ASUS EAX1950PRO 256MB RV570
Looking over the results the current fglrx drivers do not allow the Radeon X1950PRO to perform much better than a Radeon X1800XL or X1800XT. In nearly all of the benchmarks the ASUS EAX1950PRO had taken the lead. While the frame-rate performance for all of ATI's Radeon components are lower than the Windows Catalyst result, the fglrx drivers with Radeon X1000 hardware boast excellent image quality, Avivo support (through X-Video), and most other bells and whistles. However, more importantly is what is to come. While 2006 was not the winning year for ATI, 2007 may be a different story. If you are not after waiting around for the launch of the R600 next month, it would be in your best interest to pursue the X1900 series over the X1800. While the performance differences with the current fglrx drivers are minimal, the X1950PRO should hold a lot more potential. Under Windows, there is also the entire matter of the X1900 series GPUs being able to assist in Folding@Home, which demonstrates the GPU is useful for more than just rendering graphics. When it comes to the ASUS EAX1950PRO offering it is a great package. The ASUS EAX1950PRO comes slightly overclocked at 581/1404MHz (compared to the reference 575/1375MHz) and offers a heatsink that is vastly different from the reference cooler. While this will not be a selling point for GNU/Linux users, the X1950PRO with its RV570 core boasts an integrated compositing engine, which eliminates the need for separate master and slave cards in a CrossFire configuration. With the EAX1950PRO itself we didn't have any complaints or run into any issues, though it would be nice for some users if ASUS had included a second DVI to VGA dongle as well as a single CrossFire internal connector. At $190 USD for the EAX1950PRO you really cannot go wrong. The fglrx drivers officially supporting the Radeon X1950PRO under GNU/Linux will be out later this month.
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