A few years ago Sapphire released a truly silent line of cards know as the Ultimate series. These cards used various different models of heatpipe based coolers from Korean cooling company Zalman. The coolers performed remarkably well considering the total lack of any active cooling and people who were interested in true silence took notice.

Sapphire continued with the line for a while, right up to the 9800XT Ultimate. All told there were about half a dozen various Ultimate cards in Sapphire's portfolio. However, when ATI released the X800 based cards, Sapphire moved away from Zalmans heatpipe coolers and went with active coolers manufactured by Arctic Cooling. The new line, known as "Toxic", is impressive both performance wise and aesthetically, but people began to wonder about the Ultimate series and if Sapphire would someday resurrect it.

It was less than a month ago when Sapphire gave us the answer. The Ultimate line would be renewed in the form of the Radeon X800XL Ultimate, which I'll be checking out in this review.

Bundle

Sapphire continues to provide one of the best bundles available, though with recent game releases it's starting to get a little outdated. With the Ultimate I was sent there are full versions of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Both are excellent, award winning games that should provide a lot of play time. I was a bit disappointed that the card never came with Sapphire's new game bundle option known as Sapphire Select, but I have been assured that Sapphire will start including it with all of their full retail bundles starting sometime this month.

I was also looking forward to checking out Sapphire's TriXX, their new overclocking and tweaking utility, but for some reason they are still bundling their RedLine tool. They must have had some last minute problems because there's a Redline sticker covering the TriXX logo on the box cover.

• Sapphire Radeon X800XL Ultimate
• Component-out cables
• SVideo cable
• Composite cable
• SVideo-to-composite adapter
• DVI-to-VGA adapter
• Software
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow DVD
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on 2 CDs
• RedLine CD
• PowerDVD 5 CD
• Drivers CD
• User manual

The X800XL is based on ATI's R430 graphics core. Its primary distinction between ATI's other R4x0 cores is that it's built on an 110nm manufacturing process whereas ATI's other cores are built using a 130nm low-k process. It's a native PCI-Express chip.

Sapphire's X800XL Ultimate has a core clock speed of 400MHz and a memory speed of 490MHz (980MHz effective), typical of X800XL cards. It has 256MB of GDDR3 memory from Samsung rated for 2.0ns, or 500MHz maximum. It also has 16 rendering pipelines, 6 vertex shader units, and a 256bit memory bus.

Specifications
	Sapphire X800XL Ultimate	Radeon X800XL	Radeon X700 Pro	Radeon X850XT Platinum
Core	R430	R430	RV410	R480
Silicon Process	110nm	110nm	110nm	130nm low-k
Transistor Count (millions)	160	160	120	160
Core Speed MHz	400	400	425	540
Memory Speed MHz	490 GDDR3	490 GDDR3	432 GDDR3	590 GDDR3
Bus Standard	PEG x16	PEG x16	PEG x16	PEG x16
Bus Width	256bit	256bit	256bit	256bit
Pixel Pipelines	16	16	8	16
Peak Memory Bandwidth (GB/s)	31.36	31.36	27.64	37.76
Pixel Fillrate (million pixels/sec)	6,400	6,400	3,400	8,640
Texel Fillrate (million texels/sec)	6,400	6,400	3,400	8,640
MSRP ($US)	$299	$299	$199	$549

The X800XL suppots the following features:

SMARTSHADER HD

• Support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 programmable vertex and pixel shaders in hardware
• DirectX 9.0 Vertex Shaders
  • Vertex programs up to 65,280 instructions with flow control
  • Single cycle trigonometric operations (SIN & COS)
• Direct X 9.0 Extended Pixel Shaders
  • Up to 1,536 instructions and 16 textures per rendering pass
  • 2nd generation F-buffer technology accelerates multi-pass pixel shader programs with unlimited instructions
  • 32 temporary and constant registers
  • Facing register for two-sided lighting
  • 128-bit, 64-bit & 32-bit per pixel floating point color formats
  • Multiple Render Target (MRT) support
• Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL® via extensions

SMOOTHVISION HD

• 2x/4x/6x Anti-Aliasing modes
  • Sparse multi-sample algorithm with gamma correction, programmable sample patterns, and centroid sampling
  • Lossless Color Compression (up to 6:1)at all resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions
  • Temporal Anti-Aliasing
• 2x/4x/8x/16x Anisotropic Filtering modes
  • Up to 128-tap texture filtering
  • Adaptive algorithm with bilinear (performance) and trilinear (quality) options

