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PowerColor X1300Pro Bravo VIVO


Date
: 02/16/06 – 04:49:51 AM

Author
:

Category
: Video Cards

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
PowerColor Computer Inc.

Price:
N/A

It had been far too long since the name PowerColor has been uttered from the mouth of one of our staff members prior to Simons review of the X800GTO16, but today that all changes with the second review in a month of a PowerColor video card. PowerColor is becoming an old pro in the video card market having been around for nearly a decade now. Established in 1997 under the larger company of Tul Corporation (formerly C.P. Technologies), PowerColor is responsible for manufacturing and developing the latest graphics technologies that come to market in their own ISO 9001 certified factory.

In a very short time, PowerColor has become a leading ATI graphics card producer and was rewarded in late 2004 becoming an ATI Platinum Partner. Striving to be best, PowerColor was quick to design and produce their line of X1 graphics cards including variations of the X1300, X1600, X1800, and most recently released X1900 that PowerColor offers a lifetime warranty on. The newest 90nM process releases from ATI have come with bated breath and today we look at the RV515 core in PowerColors version of the X1300 Pro Bravo VIVO.

The PowerColor X1300 Pro Bravo features 256MB of onboard GDDR3 memory with a 128bit Bus width. That memory is clocked at 400MHz for an effective speed of 800MHz. Paired with the highest core speed of the X1300 series at 600MHz, this little 4 Pixel Pipeline setup should pack a decent sized punch when compared to the older yet stronger X700 Pro and X800 GTO that I will be putting up against it. Even though this card is not of the higher ranking X1800 or even X1600, I am still expecting quite decent performance for an entry level graphics card.

Page 2 : Package

"A package makes a product" is a saying I heard often from an economics professor and while that may remain true in a number of isles at Wal-Mart, in the computer hardware world that is becoming less and less a phrase of truth. Online sales now make up the majority of how we all get our gear so the package is becoming less important every day. I still like to look at them though.

It is about time that someone sent me something with a grossly out of proportion female character. It feels like almost weeks since something has shown up screaming sexuality like the X1300PRO Bravo package from PowerColor does. The design is very 3D game like and the color scheme is quite nice. Now if only she was real, huh guys?

Our little vixen makes a second appearance on the backside of the package as well. We are also presented with a brief description of the X1300 PRO in a handful of languages. Like most manufacturers, there are very little details about specifications or anything of that nature but the basics are present.

Like I said, there is not a lot here but enough to give us an idea of what the card is capable of. As we saw on the other photo, these specifications are repeated in a handful of other languages as well as a small blip about the ATI AVIVO technology.

The top and bottom edges of the package do not contain any information to report on although the bottom edge does contain the important information about available connections from the video card.

Like the top and bottom edges, the sides also serve a purpose. PowerColor has opted to list the full system requirements to run the X1300 PRO Bravo on one end and the package contents on the other. Having the plastic wrap that the package came protected in is enough to keep retailers from dipping their fingers in the DVI adapter pot but this list here also helps protect consumers from missing out on anything intended for them.

Page 3 : Specifications & Features

The PowerColor web site doesn't have much in the way of a specifications sheet but here are the basics of the card:

I figured this wouldn't satisfy the needs of our readers so I spent a little time over at ATI's web site to pull a little more information about the technology behind the X1300 series.

The X1 series of graphics cards have brought to the table a whole new level of gaming sophistication. The architecture is new and more efficient, the technologies such as AVIVO that are incorporated into all of the X1 series Radeon cards should provide better quality and overall experience, and the much talked about CrossFire support should elevate the performance to levels that rival NVIDIA's SLi technology. Here is a list I pulled from the ATI web site listing some of the features of the X1300 series and what they mean.

I highlighted a few of the important words such as HDR Rendering, Shader Model 3.0, and H.264 decoding. Of the many enhancements and improvements in the X1 series of graphics cards, these seem to be the main points worth mentioning. HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range" and is used to describe the technique in which calculations are made to enhance the appearance of lighting in 3d games. The effects can be quite spectacular to say the least. I use Far Cry as an example:

I initially had some issues getting Far Cry to recognize that the Power Color X1300Pro was capable of running HDR and SM3.0 but a quick little download from Guru3d.com, the 1.4 beta patch, and not only was HDR working in full effect but so was AA with HDR turned on.

