Performance aside, the most encouraging thing about ATI's latest crop of AGP Radeons is the fact that all are readily available on the market, often from numerous vendors and board partners. ATI actually announced two of these cards, the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition and Radeon X800 XL, at the end of February, so solid current availability isn't too surprising. Still, it's nice to be reviewing cards that you can go out and buy, right now.
But which one to buy? At the high end, the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition sells for about $460, which isn't much more expensive than the GeForce 6800 Ultra, which can be had for as little as $420. To NVIDIA's credit, most versions of the Ultra have dual DVI ports, but the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition's performance is much better across a wider range of games. If you want the fastest AGP card around, the X850 XT PE is the way to go.
Of course, dropping a lot of coin on a top-of-the-line AGP card probably isn't the best idea considering that the majority of new chipsets are PCI Express-only. Motherboard upgrade options will only become more limited down the road, and if you don't need the absolute fastest graphics card on the block, the $300 Radeon X800 XL is a pretty sweet deal. The X800 XL is generally faster than the GeForce 6800 GT, and in some cases, it nips at the Ultra's heels.
And then there's the All-in-Wonder X800 XT, which is hard to handicap since it really has no peers. Performance-wise, the X800 XT is impressive, but the kicker is its integrated TV tuner and bundled remote. All told, it's a pretty phenomenal deal for just $360. With higher clock speeds than the X800 XL and its All-in-Wonder extras, the AIW X800 XT is easily the pick of the litter.
