Mystery solved!
Many thanks to Mark for solving the mystery of my non-descript ATI Entry 2D 64MB PCI-E graphics card last night which comes as the least expensive option on the HP xw4200. After delving into the release notes of the graphics driver, he discovered that it's an ATI Radeon X300.
Interesting that HP downplays this card by describing it as 2D only while the other graphics card options have their respective 3D chipsets clearly labeled. Make no mistake about it, this is a fully functional, Direct X 9 based, 3D graphics card with a genuine GPU.
My biggest fear previously was that I wouldn't be able to do any type of 3D work or gaming on my new system until I upgraded the graphics. Now after looking at the specs, it looks like the X300 is at least as capable- and in some ways surpasses- the feature set of my current 64MB GeForce3 Ti200.
Even though this is ATI's most entry level PCI Express based card, it does have something unique that I can brag about. It is the industry’s first graphics processor built using the advanced 110-nanometer silicon process. 130-nanometer? Pfft! How big and bulky! ;)
I'll be looking forward to putting this card through its paces and will let you know how it performs. I feel much better now that I can relax and patiently wait for Nvidia to eventually release a true high-end PCIe card.
Interesting that HP downplays this card by describing it as 2D only while the other graphics card options have their respective 3D chipsets clearly labeled. Make no mistake about it, this is a fully functional, Direct X 9 based, 3D graphics card with a genuine GPU.
My biggest fear previously was that I wouldn't be able to do any type of 3D work or gaming on my new system until I upgraded the graphics. Now after looking at the specs, it looks like the X300 is at least as capable- and in some ways surpasses- the feature set of my current 64MB GeForce3 Ti200.
Even though this is ATI's most entry level PCI Express based card, it does have something unique that I can brag about. It is the industry’s first graphics processor built using the advanced 110-nanometer silicon process. 130-nanometer? Pfft! How big and bulky! ;)
I'll be looking forward to putting this card through its paces and will let you know how it performs. I feel much better now that I can relax and patiently wait for Nvidia to eventually release a true high-end PCIe card.
posted by Robert at October 09, 2004
1 Comments:
Rob, I stand corrected. I originally thought that the ATI Radeon X300 wouldn't be a good Doom 3 card by any means, but I was wrong. Check out this link where they benchmark it against NVIDIA's and Intel's low end. The X300 gets over 30 fps at 1024x768 with the same Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor you are getting!
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