Yet another jump in performance for graphics cards. This time ATi is the first to move. The X850s will come in 3 flavours. The Pro, XT and XT PE. All much like the previous x800s. The cards will still use 130nm fabrication and will have optimised power management features. All similarly clocked: 540/590 for the XT PE, 520/540 for the XT and Pro. The pro however will have 12 pipelines instead of 16. ATi will release these cards on 1st December morning. The X850 XT Platinum edition will be available for $549/£295 and the XT will cost $499/£268 and the Pro will be $399/£215. ATi says that X850 XT Platinum edition will end up 20% faster than Geforce 6800 Ultra in 3Dmark05, almost 40% faster in Far Cry and around 55% faster in Unreal Tournament 2004. But those are just from ATi. Unlike the jump from the Geforce FX 5900-5950 there has been some architectural changes in the cards. The Inquirer
