ASUS EAX1950PRO 256MB RV570

While NVIDIA has already introduced their G80 8800GTX, after several delays the ATI/AMD camp still has not delivered their next-generation graphics processor: the R600 GPU. While the R600 remains behind closed doors the X1950 remains the fastest Radeon series available. Among the products in the X1950 family is the X1950 CrossFire, X1950PRO, X1950XT, and X1950XTX. What we are looking at today is the X1950PRO, which for this article is coming from ASUS. The ASUS EAX1950PRO offers 256MB of GDDR3, HDCP support, heatpipe-based GPU heatsink, and many more ASUS innovations.

While ATI had learned its lesson from the belated Radeon X1000 Linux support, the fglrx driver support for the X1950PRO was not added in October or even November of this year, but the drivers will finally be making their way out this month. We are fortunate enough to have these drivers in hand today, so this article will also serve as the world's first look at the Radeon X1950PRO under Linux. The X1950PRO is designed to be a midrange high-performance graphics card that sells for under $200 USD.

Features:

· Exclusive powerful fansink module with one heatpipe embedded
· Powered by ATI Radeon X1950PRO GPU
· HDCP Compliant
· Built for Microsoft Windows Vista
· Combined with ASUS exclusive innovations

Contents:

ASUSTek offers the EAX1950PRO in two models -- the EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M and EAX1950PRO CrossFire/HTDP/256M. Both models support ATI's MultiGPU CrossFire Technology, but the first edition does not include the new internal CrossFire cable. Rather than including one CrossFire cable in each model, ASUS' CrossFire edition includes both connectors needed for operation. Included with the EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M was the PCI Express x16 graphics card itself, ASUS SpeedSetUp guide, one DVI to VGA dongle, video adapter, PCI Express power adapter, VGA driver CD, and ASUS CD. Also included as a bonus was an ASUS CD carrying case. With ASUS being one of ATI's premiere partners, it was unfortunate that a second DVI to VGA dongle was not included.