Review: Sapphire HD 2900XT graphics card

In testing, the 2900XT scored 17,601 in 3Dmark05 and 11,793 in 3Dmark06.

This is the highest score we've seen in 3Dmark05 and second only to the Geforce 8800GTX in 3Dmark06.

Running Doom 3 the 2900XT pushed out over 100fps (frames per second) in all resolutions, even at 1,600x1,200 with 4xAA (anti-aliasing, for smother edges) and 4xAF (anisotropic filtering, for better image quality). At best, it was 23fps faster than the 8800GTS, but slower by 20fps compared to the 8800gtx.

It was 4fps slower than both Nvidia cards in Half Life 2, hovering at around 100fps in all resolutions; this suggests it was limited by our test setup more than Nvidia's cards (an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard, 1GB Ram and Western Digital 10,000rpm Raptor).

In Fear the 2900XT marginally outpaced the 8800GTS, but was a good deal behind the GTX version. Bizarrely, in the same game the 2900XT achieved higher frame rates at 1,200x1,024 than at 1,024x768 (both resolutions with 4xAA). This trend continued in 3Dmark05 where it scored 2,500 more at 1,600x1,200 (4xAA, 4xAF) than when tested at 1,200x1,024 (4xAA and trilinear filtering). Essentially, it performed better at a higher resolution and higher image quality.

At standard 1,200x1,080 and 1,024x768 resolutions the card performed about as well as an 8800GTS; slightly faster in most areas, but a little slower in others.

The Vista driver is stable with games looking good and rendered correctly; we've seen numerous quality problems with Nvidia's Vista driver.

The card needs external PCI power connectors to function. Two six-pin connectors will do, meaning it draws a whopping 215W when going full pelt. This is 65W higher than the 8800GTS, so it's almost worth calculating the cost of the extra electricity required.

It can also accommodate a single six-pin connector and a new eight-pin connector (you'll need a suitable PSU) to improve performance when overclocked, although this can push power draw even further.

Just as with the Radeon 9700 launch (where ATI offered a voucher for Half-Life 2), a voucher is included with the HD 2900XT cards for the forthcoming Valve titles Half Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Overall, there's no doubt this is a good card. However, it runs hot, is noisier than both Geforce 8800s when gaming and draws a lot of power. Looking at the wider picture, the card isn't much of a match for the Geforce 8800GTX and the appeal of the HD features is limited since your viewing will be hampered thanks to the racket generated by the card.

However, at £260 the card is good value for money since it's slightly cheaper than 8800GTS 640MB cards. AMD has been sending us several emails a week with updated drivers and we have no doubt it (and Nvidia, for that matter) is working night and day on performance improvements.