The PowerColor Radeon X1900 XT

Among the earliest vendors to send us their sample unit was PowerColor. Coincidentally, they were also the first to send us a retail Radeon X1800 XT and now again, they managed to secure the hardware quick enough to ready their Radeon X1900 XT graphics card for retail. If this is any cue, the usual practice of a long dry spell before one can lay their hands on the latest ATI graphics card looks to be a thing of the past with the Radeon X1900 series. While we have not seen a single one of them in retail yet (obviously, since the launch is today), the early evaluation unit sent to us from a vendor rather than ATI's usual reference seeding unit certainly gives us much hope that we will see retail outlets stock up soon after the launch date.

There she isï¿½ the PowerColor Radeon X1900 XT 512MB graphics card. The box packaging seems to have taken a slight departure from the usual artwork of previous PowerColor packages. Not that we yearn for it, but that's just an observation.

As usual, no special indications to differentiate PowerColor's card from that of the reference. In fact, it looks just like its predecessors, down to the noisy cooler that we have come to loathe.

Of course there's no escaping of using a Molex power connector to supply the extra power required of these high-end graphics cards.

The I/O connecters are just as we anticipated of current high-end graphics cards, so don't expect something out of the ordinary. VIVO output is available thanks to the ATI Rage Theatre chip integrated on board and is complemented with an array of cable accessories and the appropriate software in the package.

The package contents of the PowerColor Radeon X1900 XT graphics card surprised us somewhat as there wasn't even a singe game title bundled along, but that's no thorn for us as long as the card itself performs well and is priced competitively. Having said that, the cable bundle is as complete as it can get so at least it maintains our minimum expectations. Here is the complete bundle details listed for your convenience:-

2 x DVI-to-VGA adaptor
S-Video extension cable
Composite extension cable
9-pin mini-DIN to Component dongle
9-pin mini-DIN to Composite/S-Video dongle
6-pin PCIe to 4-pin Molex power plug converter
User Manual
Quick Installation Guide
Driver CD
CyberLink DVD Solution

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