MaximumPC 2003 12

There’s simply no question about it: ATI’s newly

minted Radeon 9800 XT is the finest videocard on the

planet. But why, you ask, didn’t we choose the fastest

nVidia 3D accelerator, which benchmarks so closely

in comparison? It’s simple. The Radeon 9800 XT runs

circles around nVidia cards when it comes to DirectX

9 programmable shader effects. We tested both

of the currently available DirectX 9 games— Tomb

Raider: Angel of Darkness and Halo —with the

Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5900, and were

astounded by the sheer number of visual bugs we

saw on the GeForce boards, especially when using

nVidia’s latest “review” drivers. In comparison, the

9800 XT rendered the effects with acuity.

Based on an enhanced version of the R300 chip

that powered the Radeon 9700 and 9800 cards,

ATI’s 9800 XT features a totally redesigned copper

heatsink, as well as built-in, factory-supported

overclocking utilities. The Radeon 9800 is aimed

squarely at the heart of no-compromises PC power

users, and it hits the bull’s-eye.

$500, http://www.ati.com, reviewed on page 100

BEST MONITOR

See page 40 for a display that will

take your breath away.

BEST PENTIUM 4 CORE-LOGIC

See page 36 for the Rock of Gibraltar of

all mobo chipsets.

VIDEOCARD

Radeon 9800 XT