Shader Model 3.0 is the newest of enhancements for DirectX® 9.0 games. When NVIDIA first announced SM 3.0 support it was received with mixed reviews. Initially they distributed screen shots of SM 3.0 vs. SM 1.1 and as impressive as it was, people were left to wonder why they would not compare it to SM 2.0, perhaps because there were no advantages? That discussion certainly has come and gone and here are a few screen shots I put together of FarCry with SM 3.0 on and with SM 3.0 turned off.

It honestly took me quite a while to find noticeable differences between the two. There is the slight spider web detail in the first shot and the door has some extra detail visible in the second one. I think HDR is the most important enhancement in the X1 series because SM 3.0 really isn't doing much for me.

The last of the great enhancements I thought mentioning was the implementation of the AVIVO H.264 hardware acceleration. Much like NVIDIA PureVideo technology, H.264 brings the next generation of high definition video viewing to our computers through hardware acceleration which provides sharper pictures, brighter colors, and smoother playback while reducing the load on the systems central processor.

In addition to all of these great features, PowerColor was nice enough to send me the very top of the heap X1300 Pro, the Bravo VIVO edition which gets GDDR3 memory instead of just DDR2 that the X1300 Pro uses. For those that don't know, VIVO stands for Video In Video Out. This allows the card to not only produce amazing images on a television but it can also accept video input from a number of sources including S-Video, Composite, and Component Video.

Page 4 : Package Contents

At some point every package has to be opened, and it is time for the PowerColor X1300 PRO Bravo edition to breathe.

Upon sliding the box out of the exterior shell we are presented with a secure little white box. The main lid opens to reveal two compartments that separate the delicate cargo inside. The video card is protected very well at both ends and the box itself is very sturdy providing a great foundation for safe shipping. Feel free to order this sucker from an online retailer as it is sure to arrive safely.

Most of the accessory package is housed in the bottom compartment with the manual and CD bunking with the card in the upper space. It is a very simple looking package despite the enormous versatility of this card being equipped with VIVO functionality. Since the X1300 PRO is technically a budget card, it is not surprising to see only a single DVI > VGA converter. We also receive the component video input as well as the S-video/RCA input cables.

The cables are quite clearly marked so it is easy to keep everything straight. These labels are nice and secure so they shouldn't ever be MIA.

This is our first look at the X1300 Pro Bravo edition and isn't it just the cutest little thing? I mean, it sure is a contrast from the massive heatsink on the X1800/X1900s that have been seen everywhere in reviews. A nicely designed heatsink looks to not only cool the GPU but the memory as well which is a welcoming sign. The cooling design is straight forward with a fan in the middle forcing air out over the heatsink fins. It looks quite basic but should be more than adequate to cool the core below.

The main standout on this card is this little chip here. This chip is what separates a normal video card and a VIVO video card. It provides all the processing of the video-in and video-out function. Here is a brief description from ATI:

I will be doing my best to compare the video out of the ATI Rage Theater equipped X1300 PRO and the non Rage X700 Pro in the testing section.

I realized as I was going around the card that the heatsink design is quite a complete package. Perhaps it is coincidence but the air being pushed out of the heatsink will actually be directed to pass by almost every single capacitor on the video card. This video card should be a perfect candidate for an HTPC setup as it should run really cool and is loaded with multimedia features.

A busy but relatively boring backside can be seen above. All of the memory is located on the topside under the heatsink so there really isn't much to look at here.

The dual DVI output will make digital LCD owners happy providing the ability to connect both of them up simultaneously. I have already noted that despite both connections being DVI we are only presented with a single adapter to convert to VGA. Again, this is understandable considering the price that this card is sold at and how cheap the adapters can be picked up at retailers. It is a sign of the times, dinosaurs with analog monitors such as myself are being eliminated.

The ultra duty connection at the front of the card here is what we will call the VIVO port where the various cables we looked at will interface with the card.