3Dc

• High quality 4:1 Normal Map Compression
• Works with any two-channel data format

HYPER Z HD

• 3-level Hierarchical Z-Buffer with Early Z Test
• Lossless Z-Buffer Compression (up to 48:1)
• Fast Z-Buffer Clear
• Z Cache optimized for real-time shadow rendering
• Optimized for performance at high display resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions

VIDEOSHADER HD

• Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time
• FULLSTREAM™ video de-blocking technology for Real, DivX, and WMV9 formats
• VIDEOSOAP™ noise removal filtering for captured video
• MPEG1/2/4 decode and encode acceleration
  • DXVA Support
  • Hardware Motion Compensation, iDCT, DCT and color space conversion
• All-format DTV/HDTV decoding
• YPrPb component output for direct drive of HDTV displays
• Adaptive Per-Pixel De-Interlacing and Frame Rate Conversion (temporal filtering)

Display Features

• Dual integrated display controllers
• Dual integrated 10 bit per channel 400 MHz DACs Integrated
• 165 MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI 1.0 / HDMI compliant and HDCP ready)
• Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution

As with the original Ultimate line, the X800XL Ultimate cooler is manufactured by Zalman. Now however instead of the truly silent passive heatpipe coolers that the series was known for, the new Ultimate uses an actively cooled heatsink/fan assembly. The cooler is Zalman's VF700 which follows along the same design principal as their popular line of "flower" CPU coolers.

The Sapphire cooler appears to be made from several strips of aluminum that have been fused together in the middle then splayed out to form the cooling fins. The fins themselves are very thin and have been anodized a blue color that perfectly matches the blue anodized ramsinks on the card. While the cooler doesn't exhaust heated air out the back of the case like Arctic Cooling's Silencer series of VGA coolers, which Sapphire has used in the past, it does have the advantage that the large 80mm fan not only cools the graphics core, but the entire surface of the card as well.

The biggest disadvantage to the cooler is that it takes up two slots, which means you need to have a free slot adjacent to your PCI-Express x16 slot to be able to install the card. That's not normally a problem for most people these days, what with all the onboard components modern motherboards come with, but it may be an issue if you plan to use the card in a HTPC of SFF case. The cooler isn't nearly as bulky as the Arctic Cooling Silencer line though; it doesn't extent beyond the edges of the PCB and it's not double-height for the full length of the card, which means you may be able to make use of the expansion bay slot for something small like a USB or Firewire bracket. Also, because of its round shape it shouldn't block any motherboard components (other than the 2nd slot, as mentioned).

Performance wise the cooler does a good job. At the lowest rpm setting the fan is barely audible but still provides excellent cooling benefits. At the highest setting the whir becomes quite a bit more noticeable, but still definitely not annoyingly so.

To see how well the cooler performed, I compared the Sapphire X800XL Ultimate with a HIS X800XL IceQII Turbo which uses an Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 4 for cooling. I tested 20%, 60%, and 100% fan speeds for both cards under idle and load conditions. ATITool 0.24 Beta 9 was used to set fan speeds and log the GPU temperatures:

[ Idle ] [ Load ]

As you can see, Sapphire's Ultimate cooler has a significant advantage under the lowest fan speed setting, but both coolers draw pretty much even under the medium and maximum speed settings. While both coolers are very quiet, at 100% the IceQ Turbo cooler is noticeably quieter than Sapphire's Ultimate cooler.

Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropy were applied in the game where the options existed. For games that did not support those options natively, the graphics card control panel was used. V-Sync was also forced off for each test via the graphics card control panel. Otherwise all other graphics card control panel settings were left to their default values.

Batch files were used when possible for automated benchmarking, the details of the commands used are outlined for each test. Manual benchmarking was done using FRAPS 2.5.5.

Benchmarking was done with Windows set to the "Adjust for best performance" profile, and all unnecessary Windows services and hardware devices were disabled. The latest drivers for each necessary hardware component were installed prior to testing and kept consistent throughout.

The Onboard sound was disabled for all tests expect for Richard Burns Rally which will not load without sound hardware installed and operational.

