Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT 256MB

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ATI probably thought to repeat the success of its Radeon X1950 PRO by going for a more affordable version of that as this new card, for lack of a better term is like a budget Radeon X1950 PRO. It does blur the distinct price segmentation in the market because at the moment, ATI has the Radeon X1650 XT going for around US$139, the Radeon X1950 PRO going for around US$199 and the new entrant is sandwiched in the middle at around US$169. One can imagine scenarios with consumers having a budget of less than US$200, in which case the consumer may opt to pay slightly more for the guaranteed speeds of the Radeon X1950 PRO rather than a GT. So ATI may not be actually capturing a larger piece of the pie but rather splitting its sales in the process.

Of course, the counter argument that it's performance and price rivaling that of the GeForce 7900 GS can help it eat into NVIDIA's sales in that price bracket is also true. However, without the mass uptake and prevalence of the Radeon X1950 PRO cards, it could be tough for ATI to make any actual dent. For those empowered with the knowledge of differentiating between the various models available at this price point, it should be quite straightforward of the value proposition that the Radeon X1950 GT offers.

ATI also risks some overlapping with the company's older products like the Radeon X1900 GT, which is still available in retail, albeit in limited quantities. The downside of the Radeon X1900 GT is that it runs much warmer than the Radeon X1950 GT and lacks essential new features like native CrossFire and HDCP support. Therefore opting for the newer Radeon X1950 series is definitely a better move, but those who aren't too aware of the differences might find themselves being shoved with retailer's existing stocks of the Radeon X1900 GT (which are actually lower clocked than the original variants that most reviews point online). So be wary.