MSI RX1650 PRO 256MB - Review

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MSI RX1650 PRO 256MB - Review

Introduction

The Radeon X1650 Pro is based on the ATI RV530 GPU, which is manufactured on an 80nm process. This allows ATI to make the GPU cheaper and the heat output of the GPU is reduced as well, allowing a less sophisticated cooling solution. Over time we will see customized card solutions, with the eventual process shrinks. Moreover, the ATI X1000 series is not only known for it’s prowess in the gaming industry but also features the state of the art Avivo technology, designed specifically for video playback improvement. Hence such mid ranged cards are ideal for HTPC users, who demand an entire set of features from the card placed in the multimedia systems with a minimal tolerance for noise. Other than those the card nicely targets the mid-ranged market and hence presents a perfect recipe for enthusiasts who want to play games at a minimum cost.

The MSI X1600 PRO blends the above formula and makes up a formidable mid-ranged solution. The card only differs from the X1600XT in terms of a process change and the use of a lower clocked GDDR2 memory instead of the GDDR3 in the former. It features just 4 pixel pipelines, and a total of 12 pixel shading units. Along with it there is a second ATI mid-range card announced using the same architecture which is now known as the X1650XT, though we are yet to review this card, the X1650XT boasts 8 pixel pipelines, amounting to 24 pixel shading units. The X1650pro is targeted to combat more with the 7600GS than the 7600GT.


It's worth pointing out the gulf between a budget X1650 and a high end X1950, not least because the X1900 introduced three shaders for every one of its 16 pipelines to give a total of 48 shaders. The X1600 and X1650 use three quarters of the previous X1800 which only had one Shader per pipeline, so the mid-range chips have 12 pipelines and 12 shaders, which is effectively one third of the graphics hardware that you find inside a X1900 or X1950.



Close In Impressions:


The card sports a pair of DVI outputs which is ideal if you run dual TFT displays on your desktop, and you also get an S-Video output. MSI supplies an S-Video extension cable and a pair of adapters. One carries S-Video and Composite outputs and the other has Component, for fans of HDTV. As can be seen that the golden heat sink provides a funky appearance and covers the BGA rams too. This is a good precedent for some overclocking.





As can be seen from the pictures below, there's a total of 256MB 2.5ns Hynix memory, clocked at 400MHz (800MHz effectively). The GPU runs at the standard 600MHz. The memory communicates with the core over a 128-bit interface. In terms of size, the card is about comparable to a 6600GT, and so it should be no problem installing the card in any enclosure. I am also glad to see that the card has two DVI connectors as well as a VIVO connector. The MSI X1650 PRO gets all its juice through the PCI-Express slot, no additional power connector is necessary.






More Impressions!!!

The ram sinks are not covered on the back side of the card. That's something MSI should look into, as they are using the hotter DDR2 memory chips. Overclocking is really dependent upon faster heat dissipation.



The Bundle:

Some Images of the Box!!!





As can be seen that there are a couple of DVI connectors supplied. Furthermore a VIVO cable is supplied as well for video input/output singles. There's an extension cable provided in order to connect the TV with the VIVO cable and eventually to the PC. The rest of the bundle is a routine and is provided in almost all other graphic products out there.

Affiliated Technologies:

AVIVO technology is a trademark of ATI and the MSI X1650 PRO is completely compliant with the technology. Basically, ATI Avivo™ is the new reference for advanced imaging and video. Integrated into ATI's latest generation of graphics and TV tuner products, ATI Avivo delivers PVR, HDTV and next-generation HD disc capabilities with vibrant, sharp images, and the smoothest video playback ever offered by ATI. ATI Avivo also enables universal, professional-quality connectivity for TVs and displays, ensuring the ultimate entertainment experience on your PC.





The MSI X1650 PRO is crossfire ready as well. It can be combined with another X1650 PRO, on a crossfire- ready motherboard and there'll be a substantial increase in the over all Graphics performance.




Live Update3 is MSI's Feature that is really handy. MSI Live Update Series is a powerful and useful application for updating latest BIOS and Drivers, which can save your time for searching and lower the risk while updating. And it also includes a plethora of options to download different MSI patented softwares.

Specification Chart:

Test Bed:

Benchmarks:


Performance is good and allows you to play modern intensive games such as Far Cry or Oblivion, but if you want to enable all of the eye-candy you'll have to make a trade-off on the screen resolution that you can run. Even so, you get an indecent amount of gaming performance for a very low price.



3dmark06:

Futuremark has been developing benchmarks for long enough to be considered the industry leader. Their 3DMark series of benchmarks have been popular amongst the enthusiasts and is widely used by the industry as well. 3DMarks, that is Futuremark's unit of measurement for 3D performance, scales with framerates.

F.E.A.R:

F.E.A.R is an amazing horror sequel where by the immersive graphics combined with the thrilling environments give an intense game play.




COD2:

COD2 brings intensive world war 2 style action. Being intensely high on graphics.




Quake IV:

Boasting the Doom 3 engine, Quake 4 is guaranteed to bring down many of today's graphics accelerators to its knees, whilst being playable at lesser settings on lowend graphics accelerators.




Oblivion:

Oblivion is arguably the most taxing game ever, graphically speaking. HDR was enabled and most in-game graphics settings were as high as possible with self-shadows and grass shadows disabled.

In all the benchmarks above the MSI X1650 PRO is slower than the stock 7600GS. This is mainly due to the fact that MSI uses a much lower clocked memory, than the reference ATI X1650 PROs. The default memory clock speeds for the MSI X1650 PRO is 800MHz whereas the reference ATI card uses an effective memory clock speed of 1400MHz.

Though the performance may look dismal but the image quality was splendid. Although it is not justified to use anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering on cards with such limited prowess and a crippled 128-bit memory, but even with out such luxuries the colors and the image quality was way vibrant than the 7600GS.



Conclusion:


The MSI X1650 PRO is a stellar performer for the given price. With the rest of the graphics market submerged to all types of factions and the high end cards nearly burning a hole in the wallet, cards like the MSI RX1650 PRO bring all the technologies under a compact kit. Though filling the numbers in the mainstream segment, the card packs a punch with complete support for ATI's AVIVO and crossfire technology. So Video processing enthusiasts will be hard put to get their hands on this card.

The Graphics memory had a lot of room for overclocking and easily broke out the 1Ghz barrier, eventually standing out at a whopping 1154 MHz from a default of 800MHz. Hence the updated clocks of 687/1154 [core/memory]. Being certainly cheaper than the prevailing X1650 PROs the MSI X1650 PRO hands out a surprising punch in the end.

Positives:

• Cheap
  

• Brilliant Overclocker
  

• Complete Support for AVIVO and Crossfire.
  

• Strong aesthetics and a nice golden finish to the heat sinks

Negatives:

• Lower clocked memory than the actual X1650 PRO

• Bundle is a routine

With support for crossfire without the mess of any dongles and bridges, a strong overclocking contingent and complete video editing capabilities the MSI X1650 PRO is a recommended card for the mainstream gamers.



Over All : 7.0

Due to being highly conducive to overclocking this card receives:




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For pricing and availability, please check the vendor threads in our ‘classifieds’ forum.

SPECIAL THANKS TO MSI and Aizaz Sadiq for providing the samples for review and evaluation.










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