PowerColor Radeon X800 Pro VIVO
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Introduction
PowerColor is a major
provider of ATI-based multimedia devices. The company is fairly
young, having started in 1999 in Southern California. Within five
years, PowerColor has become the world's third largest
provider of graphics cards and the number one supplier of ATI-based
graphics cards. This kind of growth can only mean the company has
high goals and is determined to meet the latest demands on
high end hardware. PowerColor is currently owned by Tul, a company
based in Taiwan that was founded in 1997. You can say that
PowerColor is a subdivision of Tul, just like how Crucial is considered
to be a subdivision of Micron Technology.
PowerColor provides a numerous line
of ATI Radeon cards. From low end budget solutions to high end
enthusiast favorites, PowerColor has a graphics card to suit everyone's
needs. Many enthusiasts can probably remember the success of
PowerColor's highly popular
and moddable Radeon 9800SE. Although
the card's performance was only considered to be mediocre, there was a
hidden secret that unleashed the full potential of the "cheap" card.
With a simple BIOS flash, the 9800SE turned into a full fledged 9800
Pro. Of course there were certain things to be aware of, such as
choosing the 256-bit versions and providing good cooling. What we
have in today is the enthusiast's favorite: the X800 Pro VIVO. The
VIVO line, although not an "official" release by ATI, offers the same
exact hardware components as the full fledged X800XT PE, something
that definitely shows promise.
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