(02/20/2001) – WHAT’S HOT
Not only is this the most affordable board on our chart with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, it delivers excellent performance for the price. At high resolutions, you won’t do better than a ATI Technologies Inc. Radeon without shelling out CDN$750 for an Ultra. Running Unreal Tournament at 1600-by-1200 resolution using 32-bit color, this Radeon nearly matched the Ultras’ speeds, turning in a time of 59 frames per second. The GTS and MX boards can’t even complete the test at this level.
WHAT’S NOT
At lower resolutions, the Radeon doesn’t shine as brightly, coming in below the GTS boards (and even some of the MX boards). The Radeon was close to the Ultras and the Pro at 640-by-480 resolution in Quake III. At the higher resolutions, this ATI fell behind the Ultras with 42 and 39 fps using 16-bit and 32-bit color, respectively, compared with the second-ranked Creative Labs Inc. Ultra’s 88 and 55 fps. Colors in both Quake III and Unreal Tournament appeared faded. We also saw some jerkiness in Unreal Tournament and Test Drive 6.
WHAT ELSE
This board doesn’t have as many ports as the All-in-Wonder Radeon, but it still offers more than most, with S-Video-out and composite-in and composite-out ports. ATI provides an excellent five-year warranty on parts and labor for the Radeon–one of the best offered by any vendor. But you’ll have to pick up long-distance charges for calls to ATI’s tech support, available 10 hours each weekday.
BEST USE
You’ll be hard pressed to find a better board at this price. If you’re looking to really test that new 21-inch monitor, this Radeon offers better support for higher resolution than an MX-based card.
Buying Information
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR
$ 334
4X AGP, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, ATI Radeon chip, 350-MHz RAMDAC, S-Video-out, composite-in and -out, ATI multimedia player.
905/882-2600
www.ati.com
Prices listed are in Cdn currency.