Take it off…take it all off. That's right, it is time to take the top off this bad boy and have a look at that memory and the GPU powering the X1300 PRO. A little bit of work on the backside with a phillips head looks to be all that is necessary.

And Voila, the core is exposed like a receiver going over the middle for a pass that sailed on the quarterback. I don't think I have to mention this but look at all that thermal paste. There is a ton there and even more on the heatsink. It will be a good amount of q-tips before we get to see the core under all of that goop.

I was correct in my assessment to remove that thermal paste. It was thicker than it looked and one heck of a mess in getting rid of. Once gone, it is clear to see that this is in fact an RV515 core with a production date of 0540.

The memory, like so many video cards, utilizes Samsung memory. The part number is
K4J52324QC-BC20
. These chips are GDDR3 with a rated speed of 500MHz pushing 1.0Gbps/pin @1.8v. This would indicate that we have some overhead in the memory frequency but upon pulling the heatsink off I realized that it is not making contact with the memory and will likely remove any chance for an overclock. Complete specifications on the memory used can be found here.

Since the heatsink is off I thought I would take a photo. Not much except a semi-polished aluminum surface for the core to mate to. As noted, the memory does not make contact with this heatsink which is a bit disappointing.

Page 5 : Installation & Overclocking

I will not be going into great detail as far as installation goes because there really is no need. PCI-E video cards are among the easiest pieces of hardware to install or upgrade. With the X1300 Pro being a standard size card without a bulky heatsink and fan it should be fairly straight forward.

We can see that the length of this card doesn't even cover the northbridge chipset. This means that water-coolers should have no problem getting a waterblock on there. Most guys water cooling will be interested in more powerful video cards but I noticed right away as the HIS X800GTO I have covers the entire thing.

The final step in any video card installation is the driver install. For the benchmarks and testing today, I will be using the latest driver set from ATI, Catalyst 6.2. The hefty download finished and the system rebooted within a few minutes. A quick check of properties and it appears that everything went in smoothly and we are ready to begin overclocking. That's right, I said overclocking. Sure it is only an X1300 Pro but we might as well se how far we can push it. The Bravo edition card that I am reviewing has a larger heatsink that also covers the memory ICs but does not make contact with them so I am not expecting much in the way of a memory overclock.

I figured if an X1300Pro was going to overclock it would be this one because of the heatsink design but I was wrong. The most I could squeeze out of the PowerColor X1300Pro Bravo was a core speed of
635MHz
from the stock speed of
600MHz
before artifacts would show up after an hour or so of gaming. The memory had even less overhead with a negligible gain of
10MHz
that could be had before artifacts made their way onto the screen. This isn't really disappointing because the card is not designed to be a big performer. Because of this non-existent overclock I will not even be running the benchmarks at the overclocked frequencies.

Page 6 : Feature Testing

I was hoping this section to be the software section when I got word that PowerColor was sending me the Bravo VIVO edition of the X1300PRO but when the box came void of any software there really wasn't much to report. The card does however offer video capture by way of the Theater Rage chip on board so I put it to work.

The first test was of course using one of my favorite movies, Rounders. I ran the DVD in my PS2 and hooked it up to the s-video in cable via the X1300PRO and used VirtualDub as my capture software. It took a little bit of fooling around as I was not familiar with VirtualDub but eventually I got everything setup and was watching the movie in full detail on my computer. The quality wasn't bad at all and in fact was pretty impressive. It seemed even better than most TV tuners I have used so I was quite happy with the results.

I figured that since the PS2 was hooked up and working that I might as well bust out the NCAA 06 and play a game. Again I was quite impressed with the quality of the image via the s-video connection and was impressed that there was very little to no delay at all while playing in windows. The mere fact that I was still able to run up and down the field like I normally can means that the controls are bang on and it was just like playing while hooked up to my TV. The largest resolution I could capture at was 720×480 which isn't huge but is still a very good size that rivals most TV tuner cards. Making videos of PS2 gaming sessions was quite fun to say the least.

