 1604
RAMWintec Ampo PC2-6400, 2x 1024 MB, CAS 5.0-5-5-16
Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar WD2500JS250 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA 300
NetworkingRealtec onboard RTL8168/8111 Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Graphics CardsPowercolor Radeon 2600 XT, 256 MB RAMSapphire Radeon 2600 XT Ultimate, 256 MB RAMNvidia GeForce 8600 GT, 256 MB RAM
Power SupplyThermaltake Toughpower 1200w
System Software & Drivers
OSMicrosoft Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600
DirectX Version9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Platform DriverIntel INF 8.0.1.1002
Graphics DriverATI Catalyst 7.8Nvidia ForceWare 162.18

First off, I'd like to make it clear that we chose to limit testing to Windows XP and DirectX 9. The amount of folks with both Vista and a DirectX 10 card out there is still relatively miniscule at this time, and we'll cover the DirectX 10 angle in the future when there's a little more meat on the subject - specifically, when Crysis is released.

The test system is running an e4300 processor, with a very mild overclock to 2.25 GHz to simulate processors a little higher on the food chain.

Contributor

Don Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.