Test System Specs

• CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3500+, 2.2GHz Newcastle core
• Motherboard: DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D, s939 NForce4
• Videocards: (Check the Specifications chart for more details on these cards).
• Sapphire Radeon X800XL Ultimate
• HIS X800XL IceQII Turbo
• ATI Radeon X700 Pro
• HIS X850XT IceQII Platinum Edition
• Video Drivers: Catalyst 5.4 WHQL
• Memory: 1GB (2x512MB) OCZ DDR PC-4200 Platinum Edition @ 400MHz/2-2-2-5 1T
• HDD: Seagate Barracuda V SATA, 7200rpm
• Sound: Onboard, disabled for most tests
• PSU: Enermax Noisetaker EG495P-PE 485W
• Case: SilverStone Lascala LC13
• OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

Benchmark Software

• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, v1.02 (DirectX)
• Half-Life 2, Source Engine 7 (DirectX)
• Far Cry, v1.31 (DirectX)
• Doom3, v1.1 (OpenGL)
• Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (OpenGL)
• Richard Burns Rally, v1.02 (DirectX)
• Pacific Fighters, v3.04 (OpenGL)
• 3DMark03, build 3.6.0 (DirectX)
• 3DMark05, build 1.2.0 (DirectX)

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

I benchmarked Splinter Cell Chaos Theory using the benchmarking batch file that comes with the game. Anti-aliasing, anisotropy, and resolution were set within the game. All other settings remained the same.

The location of the batch file is <game dir>\System\Timedemo.bat. Each result is appended to the <game dir>\System\TimeDemoResults.xls file.

The Splinter Cell Chaos theory results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once.

Half-Life 2

Testing of Half-Life 2 was done using AnandTech's five recently released Source Engine 7 timedemos (which are available on this page). I ran each timedemo for each resolution and AA/AF setting used in the charts below, and then averaged the results to get the final score. Anti-aliasing and Anisotropy were set on the command line.

A batch file was used to automate testing; the command line is below for reference. This batch file was used for each card that was tested. The settings surrounded by < > change for each pass:

The Half-Life 2 results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once.

[ No AA / No AF ] [ 2x AA / 4x AF ] [ 4x AA / 8x AF ] [ 6x AA / 16x AF ] [ Show All ]

Doom 3

Doom3 was tested using the built in timedemo, demo1.demo. I benchmarked the default "High Quality" mode, which sets Anisotropy to 8x, and then combinations of Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropy over the resolutions shown in the chart below. Anti-aliasing and Anisotropy were set on the command line.

Another batch file was used to automate Doom3 testing as well. The command line is below for reference. This batch file was used for each card that was tested. The settings surrounded by < > change for each pass:

The Doom3 results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once.

[ No AA / No AF ] [ 2x AA / 4x AF ] [ 4x AA / 8x AF ] [ 6x AA / 16x AF ] [ Show All ]

Chronicles of Riddick

Chronicles of Riddick was benchmarked using the built-in timedemo feature. No batch file was used (mainly because I didn't have time to make one). The timedemo used is a recording of the intro sequence. The Shader Model 2.0 path was used for all cards, including the 6600GT, which takes a huge performance hit using the Shader Model 3.0 path. Anti-aliasing and Anisotropy were set in the graphics card control panel.

The Chronicles of Riddick results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once.

[ No AA / No AF ] [ 2x AA / 4x AF ] [ 4x AA / 8x AF ] [ 6x AA / 16x AF ] [ Show All ]

Far Cry

Far Cry benchmarking was a little different. In the interest of time (Far Cry takes quite awhile to benchmark) I only tested anti-aliasing on the High setting and did not test anisotropy performance at all. I did however test over three different maps using custom timedemos. I averaged the results from each of those timedemo runs to get the final score. Anti-aliasing was set in the "Configure Far Cry" app.

The command line for the batch file I used to automate Far Cry benchmarking is below. This batch file was used for each card that was tested. The settings surrounded by < > change for each pass:

The Far Cry results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once.

Richard Burn’s Rally

I used Fraps to benchmark Richard Burn's Rally using two custom demos recorded on the Great Britain Chirdonhead II stage with rain. I started Fraps framerate logging as soon as the marshal launched the car and had it automatically stop logging after 90 seconds. I logged each pass 3 times then averaged the results to get the final score for that setting and resolution. The default replay camera was used and sound was enabled. Anti-aliasing and Anisotropy were set via the graphics card control panel.

The Richard Burn's Rally results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once..