Page 7 : Test Machine

You can't have any benchmarks without a machine, so here is the machine used for testing:

Normally the benchmarks are what make or break a video card but in the case of the budget orientated X1300Pro, this shouldn't be the case. The PowerColor X1300 is not designed with the hardcore gamer in mind and when we look at the numbers I am sure we will see that this is the case. Try to digest the results of the following pages keeping in mind that we are asking quite a bit out of this little guy putting it up against an X700Pro and X800GTO both with equivalent memory and either double or triple the available pixel pipelines.

I have recently updated my system with a new powerful engine and some new additions to the benchmarking suite I have presented in the past. In addition to the standard synthetic benchmarks of 3DMark 01SE, 3DMark 03, 3DMark 05, Aquamark, and SPECviewperf I will be including the newest of the Future Mark lineup; 3DMark 06. This update to 3DMark 05 has been bolstered to provide a tougher challenge to video cards by implementing higher polygonal counts, a more complex ShaderModel 2.0 testing standard and introducing High Dynamic Range (HDR) and ShaderModel 3.0 tests. 3DMark 06 has also incorporated a more intricate physics library in the CPU tests that will fully exploit a weak system and embarrass all but multi-threaded capable systems.

For the gaming benchmarks I will be relying on BenchemAll (v2652 Beta) once again to run custom time demos of Doom III, Half-Life 2, and Far Cry. To get accurate benchmarks of Battlefield 2 I prefer to run it manually using the first benchmarking tool that was available for BF2 from Guru3d.com. It seems to give the most accurate sets of results when ran properly. The F.E.A.R. results will be derived from the included in-game testing process. Let's get to some pretty looking charts to see how the PowerColor X1300 Pro faired. We will look at the synthetic results first and then move on to the gaming results individually.

Page 8 : Synthetic Performance

We will start off our performance evaluation of the X1300 Pro Bravo with the Futuremark series of programs. Spanning four versions of 3DMark will now be the case with the newest addition , 3DMark 06. These synthetic benchmarks simulate a number of different gaming environments and test the video cards ability to work. 3DMark scores shouldn't be the end all of your video card buying decision but it is a good way to test and directly compare video cards DirectX performance.

Right at the top you will notice that The X1300Pro actually beats the X700Pro in 3DMark 06. This result is a bit of a misrepresentation because the other two cards cannot produce the SM3.0 result part of the test and score much lower because of it. The performance on the other 3DMark programs is more inline with the capabilities of each card.

SpecView Performance tests the video cards ability outside of the 3D gaming arena and in other applications that one might be using a video card such as Maya or Catia. These results are for the folks in the crowd that work with 3D models and don't play with them.

In a couple of the tests the X1300Pro can hang with the big boys but others it falls far behind. In the last two tests the X1300Pro actually performs better which is obviously the result of optimizations in the newer chipset. We will now look at the benchmarks that the majority of us will be most interested in.

Page 9 : Battlefield 2

Starting the gaming benchmarks off for us will be the highly popular Battlefield 2. The sequel to the ground breaking Battlefield 1942 has been out for a fair bit of time now and is starting to see many full scale add-ons complete. The custom time demo used for benchmarking mixes in all of what makes Battlefield 2 such a great title. With two gigabytes of memory in the test machine and running the CPU at almost 3GHz, the video cards will be the deciding factors in the results.

At 1024×768 the Power Color X1300PRO can actually hang in there and deliver 30FPS. This was also with all details set to high so turning some of the details down could easily bring the FPS up enough to make it very gameable. Anti-Aliasing or Anisotropic Filtering are too much for the X1300Pro and rightfully so. I thought 800×600 would be the limit for this guy in Battlefield 2 but I appear to have been wrong.

Page 10 : Doom III

This OpenGL classic just won't go away. Still one of the more GPU demanding games around, DOOM III stands the test of time when it comes to pushing hardware. ATI video cards have always lacked performance in OpenGL games when compared to NVIDIA cards but that won't matter today as the test hardware is all red and white. The 6.2 drivers that I am using for all the benchmarks are suppose to help ATI in OpenGL games but I am not expecting miracles today.

Very much like BF 2, Doom III looks to be almost playable at 1024×768 without AA or AF in the mix. The details again were cranked right up so further adjustments could bring the frame rate up quite a bit more and get to some decent levels where there would be no pauses or jerkiness in the game play.

