Sis Xabre 600

The Xabre 600 is aimed, like the 400, at the huge mainstream segment of the market.

The 600 isn't a totally new board; it's more of an evolutionary step towards the upcoming Xabre II chip. Much of the 600's feature set is the same as the 400, but there are some significant changes.

It is the first graphics chip to be built with a 0.13micron core, helping it to higher clock speeds. It also has a Vertex Shader or, as Sis calls it, a Vertexlizer Engine - the lack of which let down the 400.

The 600 uses what Sis grandly calls the Duo300. This is simply a technique of running both the GPU and memory clock at the same speed - 300MHz. The memory actually runs at 300MHz DDR (600MHz) and is both DirectX8 and 8x AGP compatible.

It is important to note that the Xabre 600 relies heavily on the CPU. The score we attained was acheived on a 2.8GHz P4; slower chips will reap slower results.

The 600 also includes a number of extra features. Xmartdrive automatically throttles back the clock speed when working with 2D applications, and raises it when the PC loads a 3D application.

This saves power, which is not significant in a desktop, but Sis is keen to launch the 600 into the mobile market where such a feature will help to conserve battery life.

Xmartvision senses and adjusts light for 3D applications, and controls the GPU cooling fan speed. XmartAGP auto adjusts the AGP settings from 2x up to 8x AGP.

The Xabre 600 is a good mainstream 8x AGP card that has great potential for the budget-conscious gamer.

Specs:

• Core 300MHz, DDR GPU
• 2 x 300MHz Ramdacs
• 64MB of memory running at 300MHz DDR
• 2.1Gbps memory bandwidth
• Outputs 15pin D-Sub, DVI-I, TV-out
• DirectX 8.1 compatible
• OpenGL 1.3
• AGP 2x, 4x, 8x compatible

Contact: Sis www.xabre.com