ATI Radeon X1800 Linux Preview

Turning to the card itself its red PCB is roughly the same size as NVIDIA's GeForce 7800GTX and 7900GTX parts. At the end of the card is a 6-pin PCI Express power connector, as the PCI Express x16 slot simply is not capable of providing enough power. For those that lack a 6-pin PCI-E interface on their power supply, ATI has included a 4-pin molex adapter. A fully loaded system with a power-hungry X1800XL is recommended to have at least a 450W power supply, and if used in a CrossFire configuration even more power will be consumed.

Next onto the X1800XL heatsink itself, unlike other NVIDIA and ATI products that are composed of aluminum, the heatsink largely uses copper. This single-slot cooler uses an off-centered fan that is relatively small. Although the cooler may be mediocre in size compared against its big brother, the X1800XT and X1900 series, it certainly is much quieter. This fan is connected to the PCB by a 3-pin interface. The heatsink actively cools the R520 GPU as well as the GDDR3 modules. The transistor count for the X1800XL is an approximate 321 million, or 19 million more than what was found in the NVIDIA G70. An ATI logo can be found on the motor housing as well as ATI's Ruby on the heatsink cover with the Radeon logo. Some ATI partners continue to implement alternate cooling devices.