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Summary

To read the complete AMD ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, 2600 Pro and 2400 XT review with more detailed information, test results, and plenty of pictures, please click on the following link.

Click this link to get the full article

The cards that we are reviewing here today are mid-range to budget priced video cards; prices top out at the $150 range for the Radeon HD 2600 XT.  This does leave a conspicuous gap between the 2600 XT and the 2900 XT, but we'll touch on that later on down the road.  For now, let's take a look at each of the cards on the chopping block today.

For some background on the architecture and technology behind the AMD Radeon HD 2xxx series of graphics cards, you'll definitely want to check out my original review of the HD 2900 XT from May.  It has all same block diagrams you'll see below for the flagship cards as well as more detail on the stream processors, texture units, memory controller and more.  You might consider it a pre-req for this article.

The AMD ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT card is seen here with a single slot cooling design and bright red PCB.  The official specs of this card from AMD are:

• Radeon HD 2600 XT
• 120 stream processors, 8 texture units, 4 ROPs
• 800 MHz clock speed
• 256MB frame buffer
• 128-bit memory interface
• 1100 MHz GDDR4 memory clock
• 390M transistors
• 65nm (G+) process technology

The board itself is also a very different design: it is shorter, uses a smaller (but louder) fan and does NOT have CrossFire connectors on it.  Here are the specs on this board:

• Radeon HD 2600 Pro
• 120 stream processors, 8 texture units, 4 ROPs
• 600 MHz clock speed
• 256MB frame buffer
• 128-bit memory interface
• 500 MHz GDDR2 memory clock
• 390M transistors
• 65nm (G+) process technology

Here is the 2400 XT card as we know it: red PCB with the same fan as the 2600 Pro, but missing the upper right corner of itself.  The idea there is that this card will be able to fit into smaller form factors such as DTX with this shape design. 

• Radeon HD 2400 XT
• 40 stream processors, 4 texture units, 4 ROPs
• 700 MHz clock speed
• 256MB frame buffer
• 64-bit memory interface
• 800 MHz GDDR3 memory clock
• 180M transistors
• 65nm (G+) process technology

Let's take a look at some general benchmarks of these cards:

Performance

The performance of the Radeon HD 2600 XT, 2600 Pro and 2400 XT was more or less a letdown.  In AMD documentation they were calling for the direct competition of the 2600 XT to be NVIDIA's 8600 GT card.  Based on the estimated pricing from AMD and the pricing of NVIDIA's currently on sale cards though, we found that you could get an 8600 GTS for about the same price.  When we added in the 8600 GTS, the performance of the 2600 XT looked less than stellar; but in fact in most cases the 8600 GT was able to outperform it anyway.

The HD 2600 and HD 2400 series of cards were still able to produce some very playable gaming experiences despite their numerical disadvantages.  In most cases, playing on the 2600 XT at 1280x960 with 4xAA and 8xAF was highly enjoyable and in only a couple of cases did I feel like game play was hindered by the frame rates or image quality.

Final Thoughts

AMD still has an uphill battle ahead of them after the release of their HD 2600 and HD 2400 series of cards.  Competition is stiff from NVIDIA's 8600 cards in the same price levels and AMD is going to have battle NVIDIA on the GPU front while battling Intel on the CPU front and you've got to wonder how low they are willing to go...?  There are some strong points to the 2600 XT, 2600 Pro and 2400 XT including the integrated HDMI support, great HD video processing and lower power consumption.  That might make them a great choice for an HTPC that might also play some games, but for enthusiast gamers that might also play HD movies, it's hard to recommend AMD's options over NVIDIA's.

If you have any questions or comments on this review of the product itself, join in the discussion at this thread of our forums!

Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, and anything else you may want to buy!

Click here for the Detailed Review