[ No AA / No AF ] [ 2x AA / 4x AF ] [ 4x AA / 8x AF ] [ 6x AA / 16x AF ] [ Show All ]

Pacific Fighters

I benchmarked Pacific Fighters by loading the included "N1K1 vs BeauFighter.ntrk" track and logged framerates using Fraps from the beginning of the track for 90 seconds. All the in game details were set to their maximum levels, including "Landscape Detail" which was set to "Perfect", enabling Pixel Shaded water. Video was set to "Maximum Settings" for all graphics cards and sound was disabled in the Pacific Fighter Setup app. Anti-aliasing and Anisotropy were set via the graphics card control panel.

The Pacific Fighters results are below. Click the text links at the top of the chart to change settings or, if you wish, click the "Show All" link which will show all the charts on the page at once..

[ No AA / No AF ] [ 2x AA / 4x AF ] [ 4x AA / 8x AF ] [ 6x AA / 16x AF ] [ Show All ]

3DMark03

I benchmarked 3DMark03 using the default settings. I set it up to loop each test three times, it then automatically averaged the results and gave a final score. The results for each test are below.

Game Test 1 - Wings of Fury Game Test 2 - Battle of Proxycon Game Test 3 - Troll's Lair Game Test 4 - Mother Nature Vertex Shader Pixel Shader 2.0 Overall Score

3DMark05

Like 3DMark03, I set 3DMark05 up to loop three times to get the final score. I tested 3DMark05 using the default detected settings.

Game Test 1 - Return to Proxycon Game Test 2 - Firefly Forest Game Test 3 - Canyon Flight Pixel Shader Vertex Shader - Simple Vertex Shader - Complex Overall Score

I used ATITool 0.24 Beta 9 to test overclocking. I used the automatic overclocking feature to find a baseline, then manually overclocked from there to find the maximum speed the card could handle without showing artifacts.

The memory was very impressive, going all the way to 550MHz, 60MHz over stock and 50MHz over the rated theoretical maximum for the 2.0ns modules. The core overclocking was far less impressive unfortunately. Any speed over 440MHz would lock up the Windows desktop almost immediately.

Remember that these overclock results are unique to this specific card. There's a good change that should you buy the X800XL Ultimate your overclocking results will be very different.

Below you'll find the performance results for the overclocked settings.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Overclocked Performance No Anti-Aliasing / No Anisotropy

1024x768  68.5 75.6  1280x960  52.4 58.1  1600x1200  38.3 42.5   0 43 85 Average Framerate  X800XL Ultimate  X800XL Ultimate @ 440c/550m

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Overclocked Performance 4x Anti-Aliasing / 8x Anisotropy

1024x768  55.2 61.2  1280x960  41.6 46.3  1600x1200  30.4 33.8   0 43 85 Average Framerate  X800XL Ultimate  X800XL Ultimate @ 440c/550m

Doom 3 Overclocked Performance No Anti-Aliasing / No Anisotropy

1024x768  92.4 97.9  1280x960  69.3 75.8  1600x1200  50.3 55.8   0 55 110 Average Framerate  X800XL Ultimate  X800XL Ultimate @ 440c/550m

Doom 3 Overclocked Performance 4x Anti-Aliasing / 8x Anisotropy

1024x768  61.8 68.0  1280x960  43.1 47.8  1600x1200  31.0 34.4   0 55 110 Average Framerate  X800XL Ultimate  X800XL Ultimate @ 440c/550m

It’s good to see Sapphire resurrecting one of the original enthusiast lines of videocards with the X800XL Ultimate. It’s not completely silent as most of the cards in the original Ultimate line were known for, but it’s pretty close. Cooling performance is excellent as well, easily the match for Arctic Cooling’s ATI Silencer 4 used on HIS’ X800XL IceQII Turbo which is far larger and bulkier than the Ultimate’s cooler.

With Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Sapphire’s game bundle is getting a bit outdated, but it’s still easily one of the best around. Hopefully it won’t be too long before Sapphire launches their new Sapphire Select game bundle feature.

The only thing that bothers me about the Ultimate is the poor core overclocking. While 40MHz over stock is respectable, I’ve seen other X800XLs overclock much better than that.

Even though the overclocking left a lot to be desired, I’m still very impressed with the performance of Sapphire’s X800XL Ultimate (and all X800XL’s to be honest). Not only does it make some serious arguments against the ultra expensive X850XT Platinum, it does it at a very reasonable price.

If you’re looking for quiet performance, Sapphire’s X800XL Ultimate should be on your short list.

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Plus

• Fast
• Excellent cooling performance
• Good bundle
• Affordable
• No external power requirement

Minus

• Unimpressive core overclocking