DailyTech - Sapphire Announces Radeon X1950 Pro AGP

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Hardware Sapphire Announces Radeon X1950 Pro AGP
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - November 30, 2006 2:18 PM

22 comment(s) - last by Welshtrog.. on Dec 21 at 1:33 PM

New life for AGP-only systems

Sapphire today announced its latest AGP product offering based on AMD’s recently released ATI Radeon X1950 Pro graphics processor—the Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP. Since the ATI Radeon X1950 Pro graphics processor is natively PCIe, the ATI Rialto AGP bridge is installed for AGP compatibility. Nevertheless, the Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP closely mimics its PCIe counterpart.

As far as specifications go the Radeon X1950 Pro GPU has the same 36 pixel shaders with eight vertex shaders and 12 pixel pipelines as the PCIe counterpart. Additionally the Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP card has been slightly beefed up. Instead of the typical 256MB of video memory Sapphire has equipped its X1950 Pro AGP with 512MB of GDDR3. The memory is clocked at 700 MHz instead of the default 690 MHz. The core clock receives a small little bump to 580 MHz over the default 575 MHz as well.

Other notable features of the Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP include dual dual-link DVI and HDCP compliance. Lastly, since the card is AGP, it will require two Molex power connectors instead of a single PCIe power connector.

Expect the Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP to hit the streets in mid-December with an MSRP of $249.99.

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By das mod on 11/30/2006 3:01:01 PM , Rating: 2

is funny how the box says "256MB gddr3 Memory"
when this article clearly states that it comes with 512
and also notice the "crossfire" logo (next to the AGP)
so ....how would it work on an AGP based board ??
are they releasing a PCI version ??
for what i know there's no dual AGP boards out there ..... lol ....

RE: ??

By titeywitey on 11/30/2006 3:07:55 PM , Rating: 2

maybe they changed the photo, but it definitly says 512mb gddr3 now (bottom left hand corner of the box)
i have to agree on your other point though, the inclusion of "crossfire ready" is indeed funny/useless

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RE: ??

By Suspicious on 11/30/2006 3:16:03 PM , Rating: 4

What is funny is that it says "Crossfire Ready" :-)

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RE: ??

By MonkeyPaw on 11/30/2006 4:33:50 PM , Rating: 2

Maybe they just tried to rehash a different box and overlooked it? Ironically, the card is kinda crossfire capable, as the necessary CF controller is built into the RV570 GPU. I doubt that the card will have the bridge connectors on top of the card though. :)

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RE: ??

By dragonamor on 12/3/2006 4:46:33 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I doubt that the card will have the bridge connectors on top of the card though. :)

This is in reference to ATI Crossfire - not nVidia SLI.

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RE: ??

By Trisped on 12/5/2006 11:15:34 AM , Rating: 2

I believe that this card is the first one to feature dual crossfire connections at the top of the card instead of the external dongal as on older crossfire systems. That would be why there is no X1950 crossfire card.

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RE: ??

By LoogieXX on 11/30/2006 4:26:21 PM , Rating: 2

http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_o...

Their product page states 256 MB of RAM... But then this company runs with this beauty !...

Specifications are subject to change without notice and may vary depending upon product sku*

I bought products from them before and once it is in your hand they change the specs... retrospectively !.. yehaa

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hmm

By ttnuagadam on 11/30/2006 3:14:55 PM , Rating: 5

haha i guess this sovles my complaint in the x1650 thread. im gonna get one of these bitches!

RE: hmm

By therealnickdanger on 11/30/2006 4:13:39 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
haha i guess this sovles my complaint in the x1650 thread

No kidding! LOL This is a superb deal! Even though I don't have an AGP system, I can't wait to see benchmarks!

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RE: hmm

By Alpha4 on 12/1/2006 2:38:18 AM , Rating: 2

Maybe now Nvidia will finally drop the price on the 7800gs. $300 for a 7800gs is ridiculous compared to a $200 7900gt after all.

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yes!!

By Scabies on 11/30/2006 3:13:25 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Nevertheless, the Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP closely mimics its PCIe counterpart.

Performance, as well? Are all 16 lanes really necessary? will 8 AGP's suffice?
(not like my 3200+ Barton will be able to task this thing properly)

RE: yes!!

By Lazarus Dark on 11/30/06, Rating: -1

RE: yes!!

By bob4432 on 11/30/2006 8:31:25 PM , Rating: 5

there are many agp skt939 m/bs that support x2s and dc opterons.....so i wouldn't say that people are cpu limited if they are on a agp platform, they have been gpu limited for some time

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RE: yes!!

By ttnuagadam on 12/1/2006 8:48:48 AM , Rating: 2

definitly, i have a 4400 x2 on a 939 agp mobo, and it pisses me off to no end that they havent made a better card than my 6800 ultra in agp form until now.

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RE: yes!!

By Pirks on 11/30/06, Rating: -1

AGP

By fleaweb on 12/1/2006 8:04:46 PM , Rating: 2

Funny how on Sapphire's site the product page says the card has 256M of vram but the press release says 512M. Which do u think it is?

RE: AGP

By Suomynona on 12/4/2006 4:51:31 AM , Rating: 2

It's 512mb. But I am more troubled by the 8 pipes. The PCIe x1950 is 12 pipes. I am hoping this is a typo because reduced to 8 pipes the performance on this card is not going to be worth $250-300.

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Good Price!

By Chadder007 on 11/30/2006 3:01:07 PM , Rating: 3

Thats a good price (better than I expected for AGP), these will definitely sell like crazy.

Not as fast as the announced Powercolor x1950 pro agp

By DrDisconnect on 11/30/2006 4:13:10 PM , Rating: 3

The Powercolor Card has slightly better specs GPU 600 MHz and Memory 700 MHz. Nice to see some manufacturers servicing us dinosaurs.

finally

By filibusterman on 11/30/2006 4:28:35 PM , Rating: 2

This will be a great Christmas present to myself to replace my overclocked x850xt that is still kicking ace. I hope the law of supply and demand doesnt make this baby go too high in price.

release in NZ

By turbojake on 12/4/2006 7:14:28 AM , Rating: 2

O man i m currently running a x1600 pro n the fps is crap, i cant w8 till it release, just hopin it will come to NZ too, i cant w8 too c the fps in m2tw an css.

x1950 pro AGP

By Welshtrog on 12/21/2006 1:33:50 PM , Rating: 2

I have been running this card for 4 weeks now, It is the Gecube version with 256mb of memory and believe me its a brilliant solution after my X800xl, I originally wanted the 512mb version but I was advised that there were problems (unspecified)