ABIT Radeon 9800 XT Graphics Card Review

The Tech Report reviews ABIT’s new high-end ATi based video card. So what does ABIT’s take on the Radeon 9800 XT look like?

Remarkably like ATI’s. Apart from a different sticker on the GPU cooler, Abit’s Radeon 9800 XT appears to be identical to the ATI reference card we reviewed back in September.
Since so few of ATI or even NVIDIA’s graphics partners deviate from reference graphics card designs, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see an Abit sticker on a reference board. However, I can’t help but be a little disappointed that Abit didn’t flex its creative muscles and debut a revamped OTES system for the 9800 XT. Abit follows ATI’s reference design all the way down to the card’s memory chip heat spreader, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. The 9800 XT’s reference cooler’s single-slot, variable speed design keeps the GPU cool without producing too much noise or unnecessarily obstructing PCI slots. Since the reference 9800 XT already has a quiet fan, I can understand why Abit didn’t add its own cooler.

..If you’re looking for blazing frame rates at high resolutions with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering enabled, the Radeon 9800 XT is clearly the way to go. However, the card won’t come cheap—bragging rights rarely do. Expect the eventual street price of Abit’s 9800 XT to be competitive with 9800 XTs from ATI and the rest of its partners. And remember, that Half-Life 2 voucher should represent at least $50 of value for anyone who was already planning on buying the game.

The Tech Report
Abit’s Radeon 9800 XT graphics card
Going to bat for the red team