Page 11 : Far Cry

Ubisoft's cryENGINE is still one of the most advanced that there is. The list of features is endless and the result of that list is amazing. Still touted as one of the best looking games, Far Cry is a favorite amongst gamers; myself included. The shadow detail and bump mapping is simply incredible giving the in-game experience small details that other games lack. For benchmarking I created a custom demo on the Treehouse level and all benchmarks were run on high details.

With Far Cry putting more of a load on the system and not the graphics card I expected the benchmark results to be a bit better and they are. The X1300Pro is obviously a ways behind the X700Pro and even more behind the X800GTO but it can definitely handle some decent resolutions for games. Far Cry will easily be playable at 1024×768 and again this was with all the settings set at high. HDR and SM3.0 were not turned on as the other two cards can not run them so the comparison would have been even more slanted against the X1300Pro.

Page 12 : Half-Life 2

At this stage of the game Half-Life 2 and Far Cry are not really killers of video cards anymore. As beautiful as they both are, they just don't have enough shader intensive effects to really push the newest of the new video cards. The hardware we are using is considered mid range at best though and HL2 is still a good test for it. All detail settings were set to high for the benchmarks.

Of all the games benchmarked, Half-Life 2 is definitely the most playable and can handle high details, a little bit of AA, and a touch of AF at 1024×768. At these settings, HL2 looks and plays great on the X1300Pro. I spent a good bit of time playing at this resolution and had no issues with jerky play or frame rates dropping below acceptable levels.

Page 13 : F.E.A.R.

As noted on the test system page, I will be running the in-game testing method to get the results below. The computer settings were set to High and the video settings were a custom mix. Everything was set to maximum with Shadows, and Volumetric Lights turned on. I left Soft Shadows turned off as it really hurts performance and these cards will be struggling as it is. The only changes throughout the testing were the resolution and the Anisotropic Filtering and Anti-Aliasing. F.E.A.R. cripples the toughest of video cards with heavy DirectX 9 use and its high level of details so it should definitely do a number on the cards we are looking at today.

These actually aren't that bad of results but as we can see, even without AA the X1300 PRO has a hard time keeping its head above water. The rest of the results will be like it's trying to swim in a tuxedo. Keep in mind that the X700Pro is having just as hard a time with this game and it simply comes down to lack of shader processing power.

Like I said, this was a challenge and it showed. Both the X700Pro and X1300Pro failed to hold a useable frame rate at anything above 800×600 but these cards were not meant for the hard core gamer so it is no wonder that the toughest game out there cripples them. I think the X1300Pro had a fine showing in all the gaming results and proved to be useful at more than just 800×600 in many of the games.

Page 14 : Conclusion

The X1 series of cards is the newest release from ATI and the higher end cards are holding their own against NVIDIA's top offering. Not everyone needs an X1900XTX water-cooled and overclocked. Many computer users use their machine for more multimedia and office work than gaming. This is where the X1300 set of cards come into play. The beauty of the PowerColor X1300Pro Bravo edition is that it can do all that office work and multimedia stuff as well as put the gloves on and game it up when it needs to.

Obviously the performance is not going to allow you to crank up the features and resolution but not to long ago 1024×768 was considered a good gaming resolution and I think the X1300Pro determined it can play most of todays games at that resolution with some level of details. The VIVO function of PowerColors Bravo edition is a nice addition for those looking to transfer home movies from the dated VHS format or bring any other type of video onto the computer.

The X1300Pro Bravo edition from PowerColor is the perfect choice for an HTPC system as it provides a multitude of features including ATI's AVIVO video playback technology, the aforementioned VIVO function for capturing from a variety of sources, and gaming performance that is very acceptable for the average person. A software package to take advantage of the VIVO function from PowerColor would be nice but at this price point it is hard to start adding accessories.

Advantages

• ATI's newest graphics chipset provides many features
• VIVO function adds a lot of functionality
• Gaming performance is very acceptable
• Cooling and size is perfect for small HTPC cases

  Disadvantages

• Lack of software to take advantage of VIVO
• No overclocking overhead for us cheapskates

  Overclockers Online would like to thank PowerColor for making this review possible.