Radeon HD 2600 XT vs. GeForce 8600 GT

Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4

Manufacturer: Sapphire
UK Price (as reviewed): £82.19 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): Not available (at time of publication)
Core Clock: 800MHz
Memory Clock: 2200MHz (effective)
Warranty: Two years (parts and labour)

Aside from the subtle artwork changes (or should that be change of sticker?), Sapphire’s Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 looks just like the reference card we pictured on the day of its launch in June.

The reference Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 PCB is 227mm long, which is quite a bit longer than the Radeon X1650-series cards it’s designed to replace; for example, we’ve got a Sapphire Radeon X1650 XT that is just 166mm long. On the other hand, the Radeon X1950 Pro was around the same length as the HD 2600 XT GDDR4.


Just like the reference card we received from AMD, Sapphire’s card comes with a single-slot cooling solution that’s similar to the one on the original Radeon X1950 Pro cards. It’s not silent, but it’s also not obtrusively loud, even under heavy load. Instead, it lets off a mild hum that will more than likely be drowned out in your PC’s chassis.

The port cluster on the back of Sapphire’s Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 features a pair of dual-link DVI ports and a TV-out DIN connector. This combination allows you to connect the card to two 30-inch monitors and a TV using either an S-video, composite or component connection.


Removing the heatsink revealed AMD’s RV630 graphics chip in all of its glory. RV630’s surface area is around 155mm² – this is around 90 percent the size of Nvidia’s competing G84 graphics processing unit, which comes in at just under 170mm². Sapphire has left the chip clocked at AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT reference speed, which is 800MHz.

Additionally, you’ll also find four GDDR4 DRAM chips under the heatsink. These are manufactured by Samsung and are rated to 0.9 nanoseconds, or 1111MHz (2222MHz effective), meaning that at the 2200MHz they’re clocked at, they’re very close to their rated speed – it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any headroom in them.


Inside the box, you get a fairly good array of cables and connectors, especially considering the card’s price. There are two DVI-to-VGA converters, a DVI-to-HDMI converter (which carries sound too), a component connector and one CrossFire bridge. To round off the bundle, there is also a driver CD and a quick installation guide.

Warranty:

Sapphire offers a two-year warranty covering parts and labour. During the first year in the product’s life, your point of contact should be the retailer. If you’re having problems getting hold of the retailer, or the retailer goes out of business, you should contact Sapphire directly. During the second year of the warranty, you should talk directly with Sapphire if you are having issues with the product. This is nothing special, but it is adequate compared to what other AMD partners offer.