Connect3D X800
3. A closer look
Connect3D, following ATi's lead has stayed with the red stock PCB for the X800.
The front side of the card.(click for hi-res). |
The card is equipped with 2 sets of 4 x K4J55323QF-GC20 GDDR3 (2.0 ns) from Samsung. Each module provides the card with 32MB, resulting in 256MB total.
One set is located at the front of the card and the other at the back. Note that none of the 2 sets gets cooled by the fan and there is no metal plate either, to help cool them.
The back side of the card (click for hi-res) |
Unlike the rounded HSF we were used to seeing on all other X800 cards, the Connect3D utilises a relatively small rectangular fan positioned above the R430 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) on the card.
Even though good looks are a minor priority for us, we were happy to see that the surface of the X800's fan is not just another piece of metal like Connect3D's X800XL but this time it pictures Ruby (ATi's X800 promo star).
As suspected, the relatively small fansink cannot cover the memories found on the front side.
As you can see, this fan works by cooling the fins located at its sides and therefore the processor found underneath.
Removing the HSF unveils the R430 core and surrounding circuits. |
A zoomed-in picture of the GPU |
The card's outputs as in most cases, consists of one standard VGA for CRT monitors, one DVI-I for TFT monitors and a Video output.