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GeCube GC-X1800XTD-VIE3 (Radeon X1800 XT 512MB)

By Vincent Chang - 20 Jan 2006

Conclusion

Conclusion

Going for the no-frills approach has worked for many a company in diverse industries. This is especially true for products that are more like commodities, where it is difficult for any company to distinguish their products due to some inherent characteristics. Hence, price becomes the true decisive factor and companies rely on economics of scale, process and production innovations to keep the low cost edge. It has worked for Walmart and you could probably put Dell into this category too. In the graphics scene, GeCube aspires to this, from its cost effective packaging to the bare necessities found within. The company has no lack of innovations, like its custom hybrid coolers and overclocked versions but most of the time, it tends to concentrate on value for money bundles that have none of the excess fluff that some vendors try to include as an excuse to charge more. This strategy is applied for its Radeon X1800 XT 512MB despite its status as an expensive high-end graphics card.

Besides its decent overclocking, there is hardly any strong reason to recommend the GeCube over any other Radeon X1800 XT following the reference design. However, it is possibly one of the more economically priced Radeon X1800 XT graphics cards and that might move it to your favor.

If we were to describe the GeCube GC-X1800XTD-VIE3 with a single word, 'generic' would be most appropriate. It may be true that many vendors have released Radeon X1800 XT cards that are basically a copy of the reference design. However, they do try to attach their own branding to it, something that GeCube has done away. Coupled with its usual minimal bundle and you could have thought that you had bought a Radeon X1800 XT from ATI direct instead of a GeCube product.

Of course, there is nothing bad about a card that performs exactly to its specifications. In this department, we have to say that the GeCube is not lacking and the humble packaging cannot conceal the fast frames that you can get with this card. But for us reviewers, being so distinctly average will hardly inspire us to sing its praises. The only saving grace for the GeCube GC-X1800XTD-VIE3 is its decent overclocking, which almost matches the overclocked editions of other editions. This makes up for the frankly stale applications and game that GeCube has imposed on us. While the newer Delta Force Extreme is a slight improvement over the CounterStrike: Condition Zero that we had found previously in GeCube graphics products, it is still a far cry from the higher profile games offered by others. However, considering that the price for the GeCube is likely to be very competitive, we have to admit that it would be welcomed by many enthusiasts whose only criteria is raw performance.

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