It also pulls less than half the power of the old R600 when run at comparable clockspeeds. Overall it is about ½ the die size of the older R600.
#VISIONTEK RADEON HD 2600 XT PRICE FULL#
It is made on TSMCs 55 nm process, and as such is a full node smaller than the 80 nm R600. The RV670 is a pretty hefty redesign of the R600 chip, and it adds some very nice features to the fray. It had to be smaller, more feature packed, cooler and power efficient than the previous HD 2900 XT. The graphics guys at AMD did not sit around and mope about their situation, and instead focused on bringing the next iteration of the R6x0 architecture to the market. However, the unique folding design does protect the card quite nicely.
With this budget card, VisionTek just used cardboard to package the product. Technically it was an impressive achievement, but unfortunately it was too hot, too big, and too slow as compared to the competition. It runs at 740 MHz and was the first chip to support a 512 bit bus to main memory. The chip itself was 700 million transistors in size made on TSMC’s 80HS process. The R600 that the HD 2900 XT was based on was a beast of a chip, but in many ways it was not fully optimized for current usage.
#VISIONTEK RADEON HD 2600 XT PRICE SERIES#
Not only that, but it was something of a lightweight in terms of performance when compared to the 8800 series of cards from NVIDIA that had been out for around 6 months by the time it was released.ĪMD took its lumps and released their 65 nm HD 2600 and HD 2400 cards, and due to their price/performance/power/heat ratios, the cards were pretty popular with many users and OEMs. Unfortunately for AMD, the R600 architecture was very late in getting off the ground.
The cards themselves were often faster than what NVIDIA had to offer at their respective price points, and the image quality was a step up as well. While those boards were certainly more than competitive with the NVIDIA GeForce 7 series of cards, there were a few drawbacks concerning heat and power. The graphics division of AMD had a pretty tough year after the release of the very impressive Radeon X1900 series of cards. They offer a lifetime warranty on the card I am reviewing, and they also offer toll-free technical support 5 days a week. They are also very competitive with price and offer good warranties and support. VisionTek ATI/AMD based cards have not been as visible as those from their primary competitors, namely Sapphire, Asus, and MSI, but they are starting to get a more dedicated following these days. So VisionTek has outsourced production but has continued to package and distribute their products in Illinois. It was not cost effective to produce boards in the States, as the cost of labor as compared to China is pretty tremendous. The company appears to be well run, as they certainly have not been causing waves in the financial arenas. Since the time the name has been acquired, VisionTek has been kept on a pretty tight rope. VisionTek just thinks that Stranglehold will work nicely with its card. This was quite the change, as the brand previously had been 100% NVIDIA affiliated, and in fact produced a lot of the reference boards for NVIDIA.ĭon’t be fooled by the box, Stranglehold is not included. The Hartford Computer Group acquired the VisionTek brand in 2002 and have concentrated on producing ATI based graphics cards and peripherals.
Due to some unfortunate business and ethics decisions, VisionTek had to close its doors. Unlike most other manufacturers with lines in Taiwan and mainland China, VisionTek produced all of their boards in their US plant in Illinios. The original VisionTek was one of the few board makers that actually produced product in the US. VisionTek is a name that has been around the industry for quite some time, but as many well know, it has not always meant the same thing. Does it trump other boards based on the reference design, or does the tremendous value of the HD 3850 overshadow all? The Basics While we took an initial look at the 3850 some months ago, we had the chance to do a full review on VisionTek’s 3850 offering. While we took an initial look at the 3850 some months ago, we had the chance to do a full review on VisionTek’s 3850 offering.
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