Product Reviews

The X1300 is at the bottom end of ATI's new range of graphics cards and is available in both 256MB and 512MB versions. We tried the 256MB X1300.

This card has no fan. Instead a large heat sink covers the graphics processor. The card takes up a single PCI-E slot, so it's easy to install in a small case. The heat sink

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gets very hot, though, so you'll need good airflow in your case.

The X1300 has the usual outputs, including DVI-I, D-sub and TV out (composite, component and S-video), so it's ideal for a media PC. It also has four pixel pipelines, 256MB of DDR2 RAM running at 500MHz and a core speed of 450MHz. These are impressive specs, but the number of pixel pipelines seems to hold the card back. It scored 4,189 in 3DMark03 at 1,024x768, and just 18fps in Doom 3. Turning off anti-aliasing and setting Doom 3 to medium detail resulted in a better score of 31.1fps, similar to that of nVidia's 6600. It can't handle games at high resolutions, but it copes better with less demanding titles such as strategy games.

The X1300 is similar in price to silent nVidia GeForce 6600 graphics cards, but it fits in a wider range of cases. If you want a basic card for a media PC and have a well-ventilated case, it's a great buy.