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Visiontek Radeon X1300 512MB DDR X16 PCI-E (VGA, DVI-I, TV-Out, HDTV) | List Price: $179.99
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Brand: VISIONTEK MASS STORAGE
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Avivo¿ display enhancement technology
- Copper based active fan
- Crossfire¿ ready
- Windows XP®, Windows Vista ready
- 512MB DDR2 memory, SM 3.0, DX9, x16 PCI Express
Serves my modest needs... [Posted on 2007-01-26]
This card is a little out of date already, and with DX10 on the horizon, it is soon to be really out of date. But it fit my budget, and had all the requirements to run modern MMORPGS, so I grabbed it.
When it arrived immediately installed it, and everything went perfect. The software installed and after a quick restart everything was detected and running. The ATI Catalyst Control Center is a really nice piece of software. It offers two modes, easy and advanced. In easy mode you have a single slider bar to control the performance of your card, from best quality picture to best performance. This mode can even be toggled in real time by configurable key commands, for on the fly adjustments during a game. But most users will find the advanced mode beneficial. Here you can fine tune every aspect of the card and its end performance. Even my desktop is much easier to look at after I tweaked the color settings.
So I fired up Black and White 2, a notoriously picky game due to its scope and incessant tendency to force too much anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering. At first all I could see was a big blur, so I adjust the filter settings in the Catalyst control center and voila! The game is running fast, clear and still gorgeous.
When it comes down to it, the 512MB of DDR is plenty of memory, but it slower than the newer cards with DDR2. Even the new DX10 cards will often sport the half gig memory configuration, so it is definitely enough to handle even the highest requirements. But couple the slow ram with the slow clock speed of only 450MHz, and you're looking at a major budget card. It works great for current generation PC games, but don't expect it to play the latest and greatest for too long.
I bought this card for MMOs, which usually sport last years graphics, so I won't need to upgrade any time soon, however I think the price might be a little too high for the aging hardware. If you have modest needs like mine, its going to serve you well, but consider shopping around for a better price.
Known problems w/ Windows Vista [Posted on 2007-08-26]
I bought this card for use with a home-built PC using the Intel DG33BU motherboard and Windows Vista Home Premium. I can't get the mobo or Vista to recognize or even see the card at all. In looking at the Visiontek web site for advice, it turns out that there is a known issue with this card on Vista systems with built-in graphics on the mobo. Apparently, Windows Aero require multiple video cards to use the same drivers, and it defaults to the built-in graphics. This apparently means it will utterly ignore anything other than the built-in video.
I then noticed that this video card is not "Certified for Vista" with the Windows logo. The seal on the box just says "Vista Ready" and that it is
"Certified by ATI". The Windows Vista web site does not list this card as Certified for Vista.
I have another card from this company in another home-built machine w/ Vista Home Premium on a similar (but not identical) Intel mobo, and all is fine. That is the X1550, I think. So, I will try the same card and see if that fixes my problem.
In the meantime, this card doesn't work at all in my PC. Not a bit. Nada. Zip. So, it gets the lowest rating. In a non-Vista system, it may be the best thing since sliced bread, but I'm not in a position to comment on that.
Terrible quality [Posted on 2007-10-24]
I bought this card as an upgrade for my Dell Optiplex to drive two monitors. It failed after two weeks. I sent it back to the factory. They repaired it, and after three weeks it failed again. I'm looking for another card now.
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