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MSI RX1650XT-T2D256EZ (Radeon X1650 XT 256MB)

By Vincent Chang - 28 Nov 2006

The MSI RX1650XT-T2D256EZ

The MSI RX1650XT-T2D256EZ

Changing to 80nm will lead to a slightly lower thermal envelope for the core and that may have prompted MSI to launch its Radeon X1650 XT with a passive heatsink. Of course, MSI does have another model with a standard fan cooler. For this silent version, MSI used a rather conventional heat pipe based setup, with the heat directed to the aluminum fins on the other side of the card. Due to the size and placement of radiator, it should fit on most motherboards but do check before getting this card. We encountered no installation problems with our MSI K8N Diamond Plus motherboard in our test system. Considering that this motherboard's chipset cooler is on the large side of things, the radiator of the graphics card should clear many other boards with ease.

Since the radiator is on the other side, the MSI looks relatively bare here.

MSI followed the standard clocks for this Radeon X1650 XT, meaning that the core was at 575MHz and the 1.4ns rated memory was at 1350MHz DDR. Other standard 'features' include MSI's distinctive yellow DVI outputs, colored so to indicate that they are dual-link capable. However, there was no indication that it has HDCP support and without a Rage Theater ASIC also for video capturing, this Radeon X1650 XT is definitely mid-range material.

Aluminum fins help to dissipate the heat from the GPU core. We tested it on a MSI K8N Diamond Plus motherboard and the radiator managed to clear the passive heatsink on the MSI motherboard easily but this could change depending on your motherboard.

MSI's custom Catalyst Control Center comes with its D.O.T integrated.

Besides the Radeon X1950 PRO, the Radeon X1650 XT is the only other ATI card at the moment to support internal CrossFire. This new twist to ATI's multi-GPU technology is quite similar to NVIDIA's more established SLI technology in the sense that ATI has ditched its awkward external dongle connectors in favor of an internal bridge like that in SLI.

The yellow for the DVI outputs is MSI's way of indicating that they are dual-link capable. However, they do not support HDCP.

This is not SLI, but ATI's similar Internal CrossFire.

In the package of the MSI RX1650XT-T2D256EZ graphics card was a decent collection of cables and accessories that should meet the needs of most users. There was also a CD containing the drivers and MSI's proprietary applications. MSI's trademark Dynamic Overclocking Technology (D.O.T) has been integrated into MSI's version of the Catalyst Control Center so you can tweak your clocks through that interface. The usual rules still apply - you're covered by warranty while using D.O.T and to simplify things, there are six overclocking profiles to choose from. There was also a rather new game, Heroes of Might & Magic V, which should be familiar to fans of fantasy turn-based strategy games. Overall, it's a good bundle, though we can't help but feel that adding MSI's Star DVD suite would have made it perfect. Here's a checklist of items in the package:

  • 2 x DVI-to-VGA adaptors
  • S-Video extension cable
  • 9-pin mini DIN to S-Video/Composite dongle
  • 9-pin mini-DIN to Component dongle
  • User Manual
  • MSI Multimedia (Drivers and Utilities)
  • Heroes of Might & Magic V (full game)
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