ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 Mac Edition

The ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 Mac Edition is a 90 nm TSMC part built around the M56 chip and the Ultra-Threaded SE architecture in the M5x (Mobility X1) generation. It integrates 157 million transistors on a 150 mm² die, for a transistor density of 1.0M / mm². The recorded memory subsystem is 128 MB GDDR3 on a 128-bit bus, with a 396 MHz memory clock (792 Mbps effective) and 12.67 GB/s bandwidth. Fixed-function throughput is 1.592 GPixel/s and 1.592 GTexel/s from 4 TMUs and 4 ROPs. The production status is End-of-life, the release date is 2007-11-07, and the fact pack contains no benchmark scores, no nearest rivals, and no power or thermal data.

Who Should Consider It

Who should consider an End-of-life GPU with no recorded benchmark scores? The honest answer from the data is: only a user who accepts missing evidence. The API list confines software to DirectX 9.0c (9_3) and OpenGL 2.1; anything relying on Vulkan is outside the envelope, since the Vulkan field is null. The 128 MB framebuffer and 12.67 GB/s bandwidth place practical pressure on high-resolution scenes, because larger framebuffers and texture sets need more local memory than the card can physically hold. That said, the data does not give a specific resolution threshold or a quality settings tier. With 4 TMUs, 4 ROPs, and pixel/texture rates of 1.592 units per second, the pipeline is symmetrical and fixed-function, but no frame-rate score exists to translate those throughput numbers into playability. A user considering this card should treat it as a DirectX 9.0c-era part with no benchmark validation, suited in principle to applications that fit within 128 MB and respect the supported API list.

The absence of core clock fields matters here. The fact pack records base, boost, and game clocks as null; only the memory clock is given. That means the 1.592 GPixel/s and 1.592 GTexel/s rates are not tied to a known GPU clock in the data. For a user trying to decide settings, this is another missing anchor. The card is not presented as a high-throughput part by its fixed-function counts, but there is no score to say how it behaves under load.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The feature set is anchored to the Ultra-Threaded SE architecture. The API ceiling is DirectX 9.0c (9_3) and OpenGL 2.1; Vulkan is null. The fact pack also lists rtCores and tensorCores as null, meaning there is no ray tracing acceleration data and no tensor/ML acceleration data for this GPU. The absence of those entries is itself a finding: the card is not positioned as a ray tracing or AI-compute part.

The fixed-function pipeline is represented by 4 TMUs and 4 ROPs, which deliver 1.592 GTexel/s and 1.592 GPixel/s respectively. Interestingly, these two rates are identical, so texture fetch and pixel output are matched in the recorded specification. Shading units are not listed, and fp16/fp32 throughput fields are null, so the data gives no shader-compute rate to compare. For an investigator, the feature set sits between the M2x predecessor and the M6x successor: it carries DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.1, but no Vulkan, no RT cores, and no tensor cores. The API list is the clearest boundary for which applications can even attempt to run.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark section of the fact pack is empty. The benchmarks array contains no entries, the average benchmark score is 0, and percentileVsAllGpus is 50. The tension between a zero average score and a 50th percentile rank is worth stopping on: a literal zero score would normally imply bottom-of-database performance, but the 50th percentile says midpoint. The data suggests that zero is a placeholder for an empty benchmark set rather than a measured performance result. The data cannot support a claim that the card is faster or slower than any specific GPU, because nearestRivals is an empty array: no rival names, no scores, no deltaPct values.

The only chronological comparison points are predecessor M2x and successor M6x, and neither has a benchmark score in the pack. Exact percentage deltas are therefore impossible to state. What remains is the raw specification: 4 TMUs, 4 ROPs, 1.592 GPixel/s, 1.592 GTexel/s, and 12.67 GB/s. Those are throughput ceilings, not measured frame rates. The memory clock is the only clock listed, so even a synthetic estimate would require extrapolating from the fixed-function rates without a core clock anchor. Benchmark performance is, in this record, a gap rather than a result.

How It Compares

There are no nearest rivals in the fact pack. The nearestRivals array is empty, so there are zero rival entries to write a comparison paragraph for. The database-level percentile is 50, but without a named rival or a deltaPct value, that position cannot be turned into “ahead of X” or “behind Y.” The only structural comparisons available are lineage fields: the predecessor is M2x, the successor is M6x, and this card belongs to the M5x (Mobility X1) generation. No scores exist for the predecessor or successor in the pack, so generation-to-generation performance cannot be quantified. If rival data were present, the deltaPct values would supply exact percentage differences; they are absent. The comparison conclusion is thus negative: the card occupies a 50th-percentile position with no verified comparison graph.

FAQ

Q: What memory does the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 Mac Edition use?

A: 128 MB GDDR3 on a 128-bit bus, with a 396 MHz memory clock (792 Mbps effective) and 12.67 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which APIs are listed in the fact pack?

A: DirectX 9.0c (9_3) and OpenGL 2.1. The Vulkan field is null.

Q: Does it have ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. rtCores and tensorCores are both null in the data.

Q: How many TMUs and ROPs are recorded?

A: 4 TMUs and 4 ROPs, with 1.592 GTexel/s texture rate and 1.592 GPixel/s pixel rate.

Q: When was it released and what is its production status?

A: Released 2007-11-07; production status is End-of-life.

Q: What are the chip architecture and manufacturing details?

A: M56 chip, Ultra-Threaded SE architecture, M5x (Mobility X1) generation, 90 nm TSMC process, 157 million transistors, 150 mm² die, and 1.0M / mm² transistor density.

Power and Cooling

The fact pack does not include a TDP value, a suggested PSU, or a power connector requirement. All three fields relevant to power are null, which means there is no number to anchor a power-supply recommendation. The data also has no slot width or dimensions, so physical cooling clearance cannot be evaluated. The only chip-level facts that could influence thermal expectations are the 90 nm process and 150 mm² die size, but the pack does not connect those to a wattage figure. It would be unsupported to claim the card needs a specific PSU class or an auxiliary connector; the data simply does not record it. Similarly, cooler selection cannot be derived because no TDP is available. Any power or cooling claim would require outside numbers, which the fact pack does not provide.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem is compact but completely specified: 128 MB of GDDR3, 128-bit bus, 396 MHz memory clock, 792 Mbps effective, and 12.67 GB/s of bandwidth. The 12.67 GB/s figure is the bandwidth available for texture reads, framebuffer writes, and vertex data. In high-resolution use, the capacity limit of 128 MB is likely to bind before the bus width does, because higher resolutions enlarge both the color buffer and the depth buffer. The data does not quantify how much performance drops when capacity is exceeded, and there are no rival bandwidth figures to compare against.

What is clear is the pipeline symmetry: pixel rate and texture rate are both 1.592, so the memory interface must feed a 4-TMU/4-ROP setup. For high resolutions, the memory subsystem offers a 128-bit path, but the effective data rate of 792 Mbps and 12.67 GB/s are the actual constraints recorded. The host interface is PCIe 1.0 x16, which is the stated bus connection. The card’s memory is the only fully documented clock domain in the fact pack, and it defines the bandwidth limit more directly than any other recorded specification.