Test Setup

The Radeon X1650 XT is the latest mainstream contender from ATI, and is designed expressly to go up against the GeForce 7600 GT, effectively replacing the Radeon X1600 XT/X1650 Pro. This performance range requires a powerful reference platform, so that it will not be the limiting factor in any benchmark testing. Our standard system configuration consists of a Core 2 Duo platform, featuring a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo E6700, an Intel 975X motherboard, and 2x512-MB of Corsair CM2X512-8500 memory. This represents a very solid base for performance video card benchmarking, including all the latest features, and makes sure that the platform itself will not hold any of our reference video cards back.

The competition in our video card benchmarking comes from both the mainstream and entry high-end sectors, and has the ASUS EAX1650XT 256MB going up against a range of ATI and NVIDIA models. The NVIDIA reference cards include the GeForce 6600 GT 128MB, GeForce 7600 GS 256MB, GeForce 6800 GS 256MB, GeForce 7600 GT 256MB, and GeForce 7900 GT 256MB, while the ATI representation consists of the Radeon X1600 XT 256MB and Radeon X1800 XL 256MB. Our operating system is Windows XP Pro SP2 with the latest DirectX 9.0c.

Our benchmark selection has been updated with some newer SM3.0 game tests like Company of Heroes, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Prey, augmenting our usual tests such as F.E.A.R., 3DMark06 Advanced, Quake 4, Half-Life 2, DOOM 3, Chronicles of Riddick, FarCry, and Unreal Tournament 2004. With the influx of new games, and updated patches for existing ones, the majority of these tests now support SM3.0. All testing is performed using standard 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 32-bit settings, along with high-end 4X anti-aliasing and 8X anisotropic filtering results as well. The 4X AA and 8X AF settings are representative of the detail settings many use for their high-end 3D gaming.

* Please note that unless otherwise stated, all performance graph results equate to the standard "higher is better" format.

Test System

General Settings:
Desktop Resolution: 1024x768
Color Depth: 32-bit
V-Sync: Disabled

Intel Core 2 Reference System:
Processors: Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66 GHz)
Memory: 2 x 512-MB Corsair CM2X512-8500
Motherboard: Intel D975XBX
Motherboard chip set: Intel 975X
NVIDIA reference drivers: ForceWare 93.71
ATI reference drivers: Catalyst 6.12
Hard-Drive: Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB
IDE Interface: Serial ATA-150
CD/DVD: AOpen 5232 Combo Drive
Power Supply: Enermax EG651P-VE-24P 550W EPS12V
DirectX 9.0c (October 2006)
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP2

Video Cards:

ASUS EAX1650XT 256MB
GeForce 6600 GT 128MB
GeForce 7600 GS 256MB
Radeon X1600 XT 256MB
GeForce 6800 GS 256MB
GeForce 7600 GT 256MB
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
GeForce 7900 GT 256MB