How will AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT perform. Pretty darn quickly, it would seem, if preliminary tests posted on the web ahead of the troubled chip maker's [1] official release date prove correct.

Website DailyTech put the as-yet-unannounced GPU up against Nvidia's rival part [2], the GeForce 8800 GTS. The 2900 XT has 512MB of 1.65GHz GDDR 3 memory sitting on a 512-bit bus; the 8800GTS uses GDDR 3 too, but over a 1.6GHz, 320-bit bus. It has more memory than the AMD board: 640MB.

The tests were carried out in a system comprising a four-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700, Intel D975XBX2 mobo and 2GB of 800MHz DDR 2 memory.

The winner: AMD - just.

Game Tests

Frames per second - longer bars are better
Data courtesy DailyTech

So, slight gains in most current games - Half-life 2 gave an unexpected result, which is why we're not including it here. 3DMark06, however, gave the AMD chip a 16.4 per cent performance lead:

Game Tests

Longer bars are better
Data courtesy DailyTech

Watch out for Register Hardware's full review of the AMD ATI Radeon HD X2900 XT next month.

Links

1. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/23/amd_cash/
2. http://www.dailytech.com/ATI%20Radeon%20HD%202900%20XT%20Performance%20Benchmarks/article7043.htm

Related stories

• Toshiba gives price-cutting AMD the nod (30 May 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/30/amd_toshiba_chips/

• Radeon HD 2400, 2600 due to debut in XT, Pro versions (14 May 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/14/amd_radeon_2400_2600_details/

• AMD's ATI R600 launched for desktops, laptops (14 May 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/14/amd_launches_radeon_hd_2000/

• AMD unveils ATI Radeon HD 2000 (14 May 2007)

  http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/14/amd_graphics_card_launch/

• AMD Phenom X2, X4, FX processor specs leak (4 May 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/04/amd_phenom_details_leak/

• Man demonstrates extreme geekiness, reviews 105 PSUs (27 April 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/27/fan_reviews_105_psus/

• AMD Radeon HD 2900 XTX tested on web (26 April 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/26/amd_radeon_2900_xtx_tested/

• Nvidia updates multi-GPU SLI box for DirectX 10 era (25 April 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/25/nvidia_rolls_out_new_plex/

• Dual- and quad-core 'Penryn' CPUs benchmarked (18 April 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/18/intel_penryn_benchmarked/

• AMD to brand ATI Radeon 2000 series for HD era (13 April 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/13/amd_ati_radeon_2000_details/

• ATI R600 to ship on foot-long board? (12 February 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/12/amd_ati_r600_board_a_biggy/

• AMD behind ATI R600 spec, benchmark leak? (2 January 2007)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/02/amd_ati_r600_spec_leak/

• AMD 'R600' DirectX 10 GPU spied on web (27 November 2006)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/27/amd_r600_spied_on_web/